Broner Leaves Rees in Pieces
By Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media Correspondent
Atlantic City, NJ (February 17, 2013)– British and European Junior Welterweight champion, and former World Boxing Association Lightweight champion Gavin Rees desperately worked his way inside, threw heavy shots and tried to make a go of it with World Boxing Council World Lightweight champion Adrien Broner. Rees had one significant hurdle to overcome, that Broner had significant size and reach advantage, and landed wicked uppercuts and body shots on the inside. The first 14, and last six bouts of Rees career have been at 135 pounds or less, so Rees had significant experience at lightweight.
Broner retained the WBC World Lightweight title at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 16, 2013, with a fifth round stoppage on Home Box Office of Rees, who went down in the fourth and fifth rounds, and was taking a brutal and senseless beating when his trainer Gary Lockett tossed in the towel at 2:59 of round five. Lockett preferred for referee Earl Brown to end the bout, obviously to spare Rees from further punishment. Rees had a decent round one and two, and gamely landed a decent power shot here and there, but Broner took them all and had Rees looking to hide everywhere. Rees had a heart but it wouldn’t hold, and left himself open to getting cocked cold. One body shot landed on a defenseless Rees sent him down and practically out in round five, and with the totally wind knocked out of him, the bout was probably over at that point-though Rees did get up. With one second left, one imagines the bout could have been given a few more rounds, but-given Broner’s high work rate-the senseless slaughter was about to end.
The HBO bout may have seemed like fun to some, but fun was defined as Broner pounding on Rees bald head mercilessly all night, like a sledgehammer hitting a pack of lit dynamite. Rees walked away, and will live to see another day. If at odds of 40 to 1, Rees hoped to surprise, Roberto Duran would cover his eyes. They call Rees ‘the rock’, but if Rocky Marciano he thought he was, the crowd was in shock.
Rees in Pieces is a pun on Reese’s Pieces, the peanut butter candy manufactured by the Hershey’s Company for the North American Market, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In writing this copy from a different angle than other boxing writers on the international scene, injecting humor into this bout has to be because the bout seemed as lopsided as it was fantastic jest, like Larry Holmes fighting Butterbean.
The Golden Boy rematch A.C. main event bout between Johnathon Banks and Seth Mitchell was postponed due to an injury incurred by Banks. As such Broner became the entire show and didn’t disappoint, though Broner apologized after the bout for making short work of Rees. Adrien Broner’s televised apology to fight fans was completely unnecessary. Reality set in. Goliath slaying David was inevitable here, though David was a little bigger here, it was still a brief and cruel mismatch.
To watch Adrien Broner go to work, it is simply amazing how he assesses his opponent’s level, takes the fight one level above, moves forward with pressure and hand speed and closes the door. Broner also mixes his punches amazingly well. Adrien is the most exciting fighter in the lower weight classes sicne the late Edwin Valero, and with the careers of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez winding down, Broner may just be the best pound for pound fighter in boxing today. Broner is now 26-0, 22 knockouts. Rees, from Wales, United Kingdom, fell to 37-2-1, 18 knockouts. Broner made some noise after this bout about fighting the winner of the WBO-IBF Lightweight unification bout between Miguel Vazquez and Ricky Burns at Wembley Arena in London U.K. on March 16, 2013.
Burns, a big draw in his native Scotland as well as England, doesn’t need Broner to sell tickets or pay-per-views on the homefront, meaning Broner would have to go to England to fight Ricky Burns-if Burns beats Vazquez. No sure thing there, however.
In the preliminary bout to the main event, Super Middleweight contender Sakio Bika, a Camaroon fighter out of Los Angeles, California, won the WBC eliminator bout for the number one position and a shot at WBA Super and WBC World Champion Andre Ward with a 12 round unanimous decision over 25-0 Nikola Sjekloca, a Serbian fighting out of Montenegro. Bika did not win every round, though one judge somehow thought he did. Sjekloca took the fight inside, took some wicked body and head shots, but hung tough and infrequently counterpunched Bika with some heavy thunder, making Bika’s left eye swell underneath. Sjekloca has a heart of gold and a granite chin and quite never gave up, but did not move well enough to stick and move with a consistent jab on Bika. Sjekloca spent most of the bout in front of Bika, and Bika simply outworked him and put rounds in the bank.
The bout looked closer to 116-112. Scores were 118-112, 119-109, 120-108 for Bika.
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