Boxing results: Yoenis Tellez Falls – Baraou’s twelfth round barrage ensures WBA interim crown

Abass Baraou (17-1, 9 costs) pulled off a dismay and used his power punch to defeat the previously unbeaten WBA-Tus-century junior middleweight champion Yoenis Tellez (10-1, 7 food) by a unanimous decision of 12 round Saturday night in the Caribe Royale Orlando, in Orlando, Florida.

The scores

A storm of bumps

German native Baraou, 30, has cemented the victory by dropping Tellez, 25, in the twelfth round after unleashing a 20-punch-fest shots in the last ten seconds of the fight.

Tellez came through the last second, but he hurt when he walked back to his corner at the end of the 12th. His face was marked, his lips bleed, and both eyes swollen from the punishment he took from Baraou.

The Cuban-born Tellez agreed in the 10th and 11th rounds after being thrown out by the harder one to nine. He fought well in the 12th round until the last 30 seconds of the round. He looked like he was not prepared for the storm of shots that Baraou unleashed in the final seconds, and did not have the experience of tying him.

Punch statistics

• Abass Baraou: 214 landed 745 strokes for a 20% connection rate
• Yoenis Tellez: 205 of 674 for a 30% connection rate.

Although the punch statistics showed that Tellez ended up with the better Connect percentage, it did not look that way. He often missed out during the fight and cut out and threw hooks that were of the mark. Even when Baraou was close, Tellez missed a lot of the time with his shots. His hand-eye coordination was not where it should have been for this kind of opponent.

Baraou repeatedly supported Tellez against the ropes in each round and landed large shots. Tellez’s corner wanted him to stay in the middle of the ring and throw body shots. However, he did not follow their instructions, but he chose to fight the ropes. It was the wrong approach to take against a fighter like Baraou.

A new road for Baraou

With the victory, Baraou is now the new WBA-Tus-cent 154 pound champion. The current title holder, Terence Crawford, is challenging Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super-middleweight championship on September 13. If Crawford prefers not to return to the junior middleweight, Baraou will be increased to the new WBA champion.