Clottey “Holds On” for Victory

22.10.05 - Top-ranked welterweight Joshua Clottey scored a unanimous decision victory over Detroit's Marlon Thomas Friday night at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y. The card was apart of DiBella Entertainment's “Broadway Boxing” series.

Clottey (28-1, 20 KOs), who came into the bout ranked number two by the WBC, had trouble getting inside the longer Thomas (35-6-1, 21 KOs) throughout the evening.. When Thomas's attempts to keep Clottey at bay with his long jab failed, so too did their capabilities to keep the fans entertained. Much of the early round activity was marred by, well - inactivity. Thomas met Clottey's leaping advances by clinching the Ghana native.

As the fight, if it can be called as much, progressed, so did the holding. Clottey had little opportunity to pull the trigger on inside exchanges, where he does his most effective work. However, Clottey, who trains out of with brother Emmanuel out of Bronx, N.Y., was able to land the left hook on occasion and doubled it up often. He was also successful finding home over the top with short right hands. However, the spurts of action were few and far between.

In the tenth round, Thomas was deducted a point for holding, but with little influence on the final scorecards, which read 99-90 (2) and 98-91 in favor of Clottey.

In the co-feature, Chris Smith (20-2-1, 13 KOs), who replaced Jeffrey Resto, defeated Tomas Barrientes (27-9, 17 KOs). The fight was stopped after the fifth round when Barrientes suffered a broken hand.

The card will be broadcasted on MSG, FSN New England and Comcast Sportsnet Chicago in the coming weeks.