(JULY 20) The women’s bantam
weight bout pitting Alisah McPhee against Peggy Maerz proved to
be the most exciting bout on the undercard of the Strawson
Boxing promotion at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo BC on Friday
July 18th. The fight was an interesting match up of power, which
Maerz embodied, and quickness and accuracy, seen in McPhee’s
punches. The momentum shifted between the two women throughout
the six round bout, and as both women are British Columbia
residents, the crowd was split in their support.
The women took little time to assess the other and instead
jumped right in to firing the jab and looking for an opening to
the other’s head. Both of them landed jabs, but it was Maerz who
was able to take advantage of opportunities to land her right.
Maerz’s target early was McPhee’s body, and that meant she had
to stand in close.
The close infighting provided McPhee with openings to shoot her
quick compact left, targeting Maerz’s ribs. The second round was
also close, but the difference in the women’s style and tactics
became more evident. Maerz was going to rely on the power behind
an overhand right. McPhee pumped her jab to keep Maerz from
stepping too close, and McPhee began to follow the jab with
right hooks to the body.
The sound of the crowd swelled entering the third round as they
sensed this was not going to be a walk over for either woman.
Maerz settled a bit and rather than trying to jump in on McPhee,
she went back to shooting her jab while stepping in and then
loading up to follow it with her right hand. Maerz divided
scoring punches between McPhee’s head and body.
McPhee began to effectively counter punch Maerz, and when the
Maerz’s overhand right exposed her ribs, McPhee shot and landed
her left. In the fourth round the women returned to the strength
of their style. Maerz landed her powerful right hand, often to
McPhee’s chin. McPhee, while she took a few punches, relied on
her quickness to jump in, shoot a combination, and then move out
of trouble.
Perhaps sensing that McPhee might have gained a slight edge in
the middle rounds, Maerz threw almost exclusively right hand
power shots to open the fifth. She landed many and that forced
McPhee to back off a bit. That however also worked to McPhee’s
advantage as she was able create enough distance to stay out of
range of Maerz’s power, while creating space to throw the jab
and follow it with her right. Maerz closed the round with a
return to her power. The final round was a showcase of power
against speed. Both women were effective, both landed shots and
both were on the receiving end of punches.
After six exciting rounds of boxing, one judge scored the bout
58-58 for Maerz; the other two scored it 58-56 for McPhee.
Alisah McPhee would claim the split decision victory for her
third win overall.
