Franklin Lawrence vs. Lance Whitaker
Franklin Lawrence 226 lbs beat Lance Whitaker 249 lbs by KO at 2:59 in round 7 of 10
- Date: 2010-09-11
- Location: Convention Center, Riverside, California, USA
- Referee: Jack Reiss
- Judge: Marty Denkin
- Judge: Max DeLuca
- Judge: Jerry Cantu
In an IBO Inter-Continental Vacant heavyweight title bout in which both principals agreed to the bout as last minute replacements on two weeks notice (sanctioned and approved by the IBO nonetheless as both participants were rated by that body), Franklin Lawrence scored a sixth round knockout over 6'8" giant Lance Whitaker in a bout where speed and power over came height, reach and experience advantages. At the beginning of the bout, Whitaker immediately used his reach advantage on his smaller foe and landed a one-two combination to the face which left Lawrence with a swollen right eye. However, he failed to capitalize on his opportunity. Training and preparations quickly showed who the better boxer was for this bout. Lawrence began to close the distance gap and got inside, landing numerous big right hands which had the 38-year-old Whitaker in serious trouble by the end of round one. The pace continued for the first six rounds, with the big right hands by Lawrence landing to the head and body of Whitaker, whose legs were too slow to avoid Lawrence coming in, and whose defense was inadequate to stop the number of blows coming in. In the seventh, Whitaker, down on points, tried swinging away with big shots which missed, Lawrence landing short left and right counter punches with accuracy. A Lawrence counter left hook to the jaw of Whitaker sent him to the canvas late in the seventh down and out, where he was counted out at 2:59. With this loss, Whitaker blew a chance to fight Tomas Adamek for the IBF International heavyweight title, which opened the door to Monte Barrett's comeback challenge to Adamek. Lawrence, Indianapolis, Indiana, 13-2-2, 8 KOs, who lost a close ten round decision to former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall in August 2009 (in which two judges had it 96-94 for McCall) showed he was a far better fighter than his record indicated and proved his IBO ranking legitimate. Whitaker, Van Guys, California, whose skills faded and who was never in the bout, fell to 35-7-1, 28 KOs.