Holiday outhussles Kanofski in battle of the fittest
For those who argued that Philip Holiday was as equally deserving as Jason Kanofski to challenge for the Australian light-middleweight title, then go ahead, because you won't get any disagreement from anybody in attendance of their fight at the Mansfield Tavern that was televised nationwide of Fox Sports.
To give you an idea of how great the fight was, Angelo DiCarlo, head of Ace Boxing Promotions gave both fighters an extra five-hundred dollars cash in hand in centre ring when the scores were about to be read about. That in itself says something about the fight that ageing warrior Holiday and the young contender Kanofski put on.
At the end of the day, you can't give a fighter like Philip Holiday enough praise for the performance he put on against Kanofski. He is a great fighter that was having only his second fight in seven years and was coming off the back of a stoppage loss to Samuel Colomban in March.
Early in the fight, it appeared as if most punters were right in their prediction of youth prevailing over experience and speed prevailing over power. Kanofski seemed to be controlling the pace and distance of the fight, landing punches from both orthodox and southpaw stances, while still managing to carefully pick his shots. He was driving Holiday into the ropes and putting alot of pressure on the former IBF lightweight champion.
However, Holiday was landing less sensational, much slower but still more telling punches on the inside and making Kanofski work for every inch in that ring. Holiday was throwing much more combinations and power shots but Kanofski would almost always retaliate with clean left and right hand counters.
By the fourth round, it became apparent that Holiday was attempting to smother most of Kanofski punches while still working his way through to the inside; Holiday was also having alot of success landing the left rip to the body of Kanofski, who was still throwing punches but appeared to be slowing as the rounds went on.
Rounds five through to seven were very difficult to score as there were many exciting exchanges that brought cheers from the crowd, who spend more than their fair share of the fight on their feet cheering for more action. Many of the rounds were closely fought and evenly contested with lots of action, but Holiday seemed to have gained a slight edge with the cleaner, more effective punches. The eighth round was another close tough round, with both corners urging their fighters to stay away from the ropes and pick their punches.
In the ninth round, Kanofski landed a right-hand to the temple area of Diaz's head. He followed up with another swarm of punches, but due to the obvious lack of power behind his shots Holiday was able to recover within a few seconds and continue to outwork the younger fighter.
Kanofski rallied to win the final round but it was Holiday who had done just enough to secure the split points victory. Judge Alan Moore scored the fight 97-98 for Kanofski while judges Tony Kettlewell and Allan Burford scored the fight 96-95 and 97-93 for Holiday.
After an excellent night of fights, both Ace Boxing Promotions and Fox Sports can be proud of the card that they put on; it really was a treat for all involved.