Australian Bantam champ Emmett Gazzard, now living in Canastota, NY, made his U.S. debut last night. His opponent would be 2004 Olympic alternate Torrence "Dynamite" Daniels of Colorado Springs. Gazzard pressed the action in the first two rounds while Daniels was content to try and counter with single shots. Daniels picked up the pace, still choosing to counter, but more frequently and with harder shots. Gazzard took the shots well and pressed forward, launching his own attack to body and head. Often times the action was contested in the center of the ring, both fighters squared off and looking to outfox the other.Both fighters maintained their strategies until the end of the eight rounder, to the delight of the crowd. Scores were 78-74 x 2 and 79-73, all for the still undefeated Gazzard. I met this fella a while back in 2003 when he was a top Oz amature. Met him at a tornament with my coach, and the fella is a top bloke. Had a good chat and he told me some good stories from his career. Great to see him making a name for himself in the states. I think he has choosen a good path in fighting in the USA, much like peden did. Lets hope he can emulate that of peden and get Australia another world champion. :bbb
Good luck to Emmett. Have been following his career quite closely. Hope he can get a match or 2 on a ESPN like card over the coming 12 to 18 months.
Good on him but I have been well and truly underwhelmed from what Ive seen from Gazzard. His early form made me pay attention but seeing him action made me wonder why I ever did. Athltically gifted, pretty bloody huge for a bantem but just didnt seem effective and often he was confused when things got rough on the inside. Truly wish him well but he has a lot more to do to convince me to be honest. I think this will be a good move for him in many ways because either he goes well and the experience does him the world of good in the long run. Or his 0 goes fairly quick and he discovers his limitations earlier then he would have feeding on the brave but extremely average thais & filos he was getting down here. He could make adjustments now instead of padding his record all the way to a big fight where he gets exposed badly.
From another forum - Emett copped a o/h right and fought with a burst ear drum from round 3 on. Was a great win and despite what is written he controled most of the action - comfortable win. He would've done a better job again had he not worn the right hand - looks impressive and has a good career ahead of him. Cheers Stu Duncan
