Ronald Ellis (14-0-1, 10 KOs) managed to get by Christopher Brooker (11-3, 5 KOs) in their bout on ShoBox: The Next Generation, albeit while not looking great in the process.
From the opening bell, it seemed that Brooker was aware that he was brought in to lose to Ellis–that it was his job not to win, but to do whatever he could to just make Ellis look bad. Brooker held, he lunged, he pushed his man around–at no point did it look like Brooker was trying to win. His punches were all over the place, and he didn’t look sharp in the slightest.
In the sixth, Ellis managed to string together a couple of impressive stretches of combat, landing a number of combinations on Brooker’s face that never quite hurt the Philadelphian the way that Ellis might have wanted to.
Ellis did his damndest to look good against Brooker, but failed to be impressive in the end. Though the cards were unanimously in his favor by scores of 77-75 and 79-73×2, he was sloppy and incredibly unsharp throughout all eight rounds.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the whole fight was Brooker’s reaction as the scorecards were read. Brooker looked incredulous, likely convinced he had been robbed of a victory. Unfortunately in boxing, surviving–the act of not losing–isn’t the same as winning.
Ellis is a solid prospect in a pretty wide-ranging 168-pound weight class. While he is certainly not contender-level material yet, he should be within a few years provided he can continue to put up the knockout numbers he had been before staring down Brooker.
Ellis is unlikely to be a champion any time soon, but a path to that road is visible provided he takes this victory as a learning experience and comes out better the next time around.
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
