Eleider Alvarez unanimously nails Shawn Hawk to defend WBO NABO light heavyweight title – Boxing News
Eleider Alvarez, the current WBO NABO light heavyweight champion, successfully defended his title for the very first time and collected a unanimous decision against his Friday night opponent, Shawn Hawk, in a 12-round bout held on June 8, 2012.
The duo headlined the pay-per-view organised and promoted by Yvon Michel of GYM Promotions. The ring for the showdown was setup at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was co-headlined by the non-title eight-round heavyweight clash between Oscar Rivas
and Sylvera Louis.
Eleider, 28, is a surging Canadian proud who has in a very small number of bouts not only grabbed the WBO title but has also built himself an undefeated streak which includes men with decent resumes.
Alvarez, also known as ‘The Storm’, was entering in his ninth career bout with the ambition to seal his name in the top 10 list of his division. Before the bout during a media interaction, Alvarez commented that his moment to enjoy the limelight has arrived.
The Colombian proud stated, “I’m very happy now for this opportunity in the rankings. I think in the next year I will fight for the world championship. That’s my dream. I’m 28 now, and in boxing, 28 is the moment. My moment is now.”
From the very first round, Alvarez tightened his grip on the bout and did not allow even a split chance to Shawn to loosen his gloves. Hawk, also 28, was entering the ring with a clear upper hand as far as experience is concerned. Shawn was in his career’s
26th bout and boasted 23 wins and just one loss. Also known as ‘The Sioux Warrior’, Hawk was coming from a decent five-bout win streak and was ready to take on Alvarez.
However, it seemed that he lacked the will and desire to grab the gold as in almost all the rounds Shawn was sluggish and did not counter Alvarez’s attacks effectively. At one moment, Alvarez was close to grab a knockout win but later on shared the reason
as to why he was unable to capitalise the golden opportunity of knocking out Shawn.
Eleider stated, “It was stupid of me. I thought the referee was going to stop the fight, but that wasn’t possible.” The bout ended and all the three designated judges emphatically gave the decision in favour of the Colombian pugilist.
Alvarez collected 119-108, 119-108, and 118-109 scores which clearly show that it was Eleider who threw and connected the most punches. With this win, Alvarez has collected his ninth career win and has also defended his title for the very first time.
Shawn, on the contrary, has received his second career loss and interestingly in his second ever title bout.
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