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Friday Round-up: N’dou tops St. Clair, Bowman loses unbeaten mark

Fighters Network
11
Aug

In a battle of former beltholders battling for one last shot at a title, Lovemore Ndou (49-13-2, 31 knockouts) defeated Gairy St. Clair (42-12-2, 18 KOs) by unanimous decision at the Southport RSL Club in Queensland, Australia. The scores were 116-112 twice, while the third judge had it 117-112. 

The 40-year-old Ndou of Sydney, who briefly held the IBF light welterweight title in 2006, was able to impose his size and physicality on the comparatively diminutive St. Clair, 37, of Sutherland, Australia, initiating the offense with his jab and backing St. Clair to the ropes. St. Clair, who had a short reign as IBF super featherweight titleholder in 2006, was stunned near the end of the fourth round.

St. Clair rallied in the last two rounds to try and pull out an improbable knockout victory, but Ndou survived to the bell unscathed.

Ndou hadn’t fought since dropping a decision to Kell Brook last June, but returned with a purpose in mind. All of Ndou’s purse will be donated to the Dulwich Hill Youth Centre, which is run by his trainer Father Dave Smith.



“Like I’ve said before, if you’ve got a goal, you’ve got to have a valid reason to make it successful,” said Ndou. “My reason is to raise funds for a youth center to keep the children out of trouble. I believe that’s a very valid reason, and that’s why I performed the way I did today.”

Having annexed the vacant IBF Pan Pacific welterweight title, which typically affords the holder an IBF ranking, Ndou will have opportunities at bigger purses in the near future.

Bowman loses shocker to Gil in York, Penn.

Carney “Beeper” Bowman III (17-1, 7 KOs) suffered his first career loss Friday night, dropping a six round split decision to Ramesis Gil (8-4-5, 5 KOs) in a lightweight bout at the Valencia Ballroom in his hometown of York, Penn. Scores were 59-55 and 58-56 for Gil, while the third had it 58-56 for Bowman.

Bowman, 29, had been inactive for nearly two years heading into the bout due to a number of fights falling through, as well as the burdens of supporting a family.

Bowman, who won the 2003 National Golden Gloves at 119 pounds, was fighting a naturally bigger man who had faced six previous undefeated fighters in a row heading in. Bowman’s trainer Julio Alvarez told THE RING this week that Bowman’s best weight was at 126 pounds.

The York Daily Record reported that Bowman believes he broke one of his wrists in the bout.

Tomiyama stops Nozaki in 4 in Japan

Former title challenger Konosuke Tomiyama (22-5, 8 KOs) of Tokyo, Japan halted a two-fight losing streak with a fourth round knockout of Masamichi Nozaki (15-3, 6 KOs) at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The time of stoppage in this bantamweight contest was 2:32.

Tomiyama, 29, had given then-WBA super flyweight titleholder Nobuo Nashiro a tough battle before being stopped in the eighth round in 2009, yet had lost consecutive bouts to novices with less than 10 fights in his two previous fights headining into Friday. The 23-year-old Nozaki had won his last 15 fights since losing his first two pro contests.

 

 

Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMA News. He is also a member of The Ring ratings panel. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia.

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