Johnny Bratton vs. Joe Miceli

fight starts at 49: 30

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1. Lots of movement by both fighters. Bratton did his usual passive jabbing, even throwing jabs to the body of Miceli. Miceli was very aggressive, striking with quick combos to the head of Bratton. I found it an unusual start by Miceli. The round was more than half over when Bratton sprung into action. He landed a powerful overhand right before lunging with a left hook. Another right overhand sent Miceli down on his hands and knees. Bratton.
6. Now everything was the other way around. Miceli was dancing and jabbing, and Bratton was stalking. Naturally this change in roles occurred after Bratton found out he could get to Miceli in the 1st. Miceli still looked pretty sharp though: temporarily halting his movement, planting, and hitting Bratton with a few left hooks and straight rights, thrown in alteration. A long series of left hooks by Miceli followed, with beautiful right crosses thrown in as well. Bratton kept it interesting by injecting his counter rights in during Miceli's prolonged attack. However, Miceli may have punched himself out. Bratton went on to snap Miceli's head back with a good left hook, and later a right hand, which Miceli was late in answering, with his enemy already out of range by the time his reflexes responded. This is proof that Bratton can absorb just about anything and come back in spectacular fashion. Then it happened again, except the results were even more lethal for Miceli. He hit Bratton with a left hook, then a right-both strong punches, but Bratton replies with a left hook that backs Miceli up. Bratton rushed in with a light right hand; Miceli tried to counter with a left hook, but got hit himself by a left hook that had him reeling on his feet. Bratton pursued Miceli, who staggered into the ropes and nearly bounced off them onto the floor. Bratton, as I said, pursued, but did not strike Miceli. A good round's work by Miceli, totally blown. Bratton.
7. Quite logically, Miceli was more reserved. Both men were content to trade jabs, but both added crisp power punches. Like in the round before, Miceli was outpointing Bratton, but growing in confidence, and beginning already to fall in the trap of fighting toe-to-toe with Bratton. A fact evidenced when, once again, Miceli landed two hard left hooks to the head of Bratton, but Bratton upped him one by landing a straight right better than each of the hooks. It all spelled doom for Miceli. Bratton jumped on him with a two-fisted hooking attack to both body and head, and although Miceli landed a big left hook that ripped Bratton's head back, it did not deter him. The left hooks and right overhands came in rapid succession and Miceli was not fighting back anymore. A right cross and a left hook staggered Miceli, and a monstrous right hook straightened him him before putting him down. It looked like the punch hit Miceli's nose, in which case it would certainly have been broken. What do you guys think? Do you think he was hit in the nose? Miceli got up and back to his corner. Bratton.
8. Now you wouldn't even have to know the outcome to know this is going to be a very short round. Miceli is literally in trouble as soon as the bell rings. He gets hit with a straight right immediately. Bratton then staggered him with a left hook. Miceli absorbed about 5 or 6 more shots before the referee decided the pointlessness of continuing the fight. Bratton by TKO.

Verdict: Rocky called it a "murderous bout". I will give you, it is a good fight, no doubt about that. But murderous? I will give him the benefit of the doubt that the four rounds absent from this film were really damn good. Pretty good fight. You should see it.