Barboza Jr. Dominates Sims Jr. In Anaheim

By Boxing Bob Newman

In a crossroads fight where both fighters were coming back from a loss, Arnold Barboza Jr. took on Kenneth Sims Jr. for the WBO Global championship, headlining the Golden Boy card at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Sims started the fight as a southpaw and then switched to orthodox partway through round one. This was Barboza’s first fight at welterweight, and although he was an inch shorter than Sims, he had the longer reach and utilized it with nice jabs and hooks.

Stylistically, the two were mirror images of each other, often punching at the same time and firing the same blows. The main difference was that Sims never appeared to make the effort to close the gap. Barboza often beat Sims to the punch.

By the second half of the fight, Barboza’s jab had created noticeable swelling under Sims’ right eye. For his part, Sims seemed unable to change gears and appeared lost, with no sense of urgency.

As both fighters leaned in to throw right hands in the eleventh, they clashed heads, each coming away with a cut. Barboza bled profusely from a cut on his hairline, while Sims had a smaller cut along his right eye.

Neither cut was a factor in the 12th and final round. Barboza seemed to feel he was in the zone, fighting with his hands down. He walked into a huge right hand from Sims, which he was able to shake off. Barboza then began talking to Sims, telling him, “I told you there were levels to this.”

The judges’ final tallies were as follows: 117-111, 118-110, and 120-108, all for Barboza, who moves to 33-1 with 11 KOs. Sims drops to 22-4-1 with 8 KOs.

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