Hector Rendon was bigger and stronger than Kenny Lally and had him on the run for much of his fight Saturday at the Night of the Champions boxing card.
But it was like trying to catch a grasshopper without a net.
Just when Rendon thought he had Lally sized up to take a punch he was gone, and that made all the difference in the world to Lally, who gave a hometown crowd at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre plenty to cheer about with a split decision win over his Tacoma, Wash., opponent.
Lally was at his best in the first round, flashing his fists at Rendon's face with tantalizing speed and power unlike any of Lally's other appearances at Prince George fight cards.
Now several years into his national A-team commitments, Lally has benefited from international travel and taking on some of the top amateur bantamweight fighters in the world.
After taking a solid combination to the face early in the Round 2, Rendon switched to being the aggressor and went to work on Lally's body.
By the third round, Lally was starting to tire out and his cornerman, four-time heavyweight national champion Samir El-Mais, told him to get closer to Rendon to keep from getting tagged.
Lally got backed into the ropes a couple times but was difficult to pin down and emerged with a close decision.
"I knew he was a bigger guy and would come straight forward so I had to move the first couple rounds and that much movement and activity takes a toll and gets a fighter tired, but I was recovering good," said the 23-year-old Lally, fighting at 60 kilograms, having moved up two weight classes in the past year.
"In the first two rounds he was chasing me, but would get frustrated. But in the last round he had the fire lit under his ass and anywhere I would go, he would go, so it was harder to move. He caught me with a body shot that kind of winded me, so I know he won the third round, but I didn't think it would be split decision. That was one of the toughest fights I've ever had, but the crowd helped me out."
Rendon, a bronze medalist at the U.S. national Golden Gloves tournament last year, celebrated his 18th birthday Saturday but was in no mood to party after feeling he got cheated by the judges.
"I didn't agree with the decision at all, I don't think they were counting my jabs," said Rendon.
"I was landing the jab every time I threw it. At the [U.S. national championships] they don't let you run around like that. He was like a rabbit."
