RJJ Promotions: James McKenzie Witt Morrison vs. Hasim Shariff Rahman, Jr. RBR

James McKenzie Witt Morrison vs. Hasim Shariff Rahman, Jr., 10 rounds @ heavyweight

 

The prestigious lineage of the prize they're competing for dates back to - well, 17 years ago this very day, as it turns out, kind of. Ray Austin fought Larry Donald to a draw on 4/30/2005 in the belt's inaugural contest - but a champ wasn't actually crowned until Austin defeated Owen Beck five months later.

Subsequent titlists have included: Duncan Dokiwari, Joe Mesi, Austin again, Derric Rossy, Lance Whitaker, Rossy again, Bermane Stiverne, Eric Molina, Chris Arreola, Magomed Abdusalamov, Mike Perez, Fred Latham, Amir Mansour, Steve Vukosa, and Joe Cusumano.

 

Round 1

Messy pressure from Witt, barging in with a dip in his left shoulder and telegraphing a lean on that side. Rahman switches to southpaw and jabs the body, then returns orthodox and feeds some left jabs into the mouth of an oncoming Witt. Rahman keeps changing stance and scoring counter jabs from either at different altitudes. Witt jumps on him with some body shots, gets tagged with a counter, and lands some clubbing punches behind the neck.

10-9 Rahman

 

Round 2

Rahman showing a massive gulf in boxing skill between himself and Witt, backpedaling and casually poking out with accurate counter jabs from both stances without having to ever change his rhythm. Witt already blowing up, huffing & puffing after hurling sandbag rights, missing the majority of them. Rahman tossing a few 1-2s, putting up a tight guard and letting Witt cueball him into the ropes, with Rahman contentedly absorbing bombs on his arms to propel him along, saving him the bother of quickening his pace.

10-9 Rahman

20-18 Rahman

 

Kenz might get brutally KTFO within a few rounds here.

 

Round 3

Rahman spending more cumulative time in southpaw, but still switching pretty often. Rahman cruising around in reverse, walking Witt onto jabs. Witt surging in at times and drilling in with the right hand, sometimes legally scoring but sometimes hitting the upper back when Rahman twists away. Rahman keeps the jab flowing and occasionally follows with a slicing left behind the right jab or pops a regular 1-2. Witt keeps eating them but flailing the body when he can.

10-9 Rahman, close

30-27 Rahman