The Bell Rings for Mormeck and Judah

NEW YORK, NY - O'Neil Bell knocked out Jean-Marc Mormeck in the 10th round to claim the undisputed world cruiserweight title on Saturday, while Carlos Baldomir ended Zab Judah's reign as undisputed welterweight champ.

Judah, fighting in front of his hometown fans at the theater at Madison Square Garden, dropped a unanimous 12-round decision to Baldomir, an Argentinian who was a virtual unknown in the States despite his status as the World Boxing Council's mandatory challenger.

Judah survived a shaky seventh round, but was unable to hold off the relentless attack of Baldomir.

The Argentinian improved to 42-9-6, as he captured the WBC crown, winning by scores of 115-113, 115-112 and 114-113.

Judah fell to 34-3 and his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation titles became vacant. He also saw a proposed April date with undefeated three-time division champion Floyd Mayweather evaporate.

Bell's triumph, in a fight that saw France's Mormeck dominate the early rounds, saw the Jamaican-born American join Evander Holyfield as the only fighters to unify the cruiserweight crown. Holyfield did it in 1988, before moving up to a world championship career as a heavyweight.

Mormeck, who came into the fight holding the WBA and WBC belts, came out strong from the opening bell. But Bell gained strength as the fight went on, appeared to have Mormeck in trouble in the seventh and dominated from the eighth, finally sending Mormeck down for good with a barrage of blows at 2:50 of the 10th.

"He folded in the fifth and sixth rounds," Bell said. "I was able to sustain his best shots, which broke his spirits." he said.

Mormeck came into the bout having won 28 straight fights. He captured the WBA belt in 2002 and consolidated the WBA and WBC belts with a 12-round victory over Wayne Braithwaite of Guyana in May.

But the 33-year-old looked weary in the final rounds as he suffered the third defeat of his career against 31 victories.

"I am a bit disappointed because I lost my belts," Mormeck said. "I don't know what changed things, but I realized he was a great champion and winning the fight."

Mormeck said he would welcome a rematch.

"He's the champion, it's for him to decide, but for sure I would like it," he said.

On the same card, Ulises Solis of Mexico captured the IBF light flyweight title with a hard-fought unanimous decision over American Will Grigsby.

Despite suffering cuts over both eyes in the third round, Solis applied constant pressure en route to the victory. The judges scored it 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112 for Solis, who improved to 20-1. Grigsby lost the title for the second time, falling to 18-3.

Phil Banerjee
Contributing Editor

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.