Dierry Jean secured a world title shot as he scored a fourth round stoppage over Cleotis Pendarvis in an IBF Jr. Welterweight elimination bout at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
It was a competitive fight for the first two plus round as Pendarvis landed some nice hooks to the body and Jean landed some solid rights. Jean was cut badly around the right eye from a headbutt in round three.
In round four, Jean landed a booming right hand to the head that dumped Pendarvis on his back. Pendarvis stumbled to his feet but was able to continue. It did not last long as Jean jumped all over Pendarvis and hit him with with some vicious shots before referee Garry Ritter stopped the bout at 2:01 of round four.
Jean, 139 1/2 lbs of Port Au Prince Haiti will now look for a world title shot with a record of 25-0 with 17 knockouts. Pendarvis, 139 3/4 lbs of Long Beach, CA is now 17-4-1.
“The cut was bad,’’ said the 31-year-old Jean, who was born in Haiti but has lived in Canada since he was 10. “I couldn’t see anything. But my corner did a great job with it, and then I caught him with a perfect right hand. I was very surprised the referee let it go so long after the first knockdown but I knew I had to keep fighting and finish the job.
“I’m just so excited to finally be in a position to be getting a shot at the world title. I don’t care who it comes against. I feel I’m ready for anybody.
“Pendarvis was a good fighter and he surprised me a little bit with his counter-punching. But I thought I was winning all the rounds. So the fact he was ahead on one scorecard is surprising to me.’’
The loss snapped a six-fight winning streak for Pendarvis. “This is very disappointing,’’ he said, “but I just got caught with a great punch. I went into a shell after I got up and felt I was blocking most of his punches, but there are no excuses. I’ll be back.’’
In a battle between undefeated Jr. Middleweights, John Thompson scored a eight round unanimous decision over Geovanni Rodriguez.
Thompson boxed well over the first three rounds. In round four, Thompson landed a little right hand that made Rodriguez glove hit the canvas and was correctly ruled a knockdown. Later in the round, when it seemed Rodriguez steadied himself, he was dropped again form a hard jab.
Rodriguez started to get a little closer in round’s five and six and landed some good shots with both hands in those rounds. Thompson came back to have a solid round seven with his jab. Rodriguez came out in round eight and fought with some passion for the first time in the fight. That was short lived as Thompson landed a big right hand that sent Rodriguez to the canvas. With Rodriguez clearly hurt, Thompson landed a booming right that sent Rodriguez down for a fourth time in the bout. Rodriguez was able to make it to the final bell but Thompson was comfortably ahead and won by scores of 78-70, 78-70 and 78-71.
Thompson of Irvington, NJ is now 12-0. Rodriguez, 155 1/2 lbs of Trujillo, PR is now 8-1.
“I’m happy with the win but I know I can do better,’’ he said. “I still need to jab more. I should be able to dominate with the jab. But he was a good fighter. I definitely felt I had him out in the final round, but once he started to hold I knew the fight was going the distance. My speed and defense were the keys to my win tonight.’’
