Photo by Leo Wilson/PBC
Edner “Cherry Bomb” Cherry (36-7-2, 19 KOs) did enough in the judges’ eyes on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 in the main event of PBC’s Toe-To-Toe Tuesday on FS1 for a unanimous decision victory over Omar “Super O” Douglas (17-2, 12 KOs).
The scores were 98-92, 96-94 and 96-94.
In what came to be a tactical fight, rather than the brawl most people expected, the decision seemed to come out as surprising to say the least.
Recently crowned IBF Junior Middleweight Champion Jarrett Hurd, who on the night was color commentating on the fights alongside Brian Custer, let out a “Whoa” when Ray Flores announced the official judges scores.
Early on, both fighters tried to establish their ring presence with Cherry being the aggressor early on in each round. But Douglas had a game plan and stuck with it for most of the fight–not getting into a brawl and boxing his way around Cherry.
Douglas was able to frustrate Cherry with his jab all night and at times you could hear Douglas’ corner yelling at him “You’re boxing beautifully, baby!”
When Cherry forced the issue and brought the fight to Douglas, he seemed to have his moments, but those moments came infrequently. You got the sense Douglas took away a lot from his loss to Javier Fortuna last November with the boxing gamesmanship he put on Tuesday night.
Douglas’ patented left hook seemed to find Cherry quite often as Super O was doing a fine job sticking with his jab.
Heading into the ninth round, you started to see Cherry show urgenc–an indication he knew he had to start landing some shots to have any hope of changing the dynamic of this fight.
Hurd acknowledged to the fans watching at home that he felt Cherry needed a Knockout in the 10th and final round to win. When the final bell rang, both men immediately put up their hands, signaling they felt they won the fight.
In the end, Cherry and not Douglas, had his hand raised as you heard gasps and boos from the Bethlehem, PA crowd.
Not sure what the judges were watching. Christmas in April for Edner Cherry who is given a UD over Omar Douglas. #Boxing #PBConFS1 pic.twitter.com/hG2Ob0gBhb
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) April 5, 2017
