Tonight on Friday Night Fights from the Veteran’s Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida, a high quality main event came our direction featuring middleweights at a major crossroads, with Grzegorz Proksa vs. Sergio Mora. Which of these guys, if either one, will be able to claw his way back into fringe contention? Take a look at the Proksa vs. Mora results from Friday Night Fights.
Mora vs. Proksa Results:
Sergio Mora scored a nice 10-round unanimous decision over clueless Polish import Grzegorz Proska. Mora raises his record to 24-3-2 (7 KOs). With Proksa being the WBA’s 6th-ranked contender, this win should put Mora back in the mix for some meaningful fights. Proksa falls to 29-3 (21 KOs).
Mora, 33, the former WBC 154-pound champion and winner of the show Contender, was fighting for the first time in nearly a year. Proksa, from Poland, best-known on this side of the pond for a failed challenge of Gennady Golovkin in 2012, was giving up 4 inches to Mora, but entered the ring 4 years younger at 28. The southpaw Proksa looked to get inside the reach of the “Latin Snake” early, with Mora snaking out single shots. Good opening round for Mora, who has only fought 5 times (2-2-1) since losing his title to the late Vernon Forrest in 2008.
Proksa seemed to be taking a thoughtful approach, but let Mora keep his distance and fight at his pace. Proksa has a strange style, hands down, making a lot of movements with his shoulders, and trying to be more of a flashy stylist when a more proletarian approach would be suitable. Despite some decent bodywork by Proksa, Mora appeared to also win the second.
Proksa opened the third with a nice southpaw left. But with Proksa content to engage Mora at long range, he was able to dictate pace, albeit tenuously. Mora landed well to the body in the final minute of a close 3rd round, whose left hands may have edged him the round. In the 4th, Proksa allowed Mora to fight at a comfortable distance, actually backing off and circling away from Mora, a fighter with only 7 stoppages in 28 fights. Still, he darted in with a nice shot from time to time. His use of angles gave him a new dimension that Mora had trouble reading. Mora was showing palpably less fire than what characterized his heyday of 5 or so years ago.
Some nice rights by Mora in the 5th appeared to stun Proksa. Generally, the action was not terribly-riveting–with Proksa circling the light-hitting Mora, with very few moments of exchanging. One guy would do something, the other guy would do something, and seldom did they do anything together. But with Proksa’s only defense being his legs and head movement, Mora began to land with more regularity in the 5th.
Better action in the 6th, with both men having their moments. Mora landed some quality rights in the final minute to edge the round. More crisp offense from Mora in the 7th, who started pushing Proksa against the ropes, showing more of his old fire. Mora ripped to the body and landed some telling rights on a suddenly de-poofed Proksa. Mora slowed in the second half of the round, but still took it clearly. Some more heated action and chippy action in the 8th. Proksa has major deficits in the game-plan area, working hard at times to get in, then doing nothing. It’s a ton of effort and movement, with no apparent purpose. Mora took the 8th.
With Proksa spending a lot of time at the end of Mora’s shots, he was in perfect range to be hit clearly. Mora obliged in the 9th with some more crisp rights and jabs. Proksa’s style was infuriating at times. The kid has some talent, but needs to work on the mental part of the game and his vision of the fight. With his corner speaking Polish, it’s anyone’s guess what the instructions were, but they weren’t able to reach Proksa.
Nice right by Mora to open the 10th and final round. Proksa was going for it in spots, but wasted time with more histrionics–clearing his nose, dipping his shoulders, bobbing at the waist, bending his torso to and fro. Everything but punching. Mora, actually a betting underdog, having his way in the second half of the fight after a relatively-even first 4 rounds. To punctuate his dominance, Proksa missed a punch at the end of the fight that sent him sprawling to the mat, as Mora celebrated with a little shimmy. Scores were 96-94 (twice) and 98-92 for Mora. ProBoxing-Fans had it 98-92.
On the undercard, Patrick Teixeira moved to 20-0 with a 10-round unanimous decision over Marcus Willis, who fell to 13-2-2 (3 KOs). Teixeira, a tall and thin unbeaten southpaw from Brazil, and Willis traded on even terms for the first few rounds in competitive action. Teixeira, with 17 knockouts in 9 fights coming in, found Willis to be a tough nut to crack. With a lot of softies on his record, Teixeira had something to prove and was willing, giving up his height to engage Willis at times. Willis. looking a lot like Marlon Starling, took some hard strafes at the end of the third. Willis, coming off a win over 21-1 James De La Rosa, landed some good punches, but with only 3 stoppages in 17 fights, he lacked power. Big trading at the end of the four–with Teixeira emerging with a big cut over his left eye.
Willis was cagey in overcoming the height and power of Teixeira with timing and craft. But Teixeira was diligent to the body, though leaking blood from his left optic. More even action in the 6th, with Teixeira seemingly doing enough in almost all the rounds to hold a small edge. In the 7th, a swing and miss from Willis left to a huge right hook by Teixeira. Willis staggered around the ring, as Teixeira battered him for the next minute-plus. With 30 seconds left, Willis retaliated with some nice shots on his punched-out opponent in an excellent round of action.
Willis had a decent comeback round in the 8th, with each fighter visibly tiring and both entering the 9th round for the first time. The 9th was mostly uneventful. The 10th saw Willis have some moments, but not enough to turn the tide. Scores were 98-92, 96-94, and 97-93 for Teixeira. ProBoxing-Fans had it 97-93 Teixeira.
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Thanks for checking out our coverage of the Proksa vs. Mora results. Be sure to check back in with us for the weekend’s big action, highlighted by the Gennady Golovkin vs. Matthew Macklin middleweight title rumble.
