Richard Commey’s knockout win over Jackson Marinez has given a louder echo to his new slogan “road to redemption.”

Compared to his last fight which cost him the IBF lightweight title, Commey looked more confident and delivered his fight plan to an appreciable degree.

Interestingly, champion Teofimo Lopez, whom he lost to in his last bout, was at ringside to give Commey support round after round.

Here is how it all happened

Round 1: Commey started it all off with activation of his left jab and was able to strike a countable number of body shots through Marinez’s guard. The Ghanaian stalked his slightly taller opponent around the ring and released his trademark right a few times. Marinez, being weary of this kept his footwork active and adjusted to avoid getting hit.

The Dominican during the first minute struck Commey to the face with his left and right in quick succession giving an indication of how much trouble he could cause should Commey drop his alertness. He managed to give a few decent counter punches at various points as well.

The final thirty seconds of the round saw the Ghanaian strike with his right which was rested some of the time and waiting to deliver the killer punch. Commey launched into attack mode and delivered a heavy straight right jab which forced Marinez backwards and also got him into a spontaneous clinch, as Commey stepped forward to follow up. And just when experienced Referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to break the clinch the bell sounded.

Round 2: Marinez looked like the aggressor for a moment. Clearly, he had received instructions from his corner to possibly move so that he could catch Commey unaware. Marinez delivered some good shots but got an equal response of aggression from Commey.

Commey continued pursuing Marinez around the ring and hit more with his left. In the final moments, Marinez’s usage of the space in the ring came in handy as he landed some good reply shots on Commey.

Round 3: In this round, Commey started giving signals of what awaited the fans when he leapt forward and caught Marinez with a set of lefts and rights. The Dominican then stepped out of it only for Commey to rush and pin him to the ropes with another set.

Key in this round were some of the harsh right hooks landed on Marinez’s chin. Commey landed at least two of them when he pinned the 30-year-old Dominicain to the ropes. The latter seemed to have a strong chin because the hooks landed, drawing some comments of concern from the commentary team. “We actually heard them from here,” they said. 

Round 4: The former IBF champion’s left jab got to work immediately after some seconds of sizing up. Commey cut through the Dominican’s guard with some straight left jabs followed by two big right overhead shots. Marinez did counter with some two punch combinations but the Ghanaian kept piling the pressure.

Marinez resumed his two punch onslaught in the center of the ring and managed to land but immediately Commey ran into attack mode to throw a set of head and body shots, some with Marinez on the ropes. Clearly not wanting to be overwhelmed Marinez got into an exchange. But it was Commey who landed on the stroke of the bell to wrap up another exciting round.

Round 5: Marinez’s single flashes and launching an attack popped up early in the round but just like the previous ones Richard Commey hit. This time he got both hands going and kept the pressure. The strength of the jabs coming from Commey forced Marinez to dance around the ring a bit in a bid to keep Commey chasing but from a slight distance. The Ghanaian was pacey and applied more pressure. Commey threw and landed and the swerving and dancing around for a few moments gave a subtle hint that Marinez’s was beginning to feel the effect of the Ghanaian’s stinging shots.

Round 6 (Knockout Round): Richard Commey burst into full attack releasing a considerably good amount of his arsenal on Marinez. He did that with great pace and power. After chasing Marinez to the corner and delivering a quick load of hard punches both to the head and body, he started searching for the killer punch. Commey threw an overhead shot with his right but failed to hit the target.

The action switched over to the ropes and Commey hardly relaxed his pace and delivery of his weapons. Commey then struck Marinez with both hands in the center of the ring to send him down.

Nevada-based referee Kenny Bayless had to administer the mandatory count as Marinez slowly got back on his feet to beat it. Right after referee Bayless signalled to resume the fight, Commey got close and finished it off with a two punch combination. The left first and then the much talked about right to the side of Marinez’s face. The latter helplessly dropped on to the canvas and that was it.

Referee Bayless, seeing how much trouble the Dominican boxer was in, signalled an end to the fight while Commey burst into his trademark celebration, the kick in the air from his kickboxing days and a shuffle dance.

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