Highly-regarded prospect Art Hovhannisyan (15-0-2, 8 KO) won via split decision (95-93, 95-93, 92-96) over former WBA lightweight titleholder Miguel Acosta (29-6-2, 23 KO) in ShoBox's lightweight bout held Friday night at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, CA.
The fight started with Art Hovhannisyan taking the fight to Miguel Acosta. The Armenian began unleashing his dreaded bombs but kept missing, while Miguel Acosta was circling and throwing counters but hitting nothing but air. Then with just less than 10 seconds left in the round, Hovhannisyan caught Acosta with a thunderous overhand right and dropped him like a log. Miguel Acosta, visibly dazed and on wobbly knees, managed to survive to fight another round and beyond.
The first round knockdown looked to be so devastating that many in the audience thought it would be a short night for Miguel Acosta, but the Venezuelan embarked on an escape and evasion mission and spent the entire three minutes of the second round trying to clear the cobwebs in his head, refusing to engage Art Hovhannisyan in a fight, but the Armenian fighter let him be.
In the next round or two, the audience saw Art Hovhannisyan's confident but ineffective swagger along with Miguel Acosta employing the pedal, as the former champion, wary of his opponent's power, began riding the bike, while the Armenian with the right hand at cocked and loaded, tried to unload the one haymaker that would matter, but to no avail.
The fight then went on into a lot of movements, albeit lacking in action: Miguel Acosta bobbing and weaving, throwing feints but not landing shots on Art Hovhannisyan, who seemed to be confused by the circling and head movements of his opponent, and eventually forgetting to take his own shots. There were a lot of posturings but no hard contacts.
But in the fifth round, Miguel Acosta snuck a right hand that buckled Art Hovhannisyan's knees, causing his right glove to touch the canvas. It was a flush knockdown with Hovhannisyan more embarrassed than hurt, as the referee gave him the mandatory count. The result was the rejuvenation of Miguel Acosta as he became more active and threw his jabs more frequently from then on.
The next round was the story of the right hands, with both fighters causing damage to each other, but Miguel Acosta had the edge, landing a chopping right hand on Art Hovhannisyan in one of the exchanges.
By the seventh round, Miguel Acosta was getting more confident with his ability to penetrate Art Hovhannisyan's defenses. The Venezuelan was quicker and landing punches, while Hovhannisyan was getting frustrated and one-dimensional, relying mostly on his right hand.
The 8th and 9th rounds showed Miguel Acosta evading Art Hovhannisyan's bombs while potshotting him with jabs and counters. His smarts frustrated Art Hovhannisyan as he brought the fight to the center of the ring, began to dart in and out, sniping him then getting out of range, and making himself an elusive target of his opponent's counters, visibly frustrating Art Hovhannisyan.
The 10th and final round saw both fighters engaging each other in a tit-for-tat, see-saw battle trying to make the last impressions on the judges' scorecards. The fight was good while it lasted and showed how Miguel Acosta was able to withstand his opponent's power and perform under constant pressure, while Art Hovhannisyan was ushered into a rude awakening that if he wanted to be a force to reckon with in the division, he needs to work and improve more on his skill set.
Miguel Acosta had the edge in jabs (60 of 401, 15% vs. 28 of 204, 14%) and total punches landed (124 of 594, 21% against 104 of 407, 26%) but lost in the power punches department. Art Hovhannisyan landed 76 of 203 (37%) power punches compared to Miguel Acosta's 64 out of 193 (33%), which in the eyes of the judges proved to be the difference in the fight.
The story behind the crossroads fight between a 30-year-old Armenian prospect and a former champion from Venezuela showed a battle between a one-dimensional fighter with tremendous power in his right hand and a wily and skillful veteran with average firepower in his fists.
The two fighters fought an intriguing but entertaining fight that could have made a case for either fighter winning the fight. In the end though, two of the three judges gave more weight on punching power than the pitty-pats to help Art Hovhannisyan keep his undefeated run in his quest for a world championship belt.
Miguel Acosta: "I was very sure I won. Although he caught me in the first round I landed more punches throughout the fight. I knew my conditioning was good and it would carry me though the fight. I felt I was robbed.''
Art Hovhannisyan: "I knew it was a little close, but I definitely thought I won. After I dropped him, I kept trying for the spectacular knockout. My corner was telling me between rounds to calm down, but I thought I had him for sure. He was lucky the bell rang when it did."
"I'm very happy to get the win. Acosta can still fight. I think my conditioning played a great role in my performance, but at this level you need to be good in all facets. This fight was definitely a great learning experience for me.''
Note: This article was previously published on Detroit Fight Sports Examiner
photo credit: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
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