Jose Pedraza, Richard Commey fight to draw in spirited bout

Jose Pedraza boxed well and delivered a brutal body attack against Richard Commey on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Commey pushed the action for the most of the fight, landing his hard straight right and left hooks with some consistency.

However, in the end, neither of them did enough to have his hand raised after the fight. The judges scored the 10-round junior welterweight fight a split draw.

That wasn’t good news for the two veteran contenders, both of whom were hoping to bounce back after losing their most-recent fights. Instead, they went neither forward nor backward.

Pedraza (29-4-1, 14 KOs) got off to a strong start in the opening round, sticking, moving and targeting the body of Commey (30-4-1, 27 KOs).

However, by Round 2, the big puncher from Ghana picked up his pace, found his range and began to land hard, accurate punches to the face of his Puerto Rican opponent. A good, competitive fight was on.

Commey probably impressed two of the judges with his aggression and activity, which allowed him to land punishing, eye-catching punches in almost every round. However, Pedraza, the better boxer, did a good job of countering and landing body shots that seemed to slow down Commey.

Commey was cut above the left eye by an apparent clash of heads in Round 5, although the referee ruled said it results from a punch. That led to some of Pedraza’s most productive rounds, particularly Round 9.

In the penultimate frame Pedraza threw three times as many punches as Commey did and landed some of his most damaging shots of the fight. However, Commey rebounded to have a solid Round 10 that was difficult to score.

When the final bell rang, it seemed as if the fight could go either way. And that’s how the scoring played out. One judge had it 97-93 for Pedraza, the second 96-94 for Commey and the third 95-95. Boxing Junkie scored it 96-94 for Pedraza, six rounds to four.

Pedraza is willing to do it again.

“If they demand a rematch, I’m ready to give Richard Commey a rematch because he deserves it and I have the utmost respect for him,” Pedraza said. “Ultimately, my goal is to win a world title once again. Whatever I have to do, that’s what I’m willing to do.”

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Commey, meanwhile, wants go back to Ghana before making his next move

“It is a draw,” he said. “Obviously, I have to go back home and see my people. I love my people, and I gotta go back there, do what I gotta do.”

Story originally appeared on Boxing Junkie