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LINCOLN, R.I.-- In a performance that
proved more methodical than flashy, Jaime Clampitt's retained her
IWBF International Womens Boxing Federation lightweight title in a
97-93, 95-95, 97-93 decision over Belinda “Brown Sugar” Laracuente
last night at Twin Rivers Event Center as part of Jimmy Burchfield's
Rumble at the River.
Clampitt, 31, improved to 19-4 (7 KO'S) with the triumph, while
Laracuente, a native of Mayaguez Puerto Rico, fighting out of New
York City fell to 23-22-3 (9 KO'S).
“Just going in to this fight, we knew that Belinda is a very, very
slick fighter,” said Clampitt of her opponent. “She's had over forty
fights, she's been in there with everybody, some of the best. She's
slick and knows what to do. She makes fighters look bad and I just
got sucked into her fight plan a little bit. When I did back her up,
I did feel like I was the aggressor in the fight, I was hurting her
to the body. She was switching up, I'm not going to take anything
away from her, she's a great fighter, I felt like I put just a
little more pressure on her.”
“No, no it didn't affect me, I did a great job today,” said
Laracuente when asked if her last bout, just two weeks ago against
Jessica Rakoczy in Lemoore, California had any lasting effects on
her efforts before a packed house at Twin Rivers.
While the opening rounds were somewhat lackluster in terms of fan
appeal, Clampitt scored with a crisp right in the third, backing
Laracuente into the corner to conclude the round. Laracuente, 29,
got the best of a brief exchange in the sixth, a round that might
have been the most animated, save for the final two rounds of the
night.
In the ninth, in contrast to the earlier rounds, the combatants
opened up considerably. In retrospect, the flashy Laracuente
acknowledged that her inability to throw more punches might have
been better served if she had begun sooner. “I could have been a
little more busy, but I did enough in my behalf to keep her away
from me and win the fight.”
Laracuente, whose last win came against Melissa Del Valle back in
June of 2007 was obviously disheartened with the final outcome.
“She's a very strong fighter,” she said of Clampitt. “She's pretty
good, but she just came out with the head and holding too much, and
the referee didn't see any of that, but I understand that she's the
hometown fighter, so everything she does is the best.”
“She's got great speed,” Clampitt countered in assessing her latest
opponent. “She's got little tricks on the inside, she was pulling me
in. A lot of times I wasn't holding, I was coming over top, she was
coming underneath and we were getting caught up. When I had her on
the ropes, she was pressing my arm up on the ropes so it looked like
I was holding a little bit, when I was just actually trying to work
to the body a little bit more. We came in, we clashed heads-it was
just a difficult fight.
“I like to box and move around the ring,” Clampitt added. “as you
can see sometimes nothing happened and that's when I heard boos.
Maybe it wasn't the most exciting at times, but it was frustrating.
She did what she had to do and I did what I had to do.”
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