ATG FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNIE: QF 4 - HENRY ARMSTRONG KO4 TERRY MCGOVERN

Seven hours of the QFs remain.

 

Henry Armstrong knocked Terry McGovern out in four rounds to advance to the semi-finals of the ATG featherweight tournament in astonishing shootout. The two went straight to ring centre on the bell and exchanged up close, Armstrong coming off the better of it and both men tumbling to the canvas after Armstrong landed a left-hook, arguably a KD, the referee waving for the two to fight on with no count after their legs were tangled and both crashed to the canvas. They rejoined ring centre, Armstrong pushing McGovern back to the ropes where they traded vicious bodyshots, Armstrong rolling into a right hand but coming up onto a savage swing of McGovern's own that dropped him for a no count, Armstrong leaping up and chasing McGovern around the ring, blood flowing form his mouth. McGovern managed another big shot on the bell for another no-count and a handy lead on the cards after just a round.

But Armstrong, after a torrid opening to the second, seemed to carry that form into the third where he repeatedly tagged McGovern with left hooks, especially to the body, McGovern responding with wild uppercuts that glanced off Armstrong but did not discourage him. Early in the fourth McGovern ran onto Amrstrong's "blackout" and took a count of eight; probably no featherweight in the tournament would have survived the follow up Armstrong dropped on his man, though McGovern went down swinging, actually catching and hurtin Armstrong with a wild left hook even as he was dropped for a third and final time by that Armstrong right-hand.