.: FIGHT REPROT: 05-05-05 Julio Gonzalez vs. Montell Griffin :.

If ever the there was a fighter who has proven time and time again that counting him out is the wrong thing to do, it's Julio Gonzalez. From getting knocked down three times by Julian Letterlough and coming onto win, to flying to Europe to face an undefeated Champion and bring the belt back home with him, Julio has been able to overcome all the odds and prevail, even when everything does not appear to be going his way. After losing his WBO Title to Zsolt Erdei, there were thoset hat might have thought that his chance for another belt were slim, at best. But Julio has kept on winning and earned his way to another Title shot with his victory over Montell Griffn tonight.

The fight in the Palm Springs Desert was a mixed bag of clutching grabbing holding and headbutts with some very clean hard punches mixed into the ray as well. It was apparent from the opening Bell that Griffin was going to employ some rough house tactics and spent a good portion of the round doing more holding than punching. Julio though, kept his cool and when he could get away, he was landing sharp punches.

In the second round Montell was once again trying to hold up Julio but by the second half of round 2 Julio had once again managed to find a way out of his clutches and some good body work was his reward, slowing Griffin to a slower pace. Round Three is where the heads started to clash and it was also a round that could have been given to Montell even though he was still employing some questionable grappling. Julio came out of the round worse for wear and the ref noted his injury was due to an unintentional headbutt. Once again in round four the two find themselves in clinches more often than not and this one is not easy to score, or so I thought! As round five begins Montell is sporting some swelling and redness on his eyes now and it looks as though the constant in fighting has taken it's toll on both fighters, and the clashing of heads was not over yet! Abutt in round six opens a nasty gash over Julio's right eye that starts to bleed and stream down his face as soon as the 2 are separated. The doctor moves in and this fight is over, a technical decision was going to decide the outcome of this one. The scores were a bit odd as one judge had it even while the other 2 gave Gonzalez every round, but the bottom line is that Julio Gonzalez has once again prevailed!

Next up is a trip to England and a battle with Clinton Woods for the IBF Title. Clinton is a good tough long and slick fighter who should give Julio a great battle, but before you go laying money on Woods, who is the home town boy for this one, take a good long look at Julio's career and understand that this fighter should not be counted out, no matter what the circumstances are and no matter how it might look on paper!