Gary Antuanne Russell derrotó por KOT a Viktor Postol con muy cuestionable detención arbitral en el último round
Daniel Pi
@BastionBoxeo
The Chelsea en el Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, Estados Unidos. Peso superligero.
Sobre el papel, el olímpico estadounidense Gary Antuanne Russell 15(15KO)-0 cumplió su máximo objetivo al derrotar al ucraniano Viktor “The Iceman” Postol 31(12KO)-4(1) conservando su 100% de knockouts y asestándole a su rival su primera derrota antes del límite. No obstante, aunque Russell claramente superó a su adversario (las tarjetas parciales de los jueces le tenían muy por delante de manera justa), la detención arbitral en el último round fue muy extraña y uno de esos casos en los que “casualmente” un “error” arbitral cumple plenamente los deseos de la promotora organizadora.
El zurdo Russell salió a por todas y no tardó en alcanzar la distancia corta e impactar golpes de poder curvos contra el espigado Postol. El ucraniano intentó abrir el ring caminando y sacar su jab y sus contras con gancho zurdo y directo, pero Russell estaba siempre cerca de él para intentar mermarlo con su potencia. Por ello, pronto se hizo evidente que, sin poder mantenerse en larga prolongadamente, Postol iba a tener muy difícil superar a su rival, si bien en la medida de lo posible se mostró competitivo con su incomodante boxeo y sus astutas contras.
Los ganchos del fuerte Russell fueron impactando de forma constante contra un Postol que los resistió bien, aunque perdía la mayoría de los asaltos por la claridad de golpeo de su contrincante, que quizás se precipitaba un tanto en sus ofensivas y se exponía por lo tanto a las manos rivales pero que estaba trabajando más y mejor. Y es que, aunque el ucraniano sacó manos precisas (por ejemplo en el sexto round) y recurrió bastante al clinch para frenar la progresión de su adversario en corta, Russell impactó igualmente nítidos hooks y directos de izquierda al rostro de su contrincante.
De todos modos, Postol continuó encajando hasta los más potentes puños de su contrincante hasta que Russell le dañó con un uppercut en el décimo round, aprovechando el árbitro los apuros del excampeón (que se desplazó por el ring sin estar desarbolado o roto) para realizar una detención del combate totalmente precipitada y cuya intención no era proteger al púgil sino garantizar que el invicto conservase su 100% de knockouts.
Pese a esta acción que puso un asterisco sobre el nombre del árbitro Mike Ortega, incluso sin la detención Russell le habría asestado a Postol su derrota más amplia y clara desde la que padeció ante Terence Crawford. En este sentido se debe subrayar que en su último combate Postol, que usó entonces un boxeo casi idéntico al de la pasada noche, perdió con controversia ante el entonces campeón unificado José Carlos Ramírez, que tuvo muchísimos problemas para lidiar con el púgil ucraniano. Sin embargo, aunque no se puede decir que Russell tuviese un paseo ante Postol, sí consiguió vencer con mucha claridad y conectando muchas manos realmente llamativas, por lo que, comparativamente con Ramírez, la actuación del invicto prospecto resultó superior y con ella afianzó sus buenas perspectivas de futuro.
Gary Antuanne Russell defeated Viktor Postol by TKO with very questionable referee stoppage in the last round
Daniel Pi
@BastionBoxing
The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, United States. Super lightweight.
On paper, the American Olympic Gary Antuanne Russell 15(15KO)-0 fulfilled his maximum objective in the bout by defeating the Ukrainian Viktor “The Iceman” Postol 31(12KO)-4(1) keeping his 100% knockout ratio and being the first to beat by stoppage this rival. However, although Russell clearly outworked his opponent (the judges’ scorecards were fair and had him ahead), the final round stoppage was very strange and one of those cases in which «coincidentally» an «error» by the referee fully complies with the wishes of the promoter.
The southpaw Russell charged against his opponent and it didn’t take long for him to reach the close range and land power punches in hook. The Ukrainian tried to open the ring by moving and he thrown his jab and counters with straight punches and left hooks, but Russell was always close to him to try to wear him down with his power. For this reason, it soon became clear that, without being able to stay at long range, Postol was going to have a very difficult time trying to overcome his rival, although as far as possible he was competitive with his cunning counterpunches.
The hooks of the strong Russell were constantly impacting against Postol, who resisted them well, although he lost most of the rounds due to the clarity of his opponent’s striking. Perhaps the American rushed a bit in his offensives and therefore he was exposed to some of his rival punches, but he was working harder and better. Although the Ukrainian landed some precise hands (for example in the sixth round) and resorted to the clinch a lot to stop the progression of his opponent at close range, Russell hit his rival with sharp hooks and straight left punches to the face.
In any case, Postol continued to resist even the most powerful hands of his opponent until Russell damaged him with an uppercut in the tenth round. Then the referee took advantage of the difficulties of the former champion (who moved around the ring without being broken) to perform a totally hasty stoppage of the fight and whose intention was not to protect the fighter but to guarantee that the undefeated kept his 100% knockout ratio.
Despite this move that put an asterisk over referee Mike Ortega’s name, even without the stoppage Russell would have handed Postol his clearest loss since the one he suffered against Terence Crawford. In this sense, it should be noted that in his previous fight Postol, who then used a boxing almost identical to last night’s, lost controversially to the then unified champion José Carlos Ramírez, who had a lot of problems dealing with the Ukrainian fighter. Although it cannot be said that Russell had a walk in the park against Postol, he did manage to win very clearly and connecting many really striking punches so, compared to Ramírez, the performance of the undefeated prospect was superior and with it he strengthened his good perspectives for the future.