Urango Too Strong For Ngoudjo

By Michael Nelson

Juan Urango reaffirmed himself as a serious threat to anyone in the 140 pound division by winning the vacant IBF junior welterweight title with an impressive unanimous 12 round decision over Herman Ngoudjo in front of Ngoudjo's home crowd in Montreal. The scores were 118-108, 120-106, and 116-110 in Urango's favor.

In a closely contested opening stanza, Ngoudjo came out with clear intentions of taking advantage of Urango's slow feet by constantly moving while maintaining distance with a busy jab. He was successful for the first half of the round, before Urango started getting inside his jab and landing powerful blows to the body and clubbing shots to the head.

The second round began like the first round ended, with Urango pinning Herman to the ropes and tearing into his midsection. Ngoudjo tried to respond by throwing straight punches in between Urango's wider shots, but it was obvious who the much stronger man was. The meatier shots landed by Juan were making Ngoudjo visibly uncomfortable.

A long uppercut thrown by Urango in the opening minute of the third caught Ngoudjo as he was pulling back and put him on the canvas. Ngoudjo got up on shaky legs and Urango tore after him for the finish, delivering punches with nasty intentions but mostly missing. Ngoudjo, trying to clear the cobwebs, slid around the ring before finally getting caught with a combination that deposited him on his pants again. Showing tremendous resolve, Herman got back up and managed to make it out of the round.

Ngoudjo came out for the fourth with his balance still unsteady from the previous round's onslaught. But by the middle of the round, he had his feet under him and his head cleared, and started rallying with quick shots up the middle. He continued his progress in the fifth round, and found Urango fairly easily with jabs and straight right hands. But whenever he got pinned on the ropes and pounded with thudding body shots, it became evident that Ngoudjo was going to have to have to do more to deter the bull rush of Urango.

Rounds six through nine saw Urango increasingly exerting his superior strength on Ngoudjo, who only occasionally got nailed with a sweeping right hook or a straight left hand to the head, but was tormented with a consistent beating to his rib cage. Gamely, he fought back with his best punch being the uppercut. It was clear that the body work was taking effect though.

Round ten was one of the most bizarre rounds in recent memory. Herman Ngoudjo showed his true grit through three minutes by staying within close range of a tiring Urango and outworking him. For reasons that remain unexplained, however, the timekeeper did not ring the bell at the end of three minutes. Amazingly, the round went on for another two minutes and ten seconds, much of which Urango dominated after gaining a second wind. To the chagrin of Ngoudjo, the incompetent timekeeping may have very well cost him the round.

At the end, it was academic, as Urango had built an insurmountable lead. Both of the tired warriors had moments in the final two rounds, but again, it was Juan Urango's more powerful blows that ruled the day. Herman Ngoudjo showed plenty of heart and durability by lasting twelve (really, nearly thirteen) rounds after being dropped twice early. He simply didn't have enough force behind his blows to keep Urango off of him.

With the win, Urango improved to 21-1-1 with 16 KOs while Ngoudjo fell to 17-3 with 9 KOs. Put Juan Urango in the same ring with Richard Torres, Junior Witter, Tim Bradley, Kendall Holt, Andrily Kotelnik, Victor Ortiz, or Carlos Maidana and you're in for a fascinating fight. The junior welterweight division just got a bit more interesting.

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Betting On Boxing - Ngoudjo vs Urango

By Michael Nelson

In a meeting of battle-tested jr. welterweight contenders, Canadian, Herman Ngoudjo and Colombian, Juan Urango will slug it out for a vacant title belt. The bout takes place in Ngoudjo's hometown of Montreal, and will be the main event for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.

Both men have had their shots at the big time in the past, but have come up just short so far. Winning the strap could mean another chance on the big stage, so this is an important fight for the pair of willing combatants.

Our handicapping expert, Michael Nelson, gives his thoughts on what the smart play is for what could be a hotly contested bout.

Juan Urango vs. Herman Ngoudjo

Betting Line - Juan Urango: +120 Herman Ngoudjo: -150

My adjusted line - Juan Urango: +125 Herman Ngoudjo: -160

I'm with the odds makers here, this is one of the more evenly matched fights on paper of the new year. Juan Urango is a bull with punishing power but slow feet. Herman Ngoudjo is a well-schooled fighter who doesn't do anything extraordinarily well, but is solid all around. I have gone back and forth on who the likely victor is, a quagmire born out of the fact that while Urango can certainly be outboxed, the fighters who gave him most problems have used spoiling tactics to do so. Herman isn't a man who will stink out an arena. The question then becomes, can Herman withstand the power of the bull?

After all, Ricky Hatton, #12 on our Pound-For-Pound list, almost saw his glamor bout with the Pretty Boy slip away after Juan gorged him in the fifth round of their fight. Ricky was putting on a show, wowing the crowd with beautiful footwork and head movement, until he was nearly broken in half with a body shot. From that point on, he showed off his talent for grappling more than his footwork, punching and then grabbing Urango before he could return fire. Though he won a lopsided decision, fans were largely unimpressed. Similarly, Naoufel Ben Rabah wanted no part of an exchange with the bull. In perhaps the worst fight of 2006, he took advantage of the cinder blocks on the end of Juan's legs to scamper around the ring and potshot. Juan escaped with a win most observers thought he didn't deserve.

Herman Ngoudjo doesn't run or hold often. To the surprise of many, he handled himself well in the trenches against Jose Luis Castillo back when Castillo was still considered a threat. He badly staggered Paulie Malignaggi in a controversial loss in his first title shot, after a tit-for-tat eliminator battle against Randall Bailey resulted in a controversial win. In his last fight, he overcame a grotesquely swollen eye to gut out a decision against Souleymane M'baye. No longer the inexperienced pugilist who was knocked down by light hitting Emmanuel Augustus because of pure exhaustion, we have seen Herman Ngoudjo develop into a gritty, seasoned boxer.

That seasoning along with the strong right hand he possesses is why I give Ngoudjo the edge. His long right is a perfect weapon against Urango - a short, squat southpaw with leaky defense. His propensity to mix it up and get nailed in the process will always be a point of concern against a powerful opponent, especially one with a right hook as lethal as Juan's. But Herman has shown to have a sturdy chin. And when you have two durable fighters in the ring, the better schooled man wins more times than not.

Recommendation: Put a fair amount on Ngoudjo. I see him winning a competitive decision.

Michael Nelson
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