Kamil Laszczyk took on a tough, experienced professional in Daniel Diaz and put away 8 solid, satisfying experience rounds for ESPN's Friday Night Fights card. Kamil had an advantage in speed and coordination in his slightly slick, busy style. But most would agree that he took a step up and there was some pressure from inside and outside of the ring to contend with because of it. Not only did he get the win but got it by near shutout. You can't say he didn't have a productive match or that he didn't do himself proud.
Laszczyk is at least a solid prospect at featherweight. That said, despite his dominating the action, I couldn't say he looked to be spectacular. He looked good. He did get caught with a couple bombs from Diaz but he didn't seem hurt. He didn't seem like he needed to change his game plan and he didn't. He was, as I said, just slightly slick at this level and he did score a knock down, so he has a little pop in his punches. He had a good offensive diversity and took full advantage of firing faster than Diaz could hope to. He moved very well. He had class temperament and no one should put that down. He dominated a good class of opponent when he got a good TV date and he put in the work so that not only did he clearly win but he didn't let the crowd get away from him either. There's nothing to knock.
But he did not leave me with an overall big impression for a championship future. What I took away from the performance is that he's as likely as not to find a shot at a world title somewhere, whether he's successful or not. That, in and of itself, is an impressive thing for an athlete and I don't seek to diminish that. But in the grand scheme of things, I don't think he looked good enough to earmark him as a star. We'll see. I'd like to see him get another TV date soon. He's certainly not a bad watch and I'd consider his inclusion in another ESPN card to be welcomed, speaking as a fan.
Congratulations to him on a dominant performance. As for Diaz, when he landed, he did tend to land well-placed, flush, hard shots. The main difference is that he just did not have the speed of hand or foot to put the punches together like Laszczyk did. Because when he landed hard, his man was either answering back faster than he could successfully react to, offensively or defensively, or he was just out of reach. Diaz had a hard night and he hung tough, taking a lot of shots. He was a tough, determined guy in there but he was operating at too much of an athletic disadvantage to overcome. His effort did lend itself to a productive experience for Laszczyk only, which I'm sure was not his goal but that's the way it works out sometimes for a fellow like Diaz. There's no shame in it.
Notable Damage: Diaz suffered a cut over the left eye and Laszczyk over the right, I believe. Sometimes it's hard to tell when the cuts aren't dramatic as these weren't.
Teddy Atlas' unofficial scorecard:
Total Score: 79-72, for Laszczyk
Laszczyk Rounds: 1-3 & 5-10 (Round 1 scored 10-8 for a KD)
Diaz Rounds: 4
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Update: The commonly expected spelling of Kamil's name has been altered and we've changed the page accordingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment