Popular newcomer James “The Chelsea Chainsaw†Pope was matched up with chess virtuoso Karl “The Hustler†Ouch with twice Pope’s Elo rating. Ouch, born in France started his game with a frantic pace and forced an early check. His attack was blocked however by Pope who rapidly found himself falling behind on the clock against his opponents swift pace.
In the ring, Pope was adamant to make up for the shortcomings on the board, and opened with high volume punches. In his haste, Pope throws a shot to the back of Ouch’s head and is warned by the referee. Ouch, who is now doing the cleaner work and landing the better shots, quickly adapted to Pope’s explosive tactics. In the excitement, Pope appeared to land an illegal head but, prompting a second warning from the ref in one round.
Back on the board, Pope looked indecisive and was both behind in time and chess pieces. With bold attacking moves, Pope began to dominate the board, but appeared to be losing his pieces. Back to the ring, Pope started opening up with some heavy shots, forcing Ouch up the ropes. Pope was just laying on the leather, beating his opponent to the punch as Ouch tried to keep range and survive the round.
During the following chess round, both fighters looked exhausted from their fast paced boxing. Ouch was far ahead on the board, and had a significant time advantage and appeared to be running out his opponent’s clock. Pope, with all his pieces stuck in the corner managed to ward off some of Ouch’s attacks. With only 27 seconds on the clock, he just survived the round and it was clear he would be looking for a knock out to take the win.
The fighters both opened with brief exchanges and repeated clinching. The frantic pace of the last round and their aggressive styles quickly began to show on their faces, however Ouch – likely sensing victory on the board, began to open up and landed the heavier and faster shots against an exhausted Pope. The round ended, without a finish, and Pope knew he was about to lose on time. Ouch was trying for a final check mate, but it was the clock that ran out first. Ouch won by time penalty in round seven. Despite his loss, Pope made a strong debut and looked elated after his first chessboxing fight and a thrilling finale. |
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