A tearful Ishe Smith scored a split decision victory over Cornelius ‘K9’ Bundrage to claim the IBF light-middleweight title and become the first Las Vegas-born fighter to become a world champion.
At 34, ‘Sugar Shay’ thought his time had passed until Floyd Mayweather Jr. resurrected his career. He was visibly emotional as Jimmy Lennon Jr. read out the result after twelve hard rounds.
Bundrage started the better of the two, winning the first two rounds, although the 39-year-old was deducted a point by Sam Williams for hitting Smith while he was down.
Ishe Smiths wins world title
From then on, Smith took control of the fight. He scored the much cleaner punches on the counter and built up a broad points lead until the last two rounds. Bundrage rallied, but it was all in vain.
The judges returned with one controversial card. Iowa judge Dave Hess amazingly scored 114-113 to Bundrage, with the other two judges seeing it the same as me – 116-111 to hand Smith the title.
After breaking down in the ring following the scores, Smith could hardly talk at the end of the fight. He emotionally thanked his mentor, Mayweather, for helping him achieve his lifelong dream after years of frustration.
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