Shinard Bunch cannot believe he didn’t leave the ring Friday night with what would’ve been the most important win of his career to date.
A befuddled Bunch couldn’t understand how all three judges didn’t score him a unanimous winner over Janelson Bocachica in their 10-round welterweight fight. Bunch (15-1-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC), of Trenton, New Jersey, settled for a controversial split draw with Detroit’s Bocachica (17-1, 11 KOs) in a bout Showtime televised from Heartland Events Center in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Judge Mike Contreras scored seven rounds for Bunch, who won 97-93 on his card. Judge Josef Mason scored six rounds for Bocachica (96-94) and judge Jeff Sinnett scored their fight a draw, 95-95.
“Of course I thought I won the fight,” Bunch said. “I honestly feel like I won it. Even his coach said I won the fight. I landed the more powerful shots, even boxing-wise, sticking and moving. The only thing I could do better was get a knockout. I feel like I hurt him plenty of times. I don’t know what the judges were watching.”
The 22-year-old Bunch’s jab was especially effective. He landed 68-of-217 jabs, 22 more than Bocachica (46-of-170), according to CompuBox’s unofficial statistics.
CompuBox counted 16 more punches overall for Bunch (124-of-399 to 108-of-390), who made Bocachica miss wildly with numerous power punches. Nevertheless, Bocachica believes he did enough to win the co-feature of this “ShoBox: The New Generation” telecast.
“I felt like he didn’t land anything that hurt me and I applied the pressure,” Bocachica said. “I didn’t agree with the judges, but I’m the fighter, not the judge. I could have put pressure from the beginning instead of the end. I could have used the jab more. I was being lazy with my right hand because I was going to knock him out. Those are things I need to learn.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.