Arturo Gatti conqueror Alfonso Gomez was given all he could handle against Ben Tackie in what is suppose to be a tune up fight before facing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for a big payday. The pace was brisk from the outset of this 10 round welterweight bout with Mexican Gomez, 18-3-2, 8 KO’s, using the ring to box while Tackie, 29-8-2,17 KO’s, tried to cut the ring off. Gomez was a heavy -325 favorite at BodogLife.com.
In the early rounds Gomez showed some real polished boxing skills using nice lateral movement and defense to thwart the African’s attacks. Gomez showed why he has emerged as a real contender by displaying good handspeed with every punch in the book. Gomez has showed steady improvement in every fight after beginning his early career as a slugger with heart.
In the third round Tackie worked his way in close enough to hammer home a telling right hand but Gomez showed his solid chin and was unfazed. Tackie was relentless in his pursuit and he showed some more boxing ability than I have seen from in the past while working his way in with the jab and digging left hooks downstairs.
In seventh round the effects of Tackie’s suffocating pressure began to slow Gomez down as he was fighting in reverse and having to go on the defensive with against Tackie’s whirlwind of punches. Gomez was the younger and bigger man in this fight but down the stretch he looked worse for wear as Ben started to land with more frequency.
Despite Tackie gutty performance he wasn’t able to put down a tiring Gomez down the stretch and he dropped a unanimous decision. Scores read: 98-92 twice and 97-93 all in favor of the reality TV star. Final punchstat had Gomez edging Tackie in punches landed 294-176. Tackie has as much heart as anyone and at 34 years of age he still can give top fighters the business and he should get another TV date in the future because of his exciting style.
EinsteinPicks has a big 80 unit pick on the Joe Calzaghe vs Mikkel Kessler Fight that has money maker written all over it. With the winnings from the fight you can buy our Premium Subscriptions package and receive Fight picks all year.Gomez he is scheduled to fight Chavez Jr. In what will be the kid’s first real test. I will go out on a limb early and peg Gomez as a -180 odds favorite over Chavez Jr.
