Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer may have been the main event at the boardwalk in Atlantic City but Jermaine Franklin (18-0, 13 KOs) and Rydell Booker (25-2, 12 KOs) stole the show at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City on April 13.
These two Heavyweights waged war for 10 full rounds. The fight started off extremely fast as both men were looking to establish themselves. Booker did a very good job early on of making his opponent miss and pay. He also rattled off a ton of flashy combinations, which caught the attention of the fans in attendance.
Booker wasn’t the only one who was putting in work as Franklin had plenty of success as well. The undefeated Franklin came forward and repeatedly let his hands go.
He dictated the pace early on but was not as accurate as his opponent. As the contest went on it seemed as though Booker began to fade, while Franklin on the other hand only got stronger.
As the second half of the fight began, things really started to heat up. Franklin forced his opponent to the ropes and began to really pepper him with shots.
Booker did his best to avoid the incoming shots but was starting to get clipped early and often. Instead of sitting back and allowing Franklin to get off any shot he wanted, Booker made him pay as he landed numerous counter shots.
There were a ton of long exchanges between both men as at times they refused to take a step back. What resulted was plenty of crowd pleasing back and forth action. Neither man seemed to be hurt at any point during the match as they continued to land hard shot after hard shot on one another.
The final bell rang and the fans immediately jumped to their feet in appreciation for what they had just witnessed. Both men put on an absolute show.
In what turned out to be a shock to just about everyone in attendance, the judges scorecards were extremely wide in favor of Franklin.
One judge scored the bout 99-91, while the other two had it 98-92.
Disregard the judges. Sure, the right man won the contest, but it was a lot closer than what they indicated. Franklin has the look of a future contender.
“I think I had a decent performance,” said Franklin after the bout. “There’s some stuff I could work on. I over-crowded myself a little bit. I was a little over-anxious. He had a lot more experience than me and used it to his advantage. He could see what I was doing.”
Although Booker lost, he still has a bright future ahead of him as well.
“I’d rate my performance about a seven,” said Booker. “I had a training camp injury I was dealing with. I’m going to stay active and come back stronger than ever.”
