What a happy return it was. Returning to Fight Night at the Tank
for the first time in more than a year, Kelsey Jeffries made sure
her homecoming resulted in a resounding victory.
San Jose – What a happy return it was. Returning to Fight Night at the Tank for the first time in more than a year, Kelsey Jeffries made sure her homecoming resulted in a resounding victory.
Facing Stephanie Dobbs in the evening’s semi-main event, a women’s super bantamweight bout, the Road Warrior battered her significantly lighter opponent throughout to emerge with a technical knockout midway through the fourth round at HP Pavilion. The victory was Jeffries’ third in a row and made her a perfect 10-0 in Fight Night appearances.
“It felt really good to be back,” the Road Warrior said. “This is my house. It felt good.”
Jeffries (35-9-1) took control of the fight from the start, repeatedly backing the 115-pound Dobbs into the ropes and using an effective jab to land several shots. With 50 seconds remaining in the second round, the Road Warrior connected on a solid blow to Dobbs’ head, and moments later landed three more punches to her retreating opponent’s body.
The tiring Dobbs (22-23-3) had run out of gas by the third round, but gamely hung on despite absorbing near constant punishment. But finally, another barrage of Jeffries’ blows culminated with the referee calling the bout at the 1:10 mark of the fourth round.
“I’m a technician,” said Jeffries, who wished she would have been even more aggressive. “I wanted to use my jab … make her miss, and then make her pay.”
After facing a string of opponents that outweighed her by up to 10 pounds, the Road Warrior had her way with the smaller Dobbs. Despite the Moore, Okla.-based boxer’s quickness in the ring, Jeffries continuously moved into position to land the lasting blows while avoiding any significant punishment of her own.
Earlier in the summer, Jeffries successfully defended her IFBA featherweight belt in a split draw in June, and then won the inaugural NABF women’s super bantamweight title by unanimous decision in July.
In the two heavyweight six-round bouts to lead off the evening, Teke Oruh knocked out Willie Perryman with 47 seconds to go in the riveting final round, and Malcolm Tann prevailed in a unanimous decision over Sedreck Fields. And in the other undercard match, Salinas’ Jesus ‘Chuy’ Rodriguez won a unanimous decision over David Marquez in a junior welterweight bout to the delight of a large group of his fans.
