IBF Junior Welterweight Champion Juan Urango retained his title against Randall Bailey by battling back from the first knockdown of his career. Urango came back to score three knockdowns of his own before Bailey’s corner saw enough and stopped the fight.
The fight pitted two Miami fighters facing one another in Hollywood, Florida, and neither were willing to back down early fighting essentially at home. They traded the first four rounds, Bailey keeping his distance and scoring with hard right hands while Urango tried to get in close and focused almost solely on pounding Bailey to the body.
In round six, Bailey extended his lead and nearly ended the fight when he dropped Urango with a big right hand only a minute into the round. Urango was instantly cut over the right eye and struggled to make it back to his feet by Referee Tommy Kimmons’ count of nine.
But Bailey was unable to put Urango away after that and got knocked down himself when Urango landed a left hand to his shoulder that staggered him and saw his glove touch the canvas. The knockdown went unnoticed by Kimmons, so Bailey still earned a 10-8 round.
Having been floored for the first time in his career, Urango fought back extremely well, continuing to focus on Bailey’s body for the next two rounds, which were both close, and finally dropping Bailey with a huge left hand in round nine. This time, it was Bailey who was down for a nine count, getting up at just the last second to continue.
But back on his feet, Bailey never regained his legs for the rest of the fight. He was off-balance the rest of round nine and eventually went down again, despite not being hit flush. He was again stunned by Urango’s shots in round ten and had no choice but to take a knee to save himself. When he still didn’t have his legs under him in round eleven, his trainer, John David Jackson, went ahead and informed the commission to throw in the towel rather than see his man seriously hurt.
Bailey kneeled in his corner and buried his face, but he had nothing to be ashamed of for his performance. The swollen faces of both men told the story of the fight as they had been in a real turf war.
As for Urango, his performance was truly impressive, given the way he responded to being knocked down. He has a tremendous chin, and it took a tremendous shot from the hard-hitting Bailey to put him down, something Ricky Hatton and even WBC Welterweight Champion Andre Berto, who just outpointed Urango in May, didn’t come close to doing. In serious trouble halfway through the fight, Urango responded like a champion.
