Antoine Douglas destroyed Istvan Szili in a scheduled 10 rounder in the middleweight division in front of fans at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The middleweight bout headlined ShowTime’s series “ShoBox: The New Generation.”
Douglas utilized a brilliant game plan for his style to begin the fight. He was reserved and confident. His jab was on point and versatile. He worked behind the jab, but he also used it as a real offensive weapon. It didn’t take long for his opponent to respect the jab and that opened up Douglas’ other weaponry.
Douglas’ footwork was something to be admired as well. He was in and out quickly, but it didn’t affect the pop on his punches. Szili tried to make things happen for himself on offense, but it was difficult for him to initiate anything consistent.
Szili’s best efforts came on the inside, but he wasn’t really all that effective. Fighting on the inside merely lessened the damage he was receiving, but you could see that he was a bit more comfortable on the inside. The problem was that Douglas had no issues commanding the fight from close quarters.
The step back move in boxing is a high-level move, and Douglas certainly has it down, which was evident in this fight, although I’m not sure if he’d get away with it against higher level opposition. Douglas was also impressive with the “Mayweather elbow” to set the head of his opponent. In fact, Douglas scored a knockdown in the 2nd round by using the elbow placement. For the record, the elbow move Mayweather uses is not really legal, but it is a move that is taught in boxing because it can be effective.
It was clear that Douglas’ power was more than enough to close the show, and the moment the bell sounded to signal the 3rd it was on display. Douglas sent Szili to the canvas in the 3rd with a tremendous left hand. He beat the count, only to eat a hard right hand once he got up which sent Szili to the canvas again. The referee decided to stop the fight after the 3rd knockdown.
This was Douglas’ 18th career victory and he remains undefeated, although he does have a draw recorded on his record from a July fight last year.
It seems like GH3 can’t move Douglas fast enough and with the quick work he put in, I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing him very soon.
