Jamal James admitted in his corner after the sixth round Saturday night that “COVID f----- me up.”
A resilient James battled through some conditioning issues caused by his three battles with COVID-19 and fended off persistent Argentinean southpaw Alberto Palmetta in their 10-round welterweight bout. Minneapolis’ James ended a 15-month layoff by beating Palmetta unanimously on the scorecards before his hometown fans at The Armory.
Judges Ludy Webster (99-91), Jon Schorle (98-92) and Chris Wilson (98-92) scored James a winner by wide distances in the co-feature of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader.
James (28-2, 12 KOs) fought for the first time since Russia’s Radzhab Butaev (14-1, 11 KOs, 1 NC) stopped him in the ninth round of their October 2021 fight for James’ WBA secondary welterweight title at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. He contracted COVID-19 twice since his loss to Butaev.
The 34-year-old James also ended Palmetta’s 12-fight winning streak. Prior to his loss Saturday night, the 32-year-old Palmetta (18-2, 13 KOs) hadn’t been beaten since fellow Argentinean Gonzalo Gaston Coria (21-6, 8 KOs) knocked him out in the fifth round of their November 2017 bout in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Palmetta’s pressure during the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds made James work hard to avoid taking too many clean punches. Palmetta connected with rights to the body and James’ head during those rounds, but he never hurt the former titleholder and couldn’t get the knockout he needed to pull off an upset in James’ hometown.
With just over a minute on the clock in the seventh round, James drilled Palmetta with a right hand. James’ straight right hand connected just after the midway mark of the seventh round.
Palmetta pressed the action again in the sixth round, but James mostly fended him off with right hands and body blows that slowed his momentum.
James clipped Palmetta with a right hand about 25 seconds into the fifth round. James landed several more right hands during the fifth round.
James’ straight right hand landed with about a minute to go in the fourth round. James also made Palmetta miss with numerous punches in the fourth round.
Palmetta quickly responded to James’ left hook to the body by landing a right hook up top late in the third round. James blasted Palmetta with a right hand to the center of his face about a minute into the third round.
A right hand by James backed up Palmetta with a little less than 30 seconds on the clock in the second round. Palmetta snapped back James’ head with a left hand that landed with just under a minute remaining in the second round.
James’ straight right hand landed with just under 30 seconds to go in the first round, when James was very busy, worked well off his jab and engaged Palmetta on numerous occasions. Palmetta landed a right hook to the side of James’ head about 55 seconds into their bout.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.