Neven Pajkic Surives Early Trouble to Edge Raphael Butler

Andrew Fruman has the ringside report from Saturday night's show at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

It was looking bleak early on for Neven Pajkic, but the local heavyweight buckled down and managed to grit out a ten round unanimous decision over Raphael Butler.  The result was a win and the effort was certainly there, but it still wasn’t the most convincing of victories as Butler proved to be a far tougher foe than the undefeated Canadian was expecting.

The story of the first few rounds was Butler’s right uppercut, as the visiting man landed the punch with authority on several occasions – nearly scoring a knockdown in the opening minute of the bout, before drawing blood from Pajkic’s nose with one of several clean smashes in the second round. The blood would cause Pajkic trouble for the remainder of the contest, but the fighter confirmed afterward that there was fortunately no break.

Though not as spectacular as the crunching uppercuts, Butler also had his left hand working early and managed to catch Pajkic on the way in with several well timed jabs. It was the type of clever countering the Canadian champion hadn’t seen before and the well placed blows went a long way to stemming Pajkic’s aggression and earning Butler what appeared to be a commanding lead through four rounds.

But just when it looked like Butler would win in a walk, Pajkic broke through in a big way – finding the target repeatedly with a heavy two handed assault in the fifth round.  A determined Pajkic kept his advantage through the sixth and seventh rounds, managing to close the distance effectively and out-battle his more polished, though clearly not as well conditioned opponent.

Pajkic continued to push the pace in the eighth round as the majority of work came from his fists, though a couple of right uppercuts from Butler were arguably the best punches either man landed during the closely contested session.

Fatigue was setting in during the ninth, but there still some explosive moments for each fighter. Pajkic stung Butler with a very nice right hand early on, before Butler responded midway through the round with an overhand right that sent Pajkic careening backward heavily into the corner. The round looked to be still up for grabs heading into the final seconds when Pajkic landed a massive right hand to the side of Butler’s face, though the visiting man maintained his poise enough to flurry back before the bell.

With the result seemingly still in question – though the official cards indicated otherwise - Pajkic completed his spirited recovery by outhustling Butler over the final three minutes.

A quick press row survey indicated most ringsiders felt a draw or 6-4 swing either way would have been a fair result, though the decision was comfortably one-sided for Pajkic with tallies of 97-93, 97-93 & 99-91.

Butler appeared disappointed by the scores but accepted the result and offered his congratulations to Pajkic after the bout. He admitted to not being in the best of shape - his weight of 277 ½ was just short of a career high and far higher than his ideal fighting weight - but pointed out that he’d only had 3 weeks to prepare. His manager Dan O’Connor indicated an interest in a rematch, to which Pajkic responded, "Anytime."

Butler might have to wait in line however, as next up for Pajkic could be former world title contender Razor Ruddock. The big hitting Ruddock announced he’s been hard at work getting back into shape over the last couple years and will be making a comeback to the ring – and targeting Pajkic.

Having ballooned up to 310lbs just a couple years ago, Ruddock said he’s down to 219. He looked in great condition, though one has to question what he could bring to the table at age 46 – not to mention after such a lengthy layoff.

On the undercard…

Welterweight prospect Felix Mercedes improved his record to a perfect 6-0 with a fifth round stoppage of Sergio Leonides Aparicio. The beginning of the end came after Aparicio was dropped for a count of five by a left hook to the side of the head. Mercedes walked into a right hand in his haste to finish the rugged Argentinean fighter, but never let up in his push for the stoppage and his follow-up barrage eventually forced Referee John Wylie to jump in. The time of the TKO was 1:47.

The 22 year old from Buffalo had an ice pack on his left hand after the bout, having suffered a bruise when landing a left hook high on his opponent's head.  He indicated the injury was not serious.

Heavyweights Artem Lipanov and Taffo Asongwed battled to a four round draw in the opener. At the close of hostilities, Asongwed was looking the fresher of the two fighters and having things mostly his way.  The scores were 39-37 each way, and 38-38.

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