Akron's Nicolai "Nick" Firtha wins the state heavyweight boxing title with a majority decision at the Nautica Pavilion in the Flats.
CLEVELAND - There's a lot to be said for punching power. Perseverance, too.
Nicolai "Nick" Firtha had more of the latter to win a majority decision against Mike Sheppard for the state heavyweight boxing title on a balmy Friday night at the Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland's Flats. It was a case of Sheppard landing the biggest shots, but Akron's Firtha connecting with more punches.
While it would have been nice if Firtha (18-7-1, 8 KOs) could have finished matters inside of the scheduled 10 rounds, which he nearly did in the second, he proved he had the staying power and wits to hold off Sheppard's wild slugging. By pushing the pace for the most part, Firtha was in front on two judges' scorecards at the final bell, the third calling it even.
Scores were 97-93 twice for Firtha and 95-95. The Plain Dealer had it 97-93 for Firtha.
Both men were out of gas as they staged a wild 10th round, both trying to finish off the other with roundhouse potshots.
"It takes two guys to make a fight," said Firtha, who was coming off his biggest win, a June stoppage of then-undefeated Tony Grano (17-1-1). "I didn't want to get into his game. He was savvy and slick."
Sheppard (15-10-1, 8 KOs), from Palestine, W.Va., had gone 5-2 since being stopped in September 2007.
"He was the better boxer," said Sheppard, both eyes swollen. "I'm more of a fighter. He took some big shots. It's hard coming into the other guy's town."
On the undercard, Cleveland's Dante Moore and Corey Rodriguez (4-1-2, 3 KOs) fought to a technical draw in their six-round junior middleweight bout.
After a tactical opening round, action picked up in the second round as both fighters took their shots. Rodriguez suffered a cut to the side of his right eye midway through the round.
Both men began working the body in a solid third, but Moore (6-0-1, 4 KOs) lost his advantage after that as Rodriguez pressed the pace. It cost Moore as two judges split their decisions, 58-56, and the third called it even, 57-57.
Lorain's Wilkins Santiago (2-0, 1 KO) dished out most of the punishment during his second-round stoppage of middleweight Matt Keglovic (1-2, 1 KO) of Cleveland. Wilkins landed all of big punches.
With his fighter taking too many hits, trainer Casey Gacic threw in the towel two minutes into the round to preserve his guy's safety.
Heavyweight Jason Massie of Cleveland improved to 6-0 (4 KOs) with a four-round unanimous decision against Mujaheed Moor (4-4, 3 KOs) of Shaker Heights. Massie got the nod from all three judges for being more active and landing the better punches. There were no knockdowns.
Cleveland middleweight Michael Moore improved to 3-0 with a fourth-round stoppage of Eric Draper (1-4) of Indianapolis. Moore scored three knockdowns before the bout was stopped two minutes into the final round.