HOLLY HOLM W10 MARY JO SANDERS

Sometimes what looks like a highly competitive fight on paper turns out to be a rout. So it was when local favourite Holly Holm widely outpointed Mary Jo Sanders in the Finally women’s junior middleweight title fight on PPV from Albuquerque on Friday night.

The commentary had this a close fight, which puzzled me because I was struggling to give Sanders a round. The judges had it right with their scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93.

Holm’s southpaw style, speed and natural athleticism makes her hard to beat but it is more than that. There is a mental and physical toughness about the “Preacher’s Daughter”. As I noted in the preview, when she is hit, she fights back — nothing goes unanswered.

The key to the fight was whether or not Sanders, perceived as bigger and stronger, would be able to put effective pressure on Holmes and affect her with her punches. She was unable to do this. Holm was hitting hard enough to get Sanders to show her respect and her movement was confusing the previously unbeaten Detroit boxer; Mary Jo was moving in but unsure of herself, or so I thought, and she was either being beaten to the punch, smothered by Holm’s rushes or simply swiping at the space where her opponent had just been.

I thought the fight was basically all over in the first round. I scribbled the note: “H’s speed and energy immediately apparent ... S. already looking puzzled and discouraged.”

Sometimes, in the very first round, you just know who is going to win a fight. I think that Holm probably knew it after the first two minutes and I suspect that Sanders did, too.

Sanders was in with the type of fighter she had never faced, with a style that she had never encountered, and although I gave her a few rounds on sheer effort she never at any stage looked like winning.

Holm did look a bit tired in the 10th, doing a couple of odd, jumping movements that made me think of Floyd Patterson’s “kangaroo punch”, but she was still landing the cleaner blows. She is quite something as a fighter, athlete and entertainer, and it is easy to see why she is so popular in her hometown.

The 10-round lightweight title fight between Chevelle Hallback and Jeannine Garside might have been the best women’s fight I have ever seen, with Hallback finishing strongly to clinch a unanimous decision with scores of 96-94, 96-94 again and a totally misleading 99-91.

This was a tough, back and forth contest between women who can really fight. After three rounds I thought that the strong Canadian southpaw Garside was going to win with her solid, well-placed punches, but Hallback came back with big left hooks and right hands, rocking her opponent and gaining control of the contest. It was close, but Hallback’s punches were harder and sharper than those of Garside going down the stretch, but she needed a big last round to pull it out.

Wendy Rodriguez, just 4ft 11ins, was impressive in winning a split decision over the bigger Hollie Dunaway to avenge a previous loss in their strawweight (105-pound) title bout. Dunaway boxed well at times but Rodriguez showed that good things come in small packages as she intelligently forced the fight and landed some lovely right hands. The commentators had this a runaway win for Dunaway, I had it even, but my impression was that Rodriguez was the better fighter and she finished strongly. And what was going on in Dunaway’s corner between rounds as she got into an argument with a cornerman who seemed to be imposing himself far too much on the proceedings? Maybe Dunaway would have lost in any case, but the contretemps was not conducive to success.

Carita Moreno, the 26-year-old flyweight, maintained a steady, skilled offensive in powering her way to a unanimous decision over the game but outclassed Eileen Olszewski. The scores of 100-90, 100-90 and a very kind 97-93 told the tale. Moreno is another woman who can really fight, and I was extremely impressed.

The show was a tremendous advertisement for women’s boxing. When a boxer performs with skill and commitment it doesn’t matter whether it is a male or a female match, it is still good boxing, and this show was just that — good boxing.