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Yuri Foreman (26-0, 8 KO's, 154 pounds) (c) vs. James Moore (16-1, 10 KO's, 153.5 pounds)

 

Foreman took this championship from Andrey Tsurkan via 10-round split decision on December 6, 2007 at the Paradise Theatre in Bronx, New York. The Brooklyn, New York resident is making the second defense of this title.

 

The champion started boxing at 7-years-old in the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union fell, his family like many other Jewish families in the former USSR immediately immigrated to Israel. (There are numerous cultural and legal reasons why there was a mass exodus of Jews form the former USSR to Israel. I will be happy to answer emails explaining the situation.) There Foreman became one of the country's top amateur boxers capturing 3 national amateur championships. Finally, Foreman moved to Brooklyn and captured the 2001 New York Golden Gloves Championship before turning pro.

 

Foreman's last match was a 10-round unanimous decision over Vinroy Barrett on October 18,2008 at this same building as part of the undercard of the Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins pay-per-view. Foreman took every round on the way to winning an easy decision.

 

Foreman is unranked by The Ring magazine and the number 12 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

Moore had a good amateur boxing career that peaked when he took home the bronze medal at 152 pounds for Ireland at the 2001 Amateur World Championships.

 

Following that tournament, Moore moved to New York City, New York and has based his pro career out of the United States.  All of Moore's professional matches have been within easy driving distance of New York City.

 

Moore's last match was an 8-round unanimous decision over Christian Joseph on August 6, 2008 at the B.B. King Blues Club in New York City, New York.

 

Moore is unranked by The Ring and the number 119 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

 

At 28-years-old, Foreman is 2 years younger then the 30-year-old Moore. Both boxers stand 5' 11" tall. Foreman has the reach advantage with a 74" wingspan, compared to the 72" wingspan of Moore. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, they appear to be roughly the same weight in the ring, but Moore is a bit soft around the middle and may susceptible to body punches. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. (Foreman is training to be Rabbi, and what other stance would an aspiring Rabbi use?)

 

New Jersey's version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from New Jersey and the other is from Puerto Rico. The referee is the dangerously incompetent Randy Neumann.

Foreman lands numerous clean right hands to take round 1, 10-9. The champion landed such hard punches in round 1, that the thudding sound of his gloves making impact with Moore's face was drowning out the commentators. Foreman takes round 2, 10-9. The champion appears much faster and stronger then the challenger. That means Moore is in for a very bad night. Foreman is constantly moving defensively, so Moore cannot figure out where to punch. Then when Moore attempts to punch Foreman has already dodged and opened up a path to land a clean punch of his own. Foreman wins round 3, 10-9. The champion wins round 4 in dominating fashion, 10-9. Moore has not made any adjustments to negate Foreman's superiority. That is probably, because Moore cannot do anything that would work against Foreman. Moore is going to have to hope that Foreman runs out of gas. Considering Foreman is used to going the distance and always has plenty of energy for a long match contested at a good pace, that is slim hope. Foreman leads on my scorecard after 4 rounds, 40-36.

 

During a clinch in round 5, Foreman winked at the Showtime announcers to show he was having fun in the ring. Foreman easily wins round 5, 10-9. Moore is not on the verge of being knocked out. However, at some point soon his trainer may want to start thinking about stopping this match. Moore has taken a lot of hard punches that are going to accumulate and will be hopelessly behind on the scorecard with no chance to score a come from behind knockout victory. This referee, Neumann, has a seemingly sadistic disregard for boxer safety and will wait for a boxer to die before stopping a match. (Neumann nearly got Arturo Gatti and Alfonso Gomez killed by not stopping their matches in time, and forced other state officials to do it.) Foreman wins round 6, 10-9. With 1:58 to go in round 7 the action is halted, because Foreman's mouthpiece has fallen out of his mouth. The clock does not stop until 1:49 is left in the round and Foreman has made it to his corner. After 10 more seconds of delay, Foreman's mouthpiece is replaced and the action is resumed. The boxers clinch when the action is resumed and a Moore right hand in that clinch knocks out Foreman's mouthpiece, again. Foreman complains the punch was a cheap shot. It appears the right that knocked out Foreman's mouthpiece was landed after the referee told the boxers to break. The referee picked up Foreman's mouthpiece with 1:41 to go in the round and did not call time to have it replaced. Therefore, when the action resumed there was only 1:27 to go in the round. The pro-Moore crowd has been booing Foreman throughout this whole mouthpiece ordeal. Again, the boxers clinch after the action is resumed, and again when they are told to break Moore hits Foreman late. This time the referee caught Moore throwing 2 right uppercuts on the break. Neumann then lectures both boxer to not hit in the clinches. Foreman dominates Moore to take round 7, 10-9. The champion leads on my scorecard after 7 rounds, 70-63.

 

In round 7, Foreman caught Moore with a punch behind the right ear and Moore's corner was icing that spot following the round. That means Moore could be having equilibrium problems. A powerful combination from Foreman sent Moore back into the ropes and the ropes may have saved a knockdown with 30 seconds to go in round 8. When Moore hit the ropes, he spit out his mouthpiece. The boxers clinch causing a lull in the action, meaning with 19 seconds to go in round 8 the referee calls time so Moore can have his mouthpiece replaced. Moore gets 10 seconds to recover and have his mouthpiece replaced before the action is resumed. Round 8 is a borderline, 10-8, round, because Foreman was so dominant. However, Foreman will probably only win round 8, 10-9. Moore got a terrible cut over his left eye in round 9. The referee has ruled the cut was opened by a punch. The champion wins round 9, 10-9. Foreman had Moore badly hurt, again at the end of round 9. If this were a scheduled 12-round match, Moore's corner would need to stop this match. With only 3 minutes to go in the match, they can justify sending their charge out there for 1 more round. The boxers get tangled up and Foreman shoves Moore to the canvas with 2:12 to go in round 10. The referee rules it an obvious slip and the match resumes with 2:08 to go in the round. With 11 seconds to go in the final round of the match, the referee calls time, because Foreman's mouthpiece has fallen out, again. However, the timekeeper did not get the clock stopped until there were 6 seconds to go in the match. Nothing of note happens in the final 6 seconds, once the match is resumed. Foreman wins round 10, 10-9, and the match on my scorecard, 100-90.

 

The official decision courtesy of "Gentleman" Joe Antonacci is that the judges have scored the match: 99-90, 100-90, 99-91, all for the winner by unanimous decision, still undefeated and still the NABF Junior Middleweight Champion, Yuri Foreman. The win moves Foreman to 27-0 with 8 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Foreman was completely dominant in this match. He could be more entertaining if he went for knockouts. However, what he does produces victories and there is no reason Foreman should stop doing that. His next match should be for a title. Foreman's people are looking to have him challenge Daniel Santos for the Puerto Rican's 154-pound belt in his next match.

 

Moore was out-classed in every way in this match. He may be a good boxer, but did not appear to be a television quality boxer in this match. A lot of this may be because Foreman made Moore look bad. However, Moore will need to take some rebuilding matches against softer opposition before he is ready to face an opponent in the top 20 range.