Already dominating a yawning tactical fight, Kendall Holt floored Mike Arnaoutis midway through the final round to seal the deal. Holt, now 22-1, won a unanimous decision in WBO junior welterweight eliminator and put himself in position for a mandatory challenge to champion Ricardo Torres.

Although Holt was plainly the quicker of the two, both boxers seemed overly cautious, and the crowd seemed to grow increasingly restive as it became clear that the exciting fight many had anticipated was not going to materialize.  Arnaoutis (17-2-2), who had battled Torres to a split decision last fall, was never in this one, and Holt punctuated his win when he sneaked in a short right hand over Arnoutis’ left to put the Greek on his backside in the final round. Arnoutis bounced up to take referee Benjy Esteves’ mandatory 8-count, but boxed for the rest of the way as if he were resigned to his fate.

Steve Weisfeld scored it 117-110, George Hill and John Stewart 118-109 for Holt. (BoxingTalk had Holt winning 116-111.)

The co-feature, a matchup of unbeaten but largely untested heavyweights, was supposed to advance the career of the winner, but instead it exposed both of them.  Mike Marrone (18-0) won a majority decision over Malachy Farrell (15-1) in a fight neither man deserved to win. Marrone was aggressive but clumsy, Farrell ponderous but landed the harder shots.

Judge Eugenia Williams scored it even at 76-76, but was overruled by Pierre Benoist and Tommy Kaczmarek, who both had Marrone up 78-72. The BoxingTalk card concurred with Williams’.

Source: ShoBox

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