BOXING: JAMAL JAMES, VE SHAWN OWENS SCORE BIG WINS AT THE ARMORY

WBA #5 rated welterweight Jamal “Shango” James (now 26-1, 12 KO’s) won a thrilling 10 round unanimous decision over former world champion Antonio DeMarco (now 33-8-1, 25 KO’s on Saturday night at the Armory in Minneapolis, MN. All three judges scored the fight 98-92 for James.
The victory did not come easy but James used a disciplined attack while picking the right times to box and slug it out from the get go. This was the type of performance that could catapult “Shango” into the title shot that James has been seeking. DeMarco came up short in getting the upset win he targeted but the gritty performance will set up more big fights for him in the future.

The first half of the fight was close and featured James using angles and range to out-punch his Mexican born adversary. DeMarco had some big moments of his own, particularly in round two when a right hand to the side of James’ head scored. James stumbled after the blow and DeMarco attacked with body and head shots with James pinned on the ropes. James did not appear to be seriously hurt as some had speculated but later admitted that the moment stuck out.

“I knew coming in that he was a veteran”, said James. “He had one of those will powers. But I did to. I’ve got Minnesota on my back and I couldn’t let them down.”

With Minnesota on his back and another full house at the Armory cheering him on, James began to pull the fight in his favor and direct the scorecards his way behind a never ending cycle of punches. DeMarco did his part to make the fight an amazing battle to watch as he landed countless right hands to the body of James. It was as if he was OK with conceding rounds in order to land devastating body blows which he hoped would cause James to fade. Unfortunately for him, James not only hung tough, but he got better as the fight went on.

James put forth perhaps his most complete round of the fight in the tenth and final round. His offense was on point while bobby and weaving to avoid the serious punches being thrown by DeMarco. The capacity crowd cheered both the effort of their hometown hero and also the fight that DeMarco brought to the ring.

Ve Shawn Owens (now 11-2, 10 Ko’s) of Minneapolis, MN made his welterweight debut a success after stopping Juan Garces (now 19-26, 13 KO’s) of Mexico at :08 into the sixth round. The fight was a preliminary bout to James versus DeMarco.

Owens spent most of the fight glued to Garces with a high guard and digging in body shots before going back up to the head of his opponent. Garces was game, returned punches of his own and showed a tremendous chin while taking some big shots from the Minnesotan. The action intensified in round number three with both fighters trading on the inside. Owens continued to mix in hard body shots to the midsection of Garces and let his punches fly which kept Garces pinned to the ropes midway through the round. At one point, Owens teed off for a good twenty seconds before Garces was able to spin off the ropes and compose himself.

The body shots and high pace of round three appeared to take a lot of the fight out of Garces and Owens continued to press forward as the fight went on. A body-head combination from Owens sent Garces to the canvas just as round five came to a close.

Owens went straight at Garces as round six began and landed a hard left uppercut to the head followed by a right to the body that dropped Garces to the canvas in a heap and referee Mark Nelson waived the fight off at only :08 into round six.