By: Sean Crose
Arnold Barboza Jr made his welterweight debut Saturday night when he took on Kenneth Sims Jr. Although Sims certainly didn’t have a bad reputation for himself, it was Barboza who all eyes were on at the Honda Center. Saturday’s fight which was scheduled for 12, was Barboza’s first time in the ring after losing to Teofimo Lopez. That may have been Barboza’s only defeat, but he hadn’t fought since, which meant fans were likely wondering where his mind was, at least at the moment. Indeed, the bout with Sims might provide the answer to a lot of questions.
The first couple of rounds were fast paced and twitchy. Each man was trying to take over the tempo but being so early into the fight it was too close to tell who was being more assertive. One thing was certain, Barboza was the faster and harder punching of the two fighters. That wasn’t good news for Sims who was supposed to be the more stylistically polished combatant in the ring. With that in mind it remained a very close fight, one where either man could easily end up stepping away from the ring with a decision win.
As the fight wore on the fans started to boo. California fights generally tend to be – or at least often tend to be – explosive affairs. This however, was just not that kind of fight. It was called a chess match by the DAZN broadcast team and that was a good way of putting it. It simply wasn’t appearing that the fight was going to bring in the fireworks. Still, it was a good match, with Barboza seeming to edge his determined opponent and Sims continuing to try to land more frequently on his foil.
There ended up being a headbutt in the later rounds, a headbutt which Barbosa got the worst of. That wasn’t enough to stop him though. The final rounds were the same as the other rounds throughout the fight… ones that were dominated by Barboza. Sims tried his best but he just didn’t have what it took to beat Barboza Saturday night. Suffice to say Barboza walked out of the ring with a unanimous decision win added to his resume. It was clearly well deserved. If anything is certain, it’s that Barboza has made a strong entrance into the welterweight division. It will be interesting to see where his career goes from here.
