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Undefeated US Gold Medalist David Reid takes on Nick Rupa in a Super Middleweight bout on HBO Boxing After Dark.
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00:00Middleweight prospect David Reed looks for his 10th pro win.
00:03Shane Mosley defends against John John Molina.
00:06It's Boxing After Dark, coming next.
00:10This is it.
00:12The final night.
00:13The last punch.
00:15Boxing After Dark, Mosley vs. Molina and Reed vs. Rupa.
00:19Next on HBO.
00:22She's the best at what she does.
00:26This is the only life she knows.
00:27Be there when three of today's most promising heavy hitters step out of the shadows and into the ring for a thunderous night of boxing.
00:35Undefeated powerhouse Michael Grant, slick-punching southpaw Chris Bird, plus highlights from the dynamic David Tua.
00:41It's a work in progress for what could be tomorrow's champion.
00:44The Night of Young Heavyweights, live Saturday, May 30th, HBO Boxing After Dark.
00:52Tonight, it's on HBO.
00:57The following is a special presentation of HBO Sports, the network of champions.
01:12The Night of Young Heavyweights.
01:16The Night of Young
01:32Oaks
02:32A rainy weekend on the boardwalk in Atlantic City leaves most of the regular sites unpopulated.
02:39Many people indoors at the Taj Mahal looking to tonight's boxing action.
02:44Will David Reed stay unbeaten in his early pro career?
02:46Will Shane Mosley continue to polish his credentials as the best young lightweight in the world?
02:52If you're looking for some provocative boxing action and anxious to know what we'll be saying in hindsight about this a couple days from now,
03:02stick with us to watch these upcoming matches.
03:04Hello again, everybody.
03:05I'm Jim Lampley.
03:06Welcome back to this edition of HBO's Boxing After Dark.
03:09The telecast noted for competitive matches, and we have a chance for some exciting action tonight,
03:14despite the fact that there are two distinct favorites in the spotlight here.
03:18Working with me as always, HBO Boxing Analyst Larry Merchant.
03:22Larry will be looking later on this evening at Shane Mosley in the second of our two main events.
03:26But let's start with the story of young David Reed.
03:29He was the only American Olympian to win a gold medal in boxing in Atlanta and got off to a fast start in his pro career.
03:36But now there are some other members of that Olympic group who are making noise in boxing.
03:41Are all of them on the development fast track like David?
03:45It's a NASCAR race out there, Jim.
03:48The youth of America wants it all, wants it now, today, if not yesterday, or even on Wednesday.
03:55On Wednesday, you may recall, a 20-year-old phenom struck out 20 Major League batters in a game.
04:04In boxing, just a year and a half ago, Floyd Mayweather Jr. became a pro.
04:10He is already being groomed for a championship shot at the redoubtable Gennaro Hernandez.
04:17Here you see David Reed, and as well, Vargas and Judah are being accelerated through the rankings.
04:26Superior young talent can often compete with proven champions, but they seldom can be consistent at the very highest level.
04:37And that can be dangerous in boxing.
04:41Jim, Nick Rupert, who is scrap iron tough, I think David Reed has all the danger he needs at this stage of his career.
04:49Yeah, Rupert last year went 10 tough rounds with the excellent Terry Norris.
04:54He's regarded as the toughest opponent yet so far for young Reed, and also working with us, as he always does on Boxing After Dark,
05:00the fighter against whom talent is measured in the sport, especially in the wake of his latest conquest,
05:05the one-punch, body-punch knockout of Virgil Hill.
05:09A couple weeks ago in Mississippi, 175-pound champion Roy Jones joining us again.
05:13Roy, Nick Rupert is a tough, action, in-your-face, 90-punch-per-round fighter.
05:19If he can take David Reed's best shot, which is pretty good, can Reed find other ways at this stage of his career to beat a fighter like this?
05:28Yeah, Jim, I think the most important thing, first of all, is is Rupert's tough enough to take David Reed's strongest punch.
05:34If he can take David's punches, then we'll have to give a chance to see what David's really made of.
05:39He'll get a chance to work to the body, possibly, work his jab, and do different things that it takes to win a range fight,
05:45a fight that takes more than what he's used to going.
05:47He's used to the one-punch knockouts.
05:49He needs a little bit more work, and I think this is the perfect opponent for David Reed to get that work with.
05:54Indeed, manager-trainer Al Mitchell says he wants to see David Reed go some rounds against tough fighters.
05:59He's got a chance to do so tonight.
06:01Closer look at Reed, and Rupert, with a 29-5 record, is right in the mold of all of the opponents early in Reed's career.
06:08As you can see, nine opponents add up to a total of 206 wins and only 38 losses tonight.
06:13For the first time, Reed is scheduled to go 10 rounds if the fight goes the distance.
06:18Across the ring from Reed, a former Canadian amateur star, originally born in Trinidad,
06:23now lives in Miami, former amateur teammate of Lennox Lewis on the Canadian team.
06:28And as we told you, his most noteworthy performance, TKO'd in 10 by Terry Norris, January of 1997.
06:40Rupert's wife and brand-new baby here, and you see his new trainer, Pat Burns,
06:46who was one of the coaches who coached Reed to victory at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 96.
06:51In fact, Burns was in Reed's corner that night when Reed scored the big upset victory over a Cuban fighter to secure the gold medal.
06:58Tail of the tape for David Reed against Nick Rupert.
07:02They weighed in at 156 pounds, two pounds over the junior middleweight limit.
07:07And as you look down there at the bottom, you'll see that Rupert's already up to 165 24 hours after the weigh-in.
07:14Despite the fact that he's on the vaunted zone diet, we have to assume that all of the nine pounds he added were 40% carbohydrate, 30% fat, and 30% protein.
07:24One-inch reach advantage for Reed, two-inch height advantage for David, and Rupert gives up eight years in age.
07:30Rules of the bout with our own zone.
07:33Harold Letterman, the scorer.
07:34As previously mentioned, the David Reed-Nick Rupert fight is scheduled for 10 rounds, non-title.
07:40There is no standing eight count, no three-knockdown rule.
07:43Only the referee can stop the fight, and you cannot be saved by the bell at any round, including the 10th and final round.
07:49Jim.
07:49Brilliantly done, Harold.
07:51Let's go up to Michael Buffer for the pre-fight introductions.
07:53Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Donald J. Trump's Taj Mahal Casino Resort here on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
08:02where tonight, Cedric Kushner promotions and your undisputed, undefeated king of beers, Budweiser.
08:10This Bud's for you.
08:11Present professional boxing for your entertainment.
08:14This first bout is presented in association with America Presents and sanctioned by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board,
08:22Boxing Commissioner Larry Hazard, Sr.
08:25The three judges assigned at ringside to score this bout on a 10-point must system will be Ed Leahy, Paul Venti, and Steve Weisfeld.
08:35And when the bell rings, your man in charge of the action, referee Lindsey Page.
08:41And now, ladies and gentlemen, 10 rounds of boxing.
08:44This is in the junior middleweight division.
08:47That's what I'm talking about.
08:49Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner, wearing silver trimmed with black and weighing in, pardon me, wearing a white trim with red,
08:59weighing in at 156 pounds.
09:02He comes to us from Miami, Florida, and brings an excellent professional record of 29 victories.
09:08Only five losses with one draw.
09:1017 of his 29 victories are by knockout.
09:14And he's ranked number nine in the world in the junior middleweight division.
09:18Ladies and gentlemen, he is Nick Rupa.
09:25Stop bouncing.
09:26And his opponent across the ring, fighting out of the red corner, wearing silver trimmed with black.
09:32He also weighs 156 pounds.
09:35He captured Olympic gold in 1996, and now, as a professional, has a perfect record of 8-0, including five knockouts to his credit.
09:46From the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ladies and gentlemen, he is the American dream, the undefeated, David Reed.
09:58All right, gentlemen, I want a good, clean fight.
10:09I want you to obey my commands at all times, and I want you to protect yourselves at all times.
10:13Touch gloves, go back to the corner until I tell you to come out.
10:16Good luck, James.
10:17Nick Rupa looks like he's built like a big old safe.
10:21Will Reed try to open him with some explosive device, or will he be able to do it with finesse?
10:36In his last fight here on HBO, David Reed looked tremendous in the first round against Robert Frazier,
10:41and then ultimately got himself into a bit of a war, trading more punches with Frazier than his manager trainer wanted to see.
10:48Good left hook there, back to Rupa up.
10:50Yes, I think that left hook might have hurt Rupa.
10:53Yeah, they're looking for the right hand all the time.
10:56That's his vaunted punch, and on one of the fights we've done with Reed, he did stop somebody with his left hook.
11:04Rupa's trainer for this bout, Pat Burns knows Reed almost as well as anybody, not quite as well as Al Mitchell,
11:09but maybe beyond that as well as anybody else, and he told Rupa,
11:13you've got to get inside David's power, you've got to get up into his chest to have a chance.
11:17Yeah, but David is throwing some real good uppercuts inside that are going to disencourage Rupa from getting that close to him soon.
11:23For his part, Reed is looking for Rupa to drop his left hand and give him a chance to land across the top of the right,
11:39and already you can see Rupa's habit of allowing the left to wander low.
11:53Well, that's an invitation to a right hand, isn't it, Roy?
12:00Especially for a good right-handed puncher like David Reed.
12:03Take a look.
12:05Take a look.
12:07Take a look.
12:09Take a look.
12:11Take a look.
12:14Take a look.
12:16Take a look.
12:18Take a look.
12:20Take a look.
12:23Take a look.
12:25Swelling around the left eye already of Nick Rupa, as Reed has found the target a couple of times with the right hand.
12:31the right hand if you've watched david reed before you know that his left eye has been the subject of
12:40three surgeries for a drooping lid and it seems to us at least that as the fights go on he has to
12:48hold his head higher and higher to see well out of the lead on yeah i think david reed is hurting
12:53with every punch that he hits him with every power punch is really hurting because reed has heavy
13:01hands yes and he's throwing real quick punches the quickness is where the speed is speed is actually
13:07where the power is rupa low with a couple of these shots referee lindsey page not having done anything
13:21to stop him from it so far
13:28and rupa who's been averaging 93 punches per round in his last couple of appearances may not have
13:35approached that level in that particular stanza he only threw 75 that time out so already reed's
13:42punches have had the effect of limiting rupa's output what punch is he looking for now listen to me when
13:49you're in close stop leaning so much on the other side come up with your right uppercut and your
13:54double hook okay right off the cover up you sitting in there too long you're waiting for him to punch
13:59too many times you understand what i'm saying you're doing good off the block but you're letting him
14:03throw eight or nine punches soon as he fell one or two right uppercut and double left hook and shift to the for
14:08the hook shift to the hook side okay okay did you wet it
14:17and get a little harder jabs and his face is busting up seconds out you see the quickness of
14:23reeds hands you also saw in his corner that already they have used the end spell on that left eye as a
14:31precaution and you can bet there was some attention paid to nick rupa's left eye between rounds as well
14:41as we mentioned the swelling that developed there in round number one copy box numbers for the first
14:46round showed reed landing 39 of 94 punches rupa 19 of 75 pretty easy to score the round for reed as harold
14:54let him go let him go we just defending his body very well here because rupa's intention
15:07is to come out here and beat his body to wear him down for the later round
15:17so when you say defending his body this means he's blocking the body shots with his elbows and his arms very
15:22good but you do take accumulated punishment on the arms and shoulders when you're forced to do that
15:34yeah you do but your arms and shoulders are weapons so it doesn't hurt them as bad as it would hurt your
15:38body because your body is like your station for everything else that's the nucleus that's where
15:42everything that's going to push these arms and legs is at your liver your lungs everything is right
15:48there in your body so you'd rather him hit the arm than hit your nucleus
15:58good uppercut by reed to start that flurry and a left hook in there as well
16:05right hand lead landing for reed rupa's left hand wandering low as is his habit
16:12first thing pat burns told rupa when he took over his trainer eight weeks ago is
16:17you're going to fight for me i want you to hold your left hand up
16:21but it's not a stage of rupa's career where he's likely to learn new chops no it's not
16:26that right hand over the top by reed
16:39four five six seven eight good stoppage
16:47stoppage
16:51rupa was still wobbling
16:53all right
16:59good job
17:02let me talk to him yeah yeah i am
17:08david reed may may wanted to may want to may have wanted to put in some rounds but he forgot to
17:24tell his fists
17:28well we told you about the left hand held low i mean the target couldn't have been more obvious
17:33but by no means especially against a great right hand puncher like david reed
17:36you're going to find a good right-handed puncher your best to keep your left hand up
17:40sounds simple but he got tagged with the left hook and he got a few body punches in there
17:49and he is a tough guy who's never experienced
17:53something like this before at this stage of the fight so the safe was broken open by dynamite
18:02all right so reed landed a few times with the straight right hand and didn't do that kind of
18:05damage when he looped that one over the top boom he puts the guy to sleep why is that roy
18:10well first of all the guy was coming in as you saw right there on the replay the guy's coming in
18:14this makes the impact twice as hard as it is but he was just standing out on the end this is the
18:18first real right hand that david caught him with while he was coming towards david boom he's coming
18:24into it that makes it twice as hard as it would normally be and he got him right on the temple too
18:28and plus he know he knows right at this point in his uh in this fight that he's going to land the
18:32right hand so he starts to put more on it yep well a scintillating knockout performance by young david
18:40reed who stretches his early unbeaten professional record to nine and oh and let's go to michael buffer
18:48for the official particulars
18:53ladies and gentlemen following the knockdown referee lindsey page has to call a halt of the bout
18:59the official time of the ending two minutes 17 seconds of round number two the winner by knockout
19:06victory his record now nine and oh six ko's the american dream continues for the undefeated david
19:26we are live at the taj mahal in atlantic city first of our two boxing after dark feature bouts now
19:39completed let's go to larry merchant with the winner david reed thank you very much jim and congratulations
19:46again david i thought you wanted some rounds hey well he was a tough guy i kept hitting him with my left
19:54jab but uh with the right hand i caught him a couple times but i knew that he wasn't going to take too
20:01many of those he just seemed to walk right into that one that one well uh i kind of timed him my coach
20:08al mitchell he told me to lean over to my left because he was leaning over to his right so uh what he
20:14wanted me to do was to counter with the straight right hand how would you measure this performance al
20:20mitchell you said before the fight he was 65 to 70 percent of where you want to be did he add any
20:27percentage points tonight i gave him a b he got the job and got him out of there um he should have
20:32been a little more jabs and i fought at the end of the first round he could have had him out um he was
20:37just a little timid but i think he he's still he's still a young pup in the forest he's still learning
20:42the game do you feel like a young pup david no i feel like a bro man are you as eager as some of
20:53your supporters are for you to start the fighting on the top level or do you have the patience to let
20:59it happen when it happens i still have the patience to let it happen when it happens because i don't
21:04want to get a brush a little bit too fast i'm going at a nice pace right now and this is the pace where i
21:09like to stay at until my coach think i'm ready all right i think we're going to try to show
21:13the knockout uh we'll run run it up here describe what you see david well uh here it is i'm setting
21:19up with my right hand and i threw it i threw the straight right hand he just fell i came back with
21:25the left hook it was kind of like the same right hand i hit the cuban with but uh that was a round
21:30punch well you're straightening out your punches so you're learning your game as you as you proceed as
21:36a professional thanks again david jim all right larry and let's take a look at uh compubox's final
21:44numbers for the bout total punches landed 60 by reed 30 by or 36 by rupa you can see that reed threw 23
21:51more punches landed 24 more punches 41 percentage all those numbers rendered academic by the looping
22:00over the top right hand that desensitized rupa and brought an end to the bout mitchell gave him a b
22:05wouldn't even give him an a for that performance tough man to please huh very tough man to please
22:11this is how you're supposed to do your students you constantly make them work you never make them
22:15think that they've gotten an a until they get beyond a then you give them an a and even now i don't think
22:20they give you a because they still want you to continue to work hard and what would you tell
22:23david to keep working on everything his jab he could have probably got him earlier had he established
22:28a jab a little bit more if you get a guy that's shorter than you that's out and he's low work on your
22:32jab use your jab keep him off belly all right we'll be back to talk to roy in just a minute
22:38next bout upcoming what'd you think of reed he's he's a prospect he's a real real prospect when you
22:45have that kind of power boy that that you can't coach that comes with the package ready to look at
22:51another fighter with all of the weapons young shane mosley at 135 pounds his 26 and 0 to this stage of his
22:58career
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