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June 17, 2005
Possum Style
Had the great privilege of watching Chris Troupe knock out John Butler in the 6th round of their scheduled-for-8 match in Greensboro, N.C.: Troupe is a smart, crafty young fighter. He spent the first round of the fight mainly surverying the scene, blocking and moving and cautiously hanging his jab out to see what would happen. So many fighters lack faith in their own ability to take a punch, or to get up once they've been knocked down, so they hang themselves out to dry by dropping all their bombs as soon as the first bell rings, but not Chris Troupe: he covered up while Butler frustrated himself, wailing away against a constantly-moving brick wall. Having assessed his situation, Troupe began picking his spots, stealing rounds by closing strong, and working the body. By the sixth round, Butler was not only hurt, he was all used up, and Troupe landed a three punch combination that took the knees out from under his opponent. Ali-style, Troupe declined to throw insurance punches: he watched the full impact of the combo register in his Butler's falling body.
Very exciting middleweight bout, the best of the evening for me; I'd like to see even more wait-and-see rounds from Troupe in the future, because Butler did land a number of shots in the first few rounds that visibly shook Troupe, and a middleweight needs to know how to take hard shots without getting knocked down. But with only 12 fights to his name so far, Troupe's got plenty of time to hone his style, which is already pretty exciting.
Posted by jd at June 17, 2005 11:42 AM
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