In something of a minor upset, it was Chicago’s David Estrada in a 12-round rout over a favored Nurham Suleyman to claim the USBA welterweight bauble.

Surleyman entered the fray undefeated in 14 priors with 6 arriving the KO route, but Estrada proved equal in the skills department, and after testing what the Kazakhstan native had to offer, he had himself something of a walk in the park.

The handwriting on that proverbial wall surfaced just short of the midway mark with Estrada switching gears from counter-puncher to aggressor, and the pace showed during stanza six with Suleyman slowing to a crawl.

As the confidence grew in Estrada, the look of a loser began showing in Suleyman’s eyes, and come a monster candle ten this one had a feel it wouldn’t go to the scorecards - but Surleyman displayed true grit in finishing on his feet.

Scoring went Estrada 117-111, 117-111, 120-108. My unofficial saw it Estrada 118-110 in points and 10-2 in round scoring.

Post Scripts: Estrada (17-1, 8 KO) ~ A solid performance that surely boosts his stock, but Suleyman not the true test. Still, main event stature is his while doing biz among the ShoBox, ESPN level.
                       Suleyman (14-1, 6 KO) ~ a slow age 33 with little power and zero combination punching going for him. Style is relaxed in appearance but can be tagged. Were Estrada a banger this one would never have gotten to deep water.
                      Nick Charles-Steve Farhood team ~ They play off one another and it shows.  Farhood of past Ring recognition may be a hint we can dispatch its Ratings to the recycle bin, and restore only when in need of slapstick fight humor.

GEL

7-15-2004