Thomas Hardwick wanted to outbox his man and in the end he did, pounding out a four-round unanimous points decision over fellow heavyweight Jamell Williams at The Cordon Bleu in Queens last Friday.
A knockout winner in his two previous professional bouts, the Dubliner was taken the distance for the first time.
Hardwick had said going into the match that he would try to outbox Williams, a 23 year-old electrician from Arkansas, as opposed to knocking him out. He succeeded in doing that only after a competitive first round during which both fighters exchanged fierce punches.
In those opening three minutes, Williams showed an aggressive streak that belied his 0-3 record. He connected frequently with hard rights whose power Hardwick later acknowledged.
Hardwick, however, got his shots in, too, and did enough to take the round on all three rounds. He'd control the rest of the bout en route to his third straight win.
There were no knockdowns.
"My stamina could have been [better]. I was not as sharp as I've been," he later said.
The reason, he noted, was a sore ankle that he'd rolled during sparring four days earlier. "I didn't do anything after that and was actually off the card."
He decided to fight after seeing a doctor.
Williams said he'd taken the fight on short notice and was pleased with his effort. "I did pretty good given that I was only told about it last week."
Hardwick is tapped to fight again on Oct. 22 at Madison Square Garden.
