SANCHEZ DEFEATS THOMPSON WITH MAJORITY DECISION

By Andy Rivera

Albuquerque, New Mexico Jr. Middleweight Ray Sanchez III returned to the ring for the first time since his knockout loss to Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. this past December; with a lackluster majority decision over journeymen Patrick Thompson, Sanchez looked tentative and unable to pull the trigger many times with his power shots; he was able to do enough to win by 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95.


The opening round had both fighters coming out cautious, with Sanchez boxing more then his previous bouts, normally the stalker; this time around it was Thompson who was the one coming forward but not landing anything with power, Sanchez would land a few good lefts to the head of Thompson to win the round.

Thompson would have a great second round as he was able to and hard right hand leads to the head of Sanchez to get Sanchez attention. Sanchez would fire back with lefts of his own but Thompson would smother Sanchez and continue his attack to win the round.

The middle round saw Sanchez boxing still taking his time trying to find the range to catch Thompson, but each time Sanchez was able to land anything with meaning Thompson was able to get close to once a gain smother Sanchez power. Sanchez would do enough to control this part of the fight.

Thompson would come on strong in the 8^th and 9^th rounds putting pressure on Sanchez and landing hard right hand lead flush on Sanchez chin. Sanchez would throw wide punches missing on most. Thompson would enjoy his best rounds up to this point in the fight to get it closer on the scorecards.

Thompson looked to score a flash knock down in the 9^th when he landed a right hand on Sanchez shoulder, although Sanchez gloves hit the referee Lorenzo Siaz let the fight continue. It all depends on which way you look at it, the rules would say it could be called a knock down but in all honesty it was best it wasn’t.

The final round had both fighters come out landing power shots, with Sanchez the left and Thompson the right. Thompson seemed to have the edge with Sanchez looking a little fatigued as the fight progressed and Thompson landing more shots.

With the win Sanchez raises his record to 21-2 15ko’s, while the game Thompson fell to 14-13-1. Boxingscene.com agreed with the 95-95 score.

Sanchez III now looks for a rematch with Chavez Jr. but judging by his performance on Friday Sanchez would have to have a few more tune-ups and win more impressively then against he did against Thompson.