Nyambayar narrowly over-comes Breedy!
On Saturday night we saw a WBC Featherweight world title eliminator that had former world title challenger Tugstsogt Nyambayar (12-1, 9) [Нямбаярын Тогсцогт] score his latest win, as he narrowly over-came the previously unbeaten Cobia Breedy (15-1, 5) in a very entertaining back and forth battle on Showtime.
Going in we did expect this to be a good one, a fun one, and an exciting one and it delivered. Thought it was much, much more competitive than we expected.
The opening moments saw them go straight to work, completely forgoing the typical feeling out process. The round was an exciting one that Breedy seemed to be edging until seconds before the bell, when he was dropped. The knockdown secured Nyambayar a 10-8 round, in what was a pretty clear 3-point swing.
The second round saw Nyamabayar score a second knockdown early on and it seemed like he was going to blow out Breedy early on. To his credit however Breedy seemed to regroup very well after this second knockdown, and by the end of the round he looked clear headed and back with it.
With a 20-16 lead secured after 2 rounds this looked like a mismatch but then Breedy changed his gameplan. He began to use the ring a lot, make the most of his speed and out work Nyamabayar, who was made to look slow and defensively open. Breedy was landing clean jabs and solid right hands, and whilst they didn't hurt Nyambayar they were landing and catching the eye as he began a real fight back. That was helped by Nyamabayar essentially sleep walking through a few rounds as Breedy closed the gap on the scorecards.
Sadly for Breedy he made a stupid mistake in blowing his nose, causing his left eye to swell up, just as he was starting to build momentum. The swelling of the eye proved to be a major issue and hindered his sight notably. He was however lucky that Nyamabayar didn't hammer the eye, which could, very seriously, have caused the bout to be stopped.
With Breedy fighting one eyed and with Nyamabayar's team telling him things were closer we began to get glimpses of what the Mongolian was capable of. The early stages of rounds 7 and 10 were great from Nyamabayar, who went through the gears, showed some intensity, let his combinations go and looked great. Sadly though we only saw glimpses of what he could do, before he dropped his pace again. Had he kept it up there was, again, a very real chance he could have stopped Breedy. Instead however Nyamabayar's pace dropped and Breedy regrouped, and got back to out working the Mongolian.
Breedy managed to finish well and had notable success in the late rounds, though sadly for him the early hole he found himself in, after the two knockdowns, seemed to be too much overall. He had been valiant, he had given a great account of himself, showed his toughness, his heart, desire, speed, skill and movement, but the knockdowns looked like the difference.
After 12 rounds we went to the scorecards and bizarrely the first card read out was a 115-111 in favour of Breedy, a card that didn't really match up at all with what we had seen. We though Breedy had given an amazing account of himself, and made it close, but we couldn't see a way to have him winning. Thankfully however the other two scorecards, 114-112 and 114-113, both went in favour of Nyamabayar to give him the split decision.
If we're being totally honest Nyambayar deserved the win, the knockdowns left him with a big advantage and whilst Breedy did deplete it, he didn't do enough to totally over-turn it. However we were left more impressed by Breedy, who showed a lot to like in a massive step up, than Nyambayar, who started well, showed flashes of brilliance, but really failed to keep it up.
We know Nyambayar is good, but once again he has struggled with lateral movement, shown a lack of intensity, and essentially fallen to sleep in a bout. He started slowly against Gary Russell Jr earlier this year, and it cost him, and he almost gave this away with a lack of activity. Fingers crossed his team make him realise that he needs to let his hands go! He's a stunning combination puncher, a very heavy handed fighter, but someone who struggles to fight at top gear for more than a few seconds at a time.
As for Breedy, please let us see him again!
Going in we did expect this to be a good one, a fun one, and an exciting one and it delivered. Thought it was much, much more competitive than we expected.
The opening moments saw them go straight to work, completely forgoing the typical feeling out process. The round was an exciting one that Breedy seemed to be edging until seconds before the bell, when he was dropped. The knockdown secured Nyambayar a 10-8 round, in what was a pretty clear 3-point swing.
The second round saw Nyamabayar score a second knockdown early on and it seemed like he was going to blow out Breedy early on. To his credit however Breedy seemed to regroup very well after this second knockdown, and by the end of the round he looked clear headed and back with it.
With a 20-16 lead secured after 2 rounds this looked like a mismatch but then Breedy changed his gameplan. He began to use the ring a lot, make the most of his speed and out work Nyamabayar, who was made to look slow and defensively open. Breedy was landing clean jabs and solid right hands, and whilst they didn't hurt Nyambayar they were landing and catching the eye as he began a real fight back. That was helped by Nyamabayar essentially sleep walking through a few rounds as Breedy closed the gap on the scorecards.
Sadly for Breedy he made a stupid mistake in blowing his nose, causing his left eye to swell up, just as he was starting to build momentum. The swelling of the eye proved to be a major issue and hindered his sight notably. He was however lucky that Nyamabayar didn't hammer the eye, which could, very seriously, have caused the bout to be stopped.
With Breedy fighting one eyed and with Nyamabayar's team telling him things were closer we began to get glimpses of what the Mongolian was capable of. The early stages of rounds 7 and 10 were great from Nyamabayar, who went through the gears, showed some intensity, let his combinations go and looked great. Sadly though we only saw glimpses of what he could do, before he dropped his pace again. Had he kept it up there was, again, a very real chance he could have stopped Breedy. Instead however Nyamabayar's pace dropped and Breedy regrouped, and got back to out working the Mongolian.
Breedy managed to finish well and had notable success in the late rounds, though sadly for him the early hole he found himself in, after the two knockdowns, seemed to be too much overall. He had been valiant, he had given a great account of himself, showed his toughness, his heart, desire, speed, skill and movement, but the knockdowns looked like the difference.
After 12 rounds we went to the scorecards and bizarrely the first card read out was a 115-111 in favour of Breedy, a card that didn't really match up at all with what we had seen. We though Breedy had given an amazing account of himself, and made it close, but we couldn't see a way to have him winning. Thankfully however the other two scorecards, 114-112 and 114-113, both went in favour of Nyamabayar to give him the split decision.
If we're being totally honest Nyambayar deserved the win, the knockdowns left him with a big advantage and whilst Breedy did deplete it, he didn't do enough to totally over-turn it. However we were left more impressed by Breedy, who showed a lot to like in a massive step up, than Nyambayar, who started well, showed flashes of brilliance, but really failed to keep it up.
We know Nyambayar is good, but once again he has struggled with lateral movement, shown a lack of intensity, and essentially fallen to sleep in a bout. He started slowly against Gary Russell Jr earlier this year, and it cost him, and he almost gave this away with a lack of activity. Fingers crossed his team make him realise that he needs to let his hands go! He's a stunning combination puncher, a very heavy handed fighter, but someone who struggles to fight at top gear for more than a few seconds at a time.
As for Breedy, please let us see him again!