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ESPN Wednesday Night Fights Recap

May 2, 2007

Mahi Shrine Auditorium-Miami, Florida

Junior Middleweight (154 pounds) 10-Round Match:

Luis Ramon "Yuri Boy" Campas (88-9, 72 KO's, 155 pounds) vs. Eromosele Albert (19-1, 9 KO's, 154.5 pounds)

Campas is a former opponent of Oscar De La Hoya's and to read more about that and much more background leading up to the match between de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. check out Mike Sempervive's series of articles previewing the upcoming match on this website. They are awesome and a practical must read for anyone interested in the event. Campas turned pro at the age of 15-years-old in Mexico. He has been fighting professionally since then, for the last 19.5 years and is coming off a recent loss in an exciting bout with "Irish" John Duddy. Now, at the age of 35 he has accomplished a lot in his career winning a championship and boxing, numerous big names including De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, and Fernando Vargas. Campas says that this match is actually his 100th as a pro, but the disparity in the official record and his count is due to some matches in Mexico being unreported. Campas won the IBF Championship at 154 pounds in 1997, only to lose it in 1998. That is the only world championship he has ever held and despite his belief it is unlikely he will ever hold another one. As noted in Mike's articles Campas was already almost exactly four years ago when he was defeated by De La Hoya and Campas' best days are well behind him. The Mexican born fighter likes to come forward and throw left hooks. Atlas believes, Campas can have a great deal of success in the match throwing the left hook to the body of Albert, who leaves his body largely unshielded in his stance.

Albert is a two-time Nigerian Olympian. He competed in boxing for his country at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. The repeated trips to the Olympics forced Albert to wait to turn pro until the relatively advanced age of 26-years-old. After that, Albert took a 2.5 year break from competition in 2003, unhappy with the direction of his career. Now, at the age of 32, having returned to competitive in ring action in 2005, he has run off nine straight victories, four by knockout. The Nigerian likes to stand in front of is opponents and throw left hooks, which should create a lot of action in the match. At 6' tall, he will have a three inch height advantage in this match. Albert has an almost impossible number of amateur bouts, 568. He has been a sparring partner for many name fighters and says he did well against them. Albert said he made Ricardo Mayorga quit a sparring session after 2 rounds, because the Nicaraguan was getting beat up too badly. At this point in his career Albert needs to prove he can be great with the foam helmet off, too. Albert's best opportunities in this match, according to Atlas, are going to be throwing punches when Campas pulls straight out after throwing his punches, which the former champion has a bad habit of doing.

Round 1 goes to Albert, 10-9. The match is taking place almost entirely in close quarters, with both boxers leading with their heads. Their heads have come together several times already, mid-way through round 2, and it is only a matter of time until one or both of the boxers ends up bleeding. Campas has a lot of scar tissue on his forehead from the years in the ring and it is likely to be the first area opened up on either boxer in this match. With 32 seconds to go in round 2 a Campas low blow, up and to the left side of where it really counts, causes a pause in the action for Albert to recover. The punch landed on the belt section of the protective cup, but the announcers note Campus is now going to be aiming in that general area of Albert's body, but a little higher to make it a legal blow for the rest of the match. Campas is going to view Albert's pained reaction to the foul as a sign of Albert being potentially soft in that area of the body and look to exploit it at every opportunity. Campas is issued a warning by the referee for the low blow, and action is resumed after only a brief pause. Albert takes round 2, 10-9. Albert is out landing Campas on average through the first 2 rounds, 56 punches to 22 punches. In round 3, Campas goes after the spot, just north of where he fouled Albert, repeatedly with left hooks. Round 3, also goes the way of Albert, 10-9. Albert may run out of gas boxing at this pace. Campas is doing an excellent job targeting his punches so they will slow down his busier opponent as the match progresses.

Campas unsurprisingly picks De La Hoya to win on Saturday.

Albert wins round 4 as he is once again more active puncher, 10-9. This match could be a lot closer then on my card, because despite the fact that Albert is out landing Campas significantly, Campas is doing a lot of damage to the body of Albert, with the last round being very close for that reason. Through 4 rounds, Atlas has the match scored for Albert, 39-37, awarding only round 3 to Campas. Albert is out landing Campas on head shots per round 40 to 17. Round 5 goes to Albert, 10-9. At the end of round 5, Campas was cut above the right eye. Atlas, scored round 5 for Albert, 10-9, too. The Florida Athletic Commission has ruled that the cut above Campas' right eye was opened by an unintentional clash of heads. Round 6, also goes to Albert, 10-9. Through 6 rounds, Albert has thrown over 700 punches. In round 6, Albert landed 51 of 94 punches thrown for 54% connect percentage. That is the fewest punches Albert has thrown in any round to this point, but the ones he is throwing are finding their target at an insanely high percentage. Campas landed 21 of 50 punches thrown for a very good 42% connect percentage.

The promoter for this event is the legendary Roberto Duran. Earlier in the evening, he was presented with an honorary championship belt from the Seminole Tribe to represent his induction in to the Boxing Hall of Fame, which is scheduled for next month.

Albert's output slowed in round 7, but it was still good enough to win the round, 10-9. Atlas scored rounds 6 and 7 in favor of Albert. Atlas now has Albert ahead on his card, 69-64. Another, round goes the way of Albert, as he takes round 8, 10-9. Albert wins round 9, 10-9.

Going into the final round Campas needs a knockout to win, in potentially his final match. With 2:21 to go in round 10 the action is stopped to fix some loose tape around the left glove of Campas. Any delay at this point, only delays the inevitable decision loss for Campas. Action is resumed quickly enough, that the stoppage was not a major disturbance in the match. Albert has thrown over 1000 punches in the bout, with over two minutes remaining in round 10. Albert has several lumps on his forehead by this point in the match, all caused by the repeated clash of heads, not by any of Campas' punches. The final round also goes the way of Albert, 10-9. Teddy Atlas' final scorecard has it in favor of Albert, 99-91, with Campas winning only round 3. I had Albert winning in a shutout, 100-90. Either way, there should be no drama in this decision.

The official decision is: the judges score the bout: 99-91, 99-91, 97-93; all for the winner via unanimous decision, Eromosele Albert. Albert is now, 20-1, with 9 of those victories coming by way of knockout. The final punch track numbers are that Albert landed 469 punches of 1090 punches thrown, good for a 43% connect percentage. Campas only landed, 249 of the 751 punches he threw, good for a 33% connect percentage. Campas may have something left in the tank to be able to win matches and produce compelling bouts against lower level competition, but it may not be worth it at this point in his life anymore. He will never contend for a championship again and has taken a lot of punches over the years. He boxed with the passion of a man clearly still dedicated to the sport, which is a good thing and will keep him competitive for years. That passion for boxing may work against him soon, though if he sticks around too much longer and he can incur serious brain damage. Albert looked dominant in this performance. The Nigerian's advanced age, means he needs to rapidly advance his level of competition, to reach title contention level, before his skills can begin to erode. The champion at this weight after Saturday, will either be the 34-year-old de la Hoya, or 30-year-old Mayweather and Albert's time to get a big money match with either of them, especially de la Hoya is running out.

This show did not have a single competitive match on it. There was good action at points in the Campas match. This show can be skipped without missing much.