Uriah Hall didn’t have the performance many expected but he still got the job done with a unanimous decision win over ex-NFL running back Le’Veon Bell.
Over four rounds, Hall was definitely the superior fighter but a lack of activity until late in the fight didn’t allow him to really hurt Bell despite having an obvious advantage in almost every exchange. Still, Hall got the nod on the scorecards with all three judges giving him the fight 40-36 as he moves to 1-0 in his professional boxing career.
“I have so much respect for him,” Hall said about Bell after the win. “It’s so hard to switch careers. It’s the toughest sport in the world and I gave him so much props. I’m proud of you. He definitely surprised me. He’s pretty good. He was strong.”
It was Bell who tried to establish his jab early as he targeted Hall’s midsection while looking to circle away from the powerful hands coming back at him from the UFC veteran. Hall was more measured with his punches as he started tossing out a left jab of his own and then fired a right hand behind it.
By the end of the first round, Bell’s head was snapping back as Hall really began walking him down.
While Bell was still firing back and staying busy with his punches, he was largely just moving without really setting up combinations. As for Hall, he was not staying as busy but when he finally unleashed his power he cracked Bell with a trio of right hooks that clipped the former NFL pro-bowler on the chin.
Unfortunately neither fighter was throwing more than one or two punches in succession and the crowd in Glendale was growing restless with both combatants.
Hall was still marching forward and he finally started to gun for the knockout perhaps out of frustration that Hall was sticking around and refusing to just go away. With 10 seconds to go, Hall and Bell just started launching bombs at each other but neither fighter went down as the bell sounded to end the fight.
Even though he locked up the victory, Hall looked somewhat surprised that he got the decision but now he’s looking to move onto bigger and better prey with his sights set on one half of the main event taking place on Saturday night.
“F*** yeah. I want to do this. I want Jake Paul,” Hall shouted. “I’m the dude that’s going to come out here and expose him. If Anderson [Silva] don’t do it, I’m going to be the one to f*** you up.”