Australian middleweight champion Mitchell Leek (11-0, 5 KOs) retained his title in his first defense with an entertaining 10-round unanimous decision victory over Jack Brubaker (18-6-2, 8 KOs) at The Melbourne Pavilion in Flemington, Victoria, Australia on Wednesday night.
The fight was a step up in class for Leek, 24, who had been 10 rounds just once before in his previous bout against Adrian Rodriguez (13-9-2, 6 KOs) for the national crown just last month. Leek pitched a shutout against Rodriguez, who was riding a five-fight losing streak.
Natural welterweight Brubaker, 32, who was making his 160-pound debut, brought to the ring a level of experience and savvy that the younger Leek had never encountered before. Three of Brubaker’s previous losses came against the quality trio of Tim Tszyu, Nikita Tszyu and Steve Spark.
Every fight in Brubaker’s pro career has been a war, and the Leek fight proved to be no exception.
After the obligatory feeling-out round, Leek made the first real move late in the second, scoring a flash knockdown with a left hook after a right to the body in a round that Brubaker was otherwise winning.
The action heated up in the third and fourth. Leek landed stiff, straight shots to the head while Brubaker punched around his guard. The challenger played with shifting to southpaw but didn’t use the guise for long. Brubaker suffered a cut over his right eye from an accidental head-clash in the fourth.
Leek eats a stiff left from Brubaker. (Photo by Royale Creator)
The two-way action continued through the mid-rounds with Leek landing the more eye-catching shots but Brubaker keeping it close. By the end of the sixth, Leeks was looking frustrated and a little fatigued.
The seventh was another excellent round as both boxers sought to gain control of the bout. Right-hand bombs were traded at the bell.
Brubaker tried the southpaw trick again at the start of the eighth but quickly realized Leek wasn’t about to fall for his trap. Despite showing signs of slowing down earlier, Leek found his second wind, forcing Brubaker to the ropes. He continued the assault throughout the round in what was easily his best session so far, landing some hurtful punches with his opponent on the back foot.
Youth ultimately prevailed as Leek outpointed Brubaker over 10 rounds. (Photo by Royale Creator)
In the ninth, it was Brubaker who was tiring and Leek took advantage, firing off hard shots as he bulled his opponent to the ropes. Leek continued his dominance on the 10th round, opening with a huge right hand to Brubaker’s whiskers and continuing to unleash his arsenal from there until the final bell.
When the dust settled, Leek was the rightful winner by scores of 98-91, 99-90 and 99-90, but the scores didn’t reflect the competitiveness of the bout.
“I thought I had him hurt, but he whacked me a few times and I thought there’s probably no point trading with him, because he can whack still, so I went back to boxing. It was a good fight,” said Leek.
Brubaker fans will be disappointed to hear it may be the last time that they see him in the ring.
“This man is a true champion,” said Brubaker. “He’s a big, strong boy and I appreciate the challenge to let me come down and fight here.
“I started my fight with [trainer] Ryan [Waters] and it’s nice to finish it with him. I’m not sure if I’ll fight again. I’ll have a word with my family. These young boys, they’ve got just a bit too much ticker in them.”
The reigning national champion couldn’t be more complimentary of his vanquished opponent.
“Everyone here, can you all get standing and give Jack a round of applause,” said Leek. “If that’s the last time he’s in here, he deserves more than that, so give him a round of applause. He’s a true champion.
“He deserves a belt. He deserves an Australian title. He’s been in the ring with Tim, with Nikita. Man, he’s a warrior. He’s given everything he had tonight and he took everything out of me. I had to give everything I had and he’s a true champion himself.
“I’ve got to keep developing. I haven’t been in this sport as long as a lot of these guys have. I’ve only been in it a short time. We’ll get back to the drawing board now and work hard and keep improving, and that’s what this sport is all about.”
In the main support bout, Australian light heavyweight champion Lucas “Thriller” Miller (12-6-2, 4 KOs) retained his title for the third time with an upset first-round knockout of Mat “The Machine” Sheehan (10-3, 7 KOs).
At 35 years old and coming off a 10-round unanimous decision loss in his bid for the Austrian light heavyweight title against Driton Isenaj (9-0, 4 KOs) in Vienna this past April – yeah, you read it right – Miller was considered an underdog coming into the bout.
Not only that, Miller was seen as the a boxer up against a puncher. Sheehan, 32, was having his first bout since his opening-round knockout loss to Conor Wallace (13-1, 10 KOs) in July of last year.
The Wallace loss can be easily explained as getting caught cold by a fellow southpaw, one who is known to pack dynamite in his mitts. The loss to Miller – another lefty – not so much. It was Miller’s first knockout win in almost eight years.
The opening gong was still ringing in the ears of the crowd when Miller landed a left cross to the temple. Sheehan went down, hurt. His legs were wobbly when he got up, and referee Anthony Hibbs took a good, hard look at him before allowing him to carry on.
The fight would not last for much longer.
Miller connected with another crunching left hand, followed by a right uppercut. Sheehan’s legs stiffened. A final left cross landed flush on his jaw, and just as his body began to slump to the canvas, Hibbs stepped in to stop the contest.
The official time of the stoppage was 1:20 of the first frame.
“You might not believe it, but we actually planned the exact thing that we did,” said Miller of his strategy coming into the fight. “We saw he wasn’t really biting too much off my jabs, so I quickly snuck the two behind it.
“I threw the one-two and it came off. He went to bite at the same time and it came off. All the hard work and the training, it paid off.”
As for his future plans, Miller is planning to take a bit of a break after five bouts in the past 12 months.
“Next is a nice rest, man,” he said. “I’ll see what my team says and we’ll come back … I’m always keen for a hard challenge and I’m ready for anyone.”
After Miller laid hands on Sheehan, they embraced when the contest was over.
“I have so much respect for Mat,” said Miller. “I told him I love him and that he is a warrior.”
Four club-level fights rounded out the Team Ellis show that was broadcast live domestically on free-to-air streaming service 7plus under the Premier Boxing Series banner.
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