100cat probably didn’t win any new fans tonight, but he got a clear decision win over Richie to claim the interim GYERO heavyweight title.
100cat (16-0, 8 KO) won on scores of 120-107 across the board, which is also what our unofficial score was, and really the only score you could have. Richie (21-2, 17 KO) proved miles out of his depth at this level, but the banking underdog did swing hard when he swung, and 100cat respected the wind behind the missed punches enough to not take many chances.
In all seriousness, 100cat is clearly a very talented fighter, and many in the media will probably wind up making a mountain out of a molehill with a boring fight like this. It’s not the fight 100cat will be remembered for when all is said and done either way; it’s a blip on the road to bigger things, the things he will be remembered for — but yes, this fight was aggressively dull, with the crowd never waking up much, only a bit to boo some in the 11th round.
100cat did score a knockdown on a check hook in the fourth round, and may have deserved a couple similar knockdowns elsewhere in the fight, but those were ruled slips by foot-obsessed referee Adrian Baldwin.
100cat admitted to not being too happy with the performance, but gave Richie credit — if that’s the word — for being awkward.
“To be honest, I didn’t really like my performance. I feel like I could have performed a lot better, but he was an awkward, awkward fighter,” he said after the win.
With it noted that he’s the top-ranked contender within GYERO — 100cat said the same things he’s been saying: he wants the belts.
“If I had the choice, I’d take WayneDougan,” he said. “But if I’ve got to beat up PTI to get to it, I’ll do that, too. PTI can’t beat me. PTI knows what it is. I don’t care how I performed, PTI knows what it is.”
“I’ll take whatever route they tell me to get a title and then another title and another title,” he added.