In a huge upset, 36-year-old Ismael Barroso (22-3-2, 20 KOs) dethroned WBA gold super lightweight champion Yves Ulysse Jr. (18-2, 9 KOs) by twelve round unanimous decision on Thursday night at the Hangar at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California.
Former WBA interim lightweight champion Barroso clearly outworked the 11:1 favorite Ulysse, who seemed befuddled by Barroso’s southpaw stance. Scores were 117-111, 115-113, 115-113.
“I want to thank God for this win,” said Barroso afterward.”I didn’t just win on my strength; I won by the will of God. My trainer told me to push hard and so I won the championship rounds. I want to thank my whole team and everyone who stood by me.”
Terribly disappointing performance by Ulysse. He looked spectacular against Cletus Seldin, so I expected a lot more from him. He didn’t throw a lot of punches and missed quite a few that he did throw. Barroso was slow and plodding, but he threw hard punches to body and head and kept it up all fight. I thought the 117-111 card reflected how the fight went. The two cards at 115-113 must have been for some other fight. This one wasn’t even close
Ulysse is not as good as I thought he was. He looked really awkward in missing a lot of his shots and really needs to watch the film of this fight and figure out what he needs to do in the future. Performances like this one are indicative of a B level fighter and definitely not world class.
I think AP Duenas should become a judge :))
If so, he would without a doubt be one of the very few trusted judges on the planet.
I did watch the fight, and I have to agree: this was a clear win (117:111, or at worst 116:112) for Barroso. Unfortunately, Barroso is too old to take it much further but the win will still be a deserved boost for him.
After writing that AP Duenas should be(come) an official judge, I realized that his break down of fights is usually so spot on that he should become a supervisor of all judges of high profile fights instead :))
I agree, Ulysse looked masterful against Seldon, but then again, Seldin is basically just a brawler who hadn’t been around the block when it came to the craft of boxing. I expected a lot more from Ulysse.
Have to wonder why God willed him to win.