CARLOS Adames retained his WBC middleweight title after a controversial split decision draw against highly rated British challenger Hamzah Sheeraz.
Expected to serve as a coming out party of sorts, both men left the ring having created more questions than answers:
Was Sheeraz less prepared for the next step than we (or, more to point, his handlers) expected?
Carlos Adames was viewed as a solid but beatable champion. But perhaps better and more experienced than some predicted?
How much did the apparent damaged hand impact Sheeraz’s ability to land often enough to dent and deter the Dominican destroyer?
The holder of the coveted green and gold belt began the fight on the front foot, looking to close the gap on Sheeraz, who used his accurate jab to set up the straight right hand and maintain a comfortable distance.
The British challenger held a high guard and landed multiple sharp jabs on Adames in the second round as the Dominican relentlessly marched forward. The third round followed suit, with Sheeraz constantly moving away from Adames, making it difficult for the champion to land anything significant.
Sheeraz landed his best punch of the fight in the fourth, firing a straight right hand down the guard of Adames, who couldn’t get close to the forever moving challenger Sheeraz, who landed his ramrod jab at will.
The Dominican continued to plough forward and uphold his bullish style, and found far more success in the fifth round, closing the gap and whipping body shots into the body of Sheeraz.
Adames seemed desperate for Sheeraz to stand a trade, pounding his chest after the two exchanged punches at the end of the fifth round, and the sixth round saw the two heavy hitters finally stand in front of each other.
Sheeraz clocked the champion with a vicious lead uppercut, and Adames followed by landing some short right hooks to the head and body as the bout shifted into a contest more suited to the champion.
However, in the seventh, Sheeraz reverted back to his less aggressive style, looking to keep the champion at bay with his jab. Adames landed his best punch of the fight in the eighth, an overhand right that landed cleanly on the challenger, but the Slough-born Sheeraz responded with a powerful straight right hand that caught the champion’s attention.
In round nine, Adames walked Sheeraz down with plenty of confidence and attacked the challenger with plenty of volume and punch variety, whilst Sheeraz maintained his cautious approach, unwilling to go toe-to-toe with “El Caballo Bronco”.
After an uneventful tenth where Adames stalked his opponent around the ring, Sheeraz needed to up the work rate in the 11th, and he certainly did. The challenger landed a right hook, followed by a right uppercut, which sought to stop Adames’ forward momentum.
With 30 seconds to go, Sheeraz landed a monster left hand, and the British title hopeful won the round that he really needed to, ahead of the most important of his professional career.
Both men landed heavily in the 12th and final round; however, the greater volume came from the Dominican champion, who showed an incredible engine to keep up his bullish style until the final moments of the fight.
The judges scored the bout 115-114 in favour of Sheeraz, 118-110 in favour of Adames, and 114-114, ruling the fight an unexpected split draw.
It was further confirmed that the British challenger Sheeraz broke his hand during the fight, perhaps an explanation for the low output throughout the fight.
