Nwodo Crushes in Philadelphia!

Fightnews.com is reporting that Baltimore cruiserweight Emanuel Nwodo (18-4, 14KOs) registered a fourth round destruction of veteran John Douglass (6-11-3, 3KOs) of Brooklyn, New York in a co-feature bout at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. The following description comes from Fightnews.com's Kurt Wolfheimer.

Nwodo, who suffered a broken right hand in the third round of his last fight against Rayco Saunders in June, started this bout tentatively, landing the occasional jab while trying to figure out the awkward crouching and lunging in and out style of Douglass. However, in round two, one huge right hand from Nwodo and it was clear that Douglass would be on the defensive throughout the bout.

Late in the round Nwodo, a native of Enugu, Nigeria, caught Douglass on the ropes and threw a left jab followed by a huge overhand right that landed flush on the jaw of Douglass and sent him to the canvas for the first time. Douglass was able to get to his feet and Nwodo showed newfound patience and went to the body with hooks and also landed a few pinpoint jabs, opening up the defensive Douglass. The Brooklyn native tried to return a hook, but was again caught with an overhand right that spun him around and to the canvas for the second time in the round. Douglass was able to beat the count but the bell sounded before the Nigerian could do any more damage.

Nwodo showed his maturity in round three as he methodically stalked his frightened opponent throughout landing several combinations while Douglass was pulling back from every shot.

However it all came to an end in round four as Nwodo landed a crisp counter right that snapped around the head of Douglass and he was virtually out on his feet. This time Nwodu jumped on him with a crunching four punch combination that landed Douglass onto the second ring rope for the third knockdown of the fight. Before referee Shawn Clark could begin the eight count, Douglass's corner stepped into the ring to prevent further injury, forcing the stoppage at 1:35 of round three.

Thanks for the report, Kurt. I'm happy to see that one of the people working with Nwodo is a man who was one of the crowd-pleasing boxers from Baltimore in the 1990's: Kenny "Phone Booth" Blackston. Congratulations to Nwodo.