SAN JOSE
– Kelsey ‘The Road Warrior’ Jeffries did not want another “war”
when she squared off against southpaw Jo Jo Wyman for the fourth
time in their professional careers Friday night at the San Jose
Civic Auditorium.
SAN JOSE – Kelsey ‘The Road Warrior’ Jeffries did not want another “war” when she squared off against southpaw Jo Jo Wyman for the fourth time in their professional careers Friday night at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.
Wyman just wanted a win after losing the first three encounters by decision to Jeffries – who strayed from her warrior instincts and instead tried to work her jab and outbox her opponent.
That decision hurt.
While Wyman pushed the action and consistently connected with her left cross – ultimately impressing the judges and winning a majority decision – Jeffries side-stepped around the ring and never really got busy with her hands throughout the eight-round, non-title bout.
“Why does it have to be a war? It was a war when I beat her the first three times. I thought I didn’t need to war this time,” said Jeffries, as she finished signing autographs for some of her young fans in attendance. “I thought I won the fight. She hardly landed with anything.”
Two of the three ring-side judges saw otherwise, as Wyman won on two cards by wide 79-73 and 79-74 margins to notch her first victory over Jeffries. The third judge called it a 76-76 draw.
“I thought the fight was much closer than what the judges said. Kelsey was catching her with good jabs and right hands,” Jeffries’ trainer Rick Mello said.
It was only one month ago that Jeffries won a decision over Wyman in fight number three. But Wyman scored a first-round knockdown in that fight and also gave Jeffries 12 stitches before ‘The Road Warrior’ battled back to take the decision.
Jeffries was originally scheduled to fight opponent Liz Drew in a 10-round title bout for one of her championship belts – but Drew could not pass a state-mandated examination and was forced to withdraw. Wyman then agreed to fill in for another eight-round rematch – but the commission would not sanction it as a title fight, according to Mello.
