RCTI: Daud Yordan vs. Michael Mokoena & Ongen Saknosiwi vs. Marco Pepito Demecillo RBR

Official cards:

116-112
118-110
116-112

UD for Saknosiwi

 

Daud Yordan vs. Michael Mokoena, 12 rounds @ light welterweight

 

This is for both the vacant IBA world super lightweight title and the WBO's vacant Oriental super lightweight title.

 

Round 1

Yordan is uppercutting past the right jab of Mokoena, patiently staying a couple of paces out but never letting Mokoena drift too far beyond his reach. Steady pressure from Yordan, no wasted movement, cutting the ring off and slipping Mokoena's head jabs while willingly allowing those aimed downstairs to nick him on the belly. Yordan steps into a 1-2 and then bats Mokoena's follow-up shots aside with a windshield-wiper sweep of both gloves. Yordan fakes a jab and lobs up a missile right, grazing the head of Mokoena.

10-9 Yordan, close

 

Round 2

Yordan is walking Mokoena down and leaning aside to dodge a messy spray of sidewinding lefts sent out pell-mell behind the straight-ish right jab. Yordan is wrestled onto the ground as Mokoena flops over him with his long arms enveloping him while still moving. Yordan is trudging his way through Mokoena's sloppy lefts, taking most of them across his clavicle, while stepping in close and hammering down on Mokoena's grill with the right hand.

10-9 Yordan

20-18 Yordan

 

Round 3

Yordan is flicking out his left jab as he closes in on Mokeona but the South African, but finds him too slippery and uncooperative to pin down. Mokoena is bouncing off the ropes and flailing out with a right hook, then hurling a left hand up over Yordan's head. Yordan is able to plug him with a few short right hands cutting in past the wavy right jab (and occasional hooks off the jab), but neither is making too much clean leather on skin contact here.

10-9 Yordan

30-27 Yordan

 

Round 4

Yordan is getting stamped with right hooks, landing flat against his left sideburn as he plods toward Mokoena. Yordan not able to get close now without Mokoena unleashing a hail of right jabs and then gumming up the works with his windmilled left (more of a disrupting element running obstructive interference than a "punch"). Yordan is only able to lay a glove on Mokoena upon walking through several long messy combinations, and then having to hit in the clinch, often across Mokoena's back, getting warned.

10-9 Mokoena

39-37 Yordan

 

Round 5

Yordan is forcing his way in past Mokoena's jab and trap-door left, and zapping him with more structured 1-2s. Mokoena pumping out the right jab and then firing grenade lefts down at the head as Yordan bends forward with the dual purpose of ducking the jab and working the body. Yordan eats a left hand but is unbowed, and cracking Mokoena with both hands, making him stand and fight, which Mokoena does in his own jittery, scattershot fashion.

10-9 Yordan, close

49-46 Yordan

 

Round 6

Yordan is hounding Mokoena, who scampers away, waving both gloves out defensively. Yordan marches in and picks off shots on his lower forearms, then drops in what power shots he can before Mokoena uses his spindly legs to get outside and cast a protective web of sweeping right hooks around himself. The ref pauses multiple times sending Yordan to his corner to have his glove re-taped. Getting to be a bit excessive, annoying Yordan but giving Mokoena what seems to be a much-needed breather, quite literally, as he leans on the ropes heaving while he waits.

10-9 Yordan, close

59-55 Yordan

 

Round 7

Yordan is following Mokoena, putting out a left jab but not crossing the schism between them. Mokoena taunting him with a light patter of long right jabs and lean-in lead lefts from afar, then skipping into a counter-clockwise spiral around him. Mokoena not letting Yordan get anywhere close to where he can get off. Wild hooks by Yordan, missing by quite a lot. Mokoena starts feeding Yordan the jab in twos and threes and then whipping up lefts from unseen angles, often from down by his knees, and Yordan is actually wobbled at one point.

10-9 Mokoena

68-65 Yordan

 

Round 8

Yordan is twatted down onto all fours by what seemed to be a Mokoena right hook, but the ref waves it off as being a slip. Hmm. Yordan is jabbing up on an incline at Mokoena's chin while curling his neck to get underneath the spray of jabs delivered outward from the chest and the wide clubbing lefts of Mokoena. Yordan now bangs Mokoena under the chin and he appears to go down from the punch, but the ref also rules that a slip. Could have been, as could have the one from earlier that appeared to be Yordan dropped. Both men are tired and their balance is subpar, to be sure. Yordan keeps driving into Mokoena, scoring on the body and head sharply with both hands. Mokoena falls, this one ruled a knockdown although it appears that he blocked a Yordan 1-2, then missed his own exaggeratedly violent downward swipe and threw out his own left shoulder. Over.

TKO8!!!

 

Crazy ass commercial break, almost twenty minutes and counting...I have no idea whether they're going to return to ringside to wrap up coverage, or if this is just over & done with..

 

Sad to see that Yordan is as shot now as was his idol (and the GOAT of their nation) Chris John when they fought, eight years ago.

Eight years ago. Damn I feel old..

 

Yeah, aside from a fluke knockdown in the 1st round against some innocuous seeming Argentine down at lightweight, his chin has always been very reliable when he isn't gassed deep in fights and/or weight-drained.

He's slower than ever, though, especially his legs, and his reaction time is dulled. I don't think he should bang on much longer. Maybe try and mount one last international title run ...and I don't even mean a proper world title, because TTT would devour him in one gulp, and probably even a few guys beneath Taylor would beat him up as well. Maybe a silver title. He could definitely take out the version of Cano that fought Ortiz a few hours ago, who is about the same age but also has been ridden hard and put away wet by this sport..