ADRIAN DIACONU W12 CHRIS HENRY

Watching the live stream from Romania of the Adrian Diaconu-Chris Henry fight on DonKingtv.com was frustrating. With Diaconu in front but Henry still in the fight, the stream went down in round 10. It brought back memories of the old closed-circuit days when at some locations the picture would fail and refunds would be given. At least this fight was free on the internet, but webcast streams being lost, or the picture freezing and/or breaking up, are a constant concern.

Diaconu boxed a solid technical fight for most the nine-and-a-bit rounds that we were able to see, and he had Henry somewhat wobbly late in the eighth.

Surprisingly, the local favourite Diaconu seemed to tire in the ninth and Henry grittily came back. After nine rounds, although Diaconu was in front I made the note that I thought Henry was still in the fight. Then the screen went black.

The final scores, while unanimous in Diaconu’s favour, suggested that Henry came on fairly strongly towards the end: 115-113, 115-113 and 116-113.

The apparent late-rounds fade by Diaconu was disappointing and I think put the Romanian into perspective. As I mentioned in the preview of today's fight, the three-round massacre of Rico Hoye made Diaconu look better than he really is — Hoye was pretty much a shell of a fighter that night.

Diaconu had to fight for today's win, and with a bit more experience I think that Henry would have beaten him. Texas commissioner Dickie Cole was absolutely right when he assured me that Henry is a “viable” fighter.

It would have been nice to have been able to see the end of the bout, but as a member of the boxrec.com Current Scene forum noted resignedly: “It was fun while it lasted.”