Rances Barthelemy Captures IBF Lightweight Title

Rances Barthelemy doesn’t need to do the things he does. The Cuban expatriate and former IBF super featherweight likes to wade in and crowd an opponent, though he is a rangy 5-foot-11 with a 73-inch reach. Use those physical tools and fight from distance, while locking himself in a cocoon? That’s just not him. He likes to keep coming forward.

The 29-year-old’s career took another forward step Friday night against Russian Denis Shafikov (36-2-1, 19 KO) by winning the vacant IBF lightweight title on the PBC show from the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Barthelemy (24-0, 13 KO) won by the comfortable distance 119-109 and 116-112 (2) on the judge’s scorecards, though the two 116-122 scores seemed more indicative of what actually went on than the 119-109 score.

By the fifth round, a cut had opened over Shafikov’s right eye, caused by a steady stream of jabs mixed in with an occasional upper cut. By the eighth, referee Vic Drakulich had momentarily stopped the fight so the ringside doctor could take a look at the eye. Still, Shafikov kept coming, his white silk trunks taking on a pinkish tone from the cut.

The eye became a target for Barthelemy, jabbing at it and trying to strike the area with left hooks. Toward the end of the ninth, the Cuban even got a little cocky, with a shoulder shimmy and keeping his hands down by his waist. In the 10th, Barthelemy’s taunts continued. He kept his hands down, daring the bloody Shafikov to come back into his closet, where the taller fighter likes to fight.

In the 12th, with Barthelemy sensing victory, he began grabbing and clinching Shafikov.

Barthelemy’s victory was greeted with a sprinkling of boos, but he deserve the decision. He was more active and effective in the final four rounds.

On the undercard, cruiserweights Murat Gassiev and Isiah Thomas concluded in a disappointing no-decision when the fight was stopped by referee Jay Nady after the third. Gassiev (22-0, 16 KO, 1 no-contest) had Thomas (15-0, 6 KO, 1 no-contest) up against the ropes. Gassiev landed a pair of rights, one coming after the bell that rocked Thomas.

Nady and the ringside doctor felt the punch caused a concussive effect on Thomas. It was the ringside doctor that explained to Nady that he was unable to continue before of his “diminished capacity” based on an accidental foul caused by a late punch.

In a super welterweight fight, Eric Walker (12-0, 6 KOs) and Chris Pearson (13-1, 10 KOs) put on a spirited display. Walker handed Pearson, a Floyd Mayweather fighter, his first defeat with an eight-round unanimous decision. Walker had a very interesting backstory, spending 14 years in prison and is trying to get his life back together through boxing.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.