THAT was the stability and consistency of Jordan Gill tonight (April 13) in Manchester, it just came like a bolt from the sky or more accurately the kind of punch of no return that would turn Zelfa Barrett over situation and reduce the narrow deficit on the scorecard.
Typically when something decisive is needed, there is no punch more decisive than a body blow and this both Gill and Barrett understood more clearly than ever in round 10. It was in this round that, Gill, gaining momentum and wanting to stretch his lead, continued to chase Barrett and destroy his ambitions, and it was also in this round that Barrett knocked Gill down with a left hook to the body in the first minute.
At that moment, with Gill's reaction, the fight seemed to be over. The telltale signs of a wounded warrior were there for all to see: lying on his back, writhing in pain, everything seemed to be sucked out of him. Then, however, Gill comes back to life, perhaps realizing that he's leading the fight, or, more likely, remembering where he's been in his personal life in recent years. and consider this a body shot, a mere inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.
Regardless, Gill miraculously got up and resumed his role in the fight, albeit with a more cautious attitude than before. Now, you see, the man from Chatteris was not only injured on his body but also wary of being tagged in the same spot again, which, of course, was Barrett's main goal both in the rest of this round and the rest of the match. .
Suddenly it looked comfortable, the last two and a half rounds representing a marathon in Gill's mind. With the pain refusing to subside, his posture became more bent and Barrett knew exactly what he had to do to prolong his suffering: keep targeting the same area. He did this quite expertly for the remainder of the 10th round before, finally, Gill succumbed to another left hook to the body, which had the same effect as the first. Once again, he writhed on the floor; Once again, he tried to pull himself together and convince himself that it was worth it to continue.
This time the referee, John Latham, looked at Gill much more closely as he returned to an upright position and this time it was clear how much Gill had been hurt by the second body shot when, upon catching In the beginning, he essentially sacrificed his defense. head to ensure Barrett could no longer hit him clearly to the body. This created a somewhat strange scene: Gill continued with his arms protecting only his body and so there was nothing to stop Barrett, 31-2 (17), from hitting him in the head. Without further signals, Barrett landed the shot that caused the referee to intervene not long after the second knockdown.
Up until that point, it had been a fairly even fight; a decent movie with a lot of quality if little in the way of drama. Overall, proceedings were very smooth and rounds were exchanged as freely as punches.
Gill seemed to have started the better of the two, showing good composure and loads of attack, while Barrett came into play more in rounds three and four. By that time, he had found a good position for his uppercut, he was throwing with both his left and right hand, and by that time he was timing Gill to come in and use his lower stature of the opponent against him (hence the frequent use of the uppercut).
Indeed, in round 4 we saw early on what was to come, as Barrett hurt Gill to the body with a left hook and charged towards him afterwards, firing a few more shots towards the area. that area but cannot reproduce the damage of the left hook. the first one. Regardless, if you pay attention, you will see in that round clues as to how Barrett was able to swing the momentum back in his favor and eventually, as shown in round 10, win win the match.
That requires a little patience from Barrett, mind you. In fact, of the two highly trained super heavyweights, Gill was the one who worked better after that fourth round, making most of the subsequent rounds thanks to Barrett's passivity and being active when the Mancunian wanted to move Move, defend or just rest. Until the end, this seemed to be the pattern of the fight heading into the final third and Gill, never wavering from his game plan or even his stance, remained in control and increasingly confident . But, of course, usually when a fighter feels in control, or confident, or not in pain, it hits them; both the finishing blow and the truth.
In the case of Jordan Gill, 28-3-1 (9), this has never been more true than tonight. Unfortunately for him, reality – which came in the form of a body shot by Zelfa Barrett – arrived two minutes and 44 seconds into round 10.
