For Kelsey
”
The Road Warrior
”
Jeffries, Saturday night’s decision perhaps felt like a punch to
the stomach.
Standing in the center of the ring at San Jose’s HP Pavilion,
having just finished 10 rounds of exhaustive boxing with Ana
”
The Hurricane
”
Julaton, including an all-or-nothing final round where both
fighters appeared to be almost supporting each other’s weight at
the bell, Jeffries figured she had won the fight.
Or, at the very least, she had earned a draw against her Daly
City opponent, who seemed to feed off the very vocal and supportive
HP Pavilion crowd.
But really, anything but a loss.
SAN JOSE
For Kelsey “The Road Warrior” Jeffries, Saturday night’s decision perhaps felt like a punch to the stomach.
Standing in the center of the ring at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, having just finished 10 rounds of exhaustive boxing with Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton, including an all-or-nothing final round where both fighters appeared to be almost supporting each other’s weight at the bell, Jeffries figured she had won the fight.
Or, at the very least, she had earned a draw against her Daly City opponent, who seemed to feed off the very vocal and supportive HP Pavilion crowd.
But really, anything but a loss.
“I thought I was in control,” Jeffries said. “I didn’t think I would lose the fight. At worst, I thought it could be a draw. It was close. There were a lot of close rounds. She’s a good fighter.
“But I took the end of the fight, and usually that’s the telling thing – when you take the end.”
Instead, Jeffries, who hadn’t fought since June 2008, lost by majority decision to Julaton for the vacated IBA super bantamweight title, an upset of sorts as Jeffries trumps Julaton in professional experience by 45 fights.
“I wouldn’t want to say surprised, but I feel overwhelmed right now,” said Julaton, who improves to just 5-1-1 in her pro career, although did have an extensive amateur career of 30-plus fights.
“Everything is amazing. It feels like a dream,” Julaton said. “We worked really hard just to get to this point, and now I’m just happy everything turned out the way it did.”
Julaton used speed and a strong left jab to set the tone in the early rounds, and tried to stay on the outside as Jeffries preferred to battle closer to the body. The differing styles allowed for a stop-and-go bout, the main event of American Metal and Irons’ Fight Night at the Tank.
“But I thought I had the edge,” Jeffries said of Saturday night. “I thought I won the fight.”
It is Jeffries’ first defeat since January of 2006, when the Hollister boxer lost by unanimous decision to Jackie Nava in Cancun, Mexico. It also ends a streak of nine straight fights in which Jeffries posted a victory or a draw.
She is now 41-10-1 for her career.
What came as a shock to the Jeffries camp was the scoring decision among the three judges on Saturday night. While one judge scored it 96-94 in favor of Julaton, the second judge recorded the fight 95-95. The third judge, who needed to score in favor of Jeffries for the local prizefighter to earn a draw, scored the bout resoundingly in favor of Julaton, 98-92.
Jeffries’ trainer, Buddy McGirt, who flew in from his boxing facilities in Florida on Friday to be in the Road Warrior’s corner, said the third judge’s score was insulting.
“To see young ladies, both of them, get in there and fight their heart out for no money and get a bad decision like that, it hurts,” said McGirt, adding that the first two judges’ scores were more appropriate for what was a close fight.
“But 98-92 is a slap in the face,” he said. “I’d rather you just not even score the fight if you’re gonna do that.
“I would have been happy if the judge would have gave it to (Julaton) 96-94. I still say we got robbed. But 98-92 is an insult. It’s an insult to every fan in here who saw the fight tonight.”
McGirt felt Julaton took the first three rounds – the Hollister fighter said she was simply feeling out her opponent – but Jeffries controlled the last seven. Wanting to turn the 10-round bout into a “dog fight,” McGirt had Jeffries stay close to Julaton to work the body, while subsequently taking away Julaton’s jab.
The plan to stay close was evident from the fifth round on.
Working in close proximity led to at least two occasions where both Jeffries and Julaton butted heads. As a result, however, Julaton had a cut on the left side of her forehead, and another on her lower lip.
“It started off kind of slow. I thought she won the first round, and then I thought I started to catch up,” Jeffries said. “Toward the end, especially when I got that cut, I kept nailing it. But I think it may have came off a head butt.
“But with the blood, I could tell, something in her changed and I started taking control … I kept nailing her with the right hand, and she didn’t like that. Every time I got inside, she would try to tie up. She didn’t want to fight inside …”
Jeffries said she was “appalled” by the scoring decision of the third judge.
“She’s an active fighter on the inside,” Julaton said.
“I have a cut from a head butt, just from coming in. I was trying to fight on the outside and she was just trying to close the gap. That’s just how it works out some times.”
Even in hindsight, though, Jeffries said she wouldn’t change her fight plan for Julaton. Although she was upset with the scoring decision, as McGirt said, “Sometimes you have to take the bitter with the sweet.”
“I’ve had this happen to me before,” Jeffries said. “It’s discouraging, but what are you gonna do?”
More to come.
—
American Metal and Iron’s Fight Night at the Tank – HP Pavilion in San Jose
In other fights on Saturday night’s card, which included six four-round bouts, Berkley’s Pedro Rios (1-1) defeated Antioch’s Mike Alexander (1-4-2) by unanimous decision; San Leandro’s Jason Montgomery (1-0) defeated Hedi Bouaziz of France by unanimous decision; Clint Coronel (2-0-1) of San Jose defeated Los Angeles’ Herman Scott (2-2) by split decision; Novato’s Jonathan Alcantara (1-1-1) defeated Santa Rosa’s Juan Topoz (2-2) by unanimous decision; Watsonville’s Oscar Gadoy (1-0) defeated Eduardo Herrera (0-3) of Bakersfield by split decision; and Tony Johnson (3-0) of San Jose defeated and Las Vegas’ Artis Walker (0-1) by technical knockout (1:17).
