Rances Barthelemy Retains IBF Title with Victory Over Mickey Bey

.@realkidblast connects with a right hand square on @mickeybeyTMT as we go into the final round of #PBConSpike. pic.twitter.com/BDksoGE3gO

— PBC (@premierboxing) June 4, 2016

Rances Barthelemy tried escaping from his native Cuba 38 times and was caught each time and thrown into prison. He risked his life, swimming out to a boat and getting out. Needless to say, very few things rattle the Cuban expatriate. Though for a brief few seconds there on Friday night in his IBF lightweight title defense against Mickey Bey, it got a little scary for someone who doesn’t scare that easily.

Barthelemy found himself looking up at Bey near the end of the second round when the fighter’s heads collided. Referee Samuel Burgos erroneously called it a knockdown, when an off-balance Barthelemy teetered and fell to the canvas at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, during their Premier Boxing Champion show on Spike TV.

It seemed to wake up Barthelemy (25-0, 13 KOs), who retained the IBF belt with a split-decision over Bey (22-2-1, 10 KOs). It was the first time Barthelemy was ever knocked down as an amateur or a pro (despite the fact that replays showed it technically wasn’t a knockdown).

Judges Richard Green (117-110) and Rocky Young (116-111) saw it for Barthelemy, as they should have, while judge Hilton Whitaker III somehow saw it 117-110 for Bey.

“I have no idea what fight that one judge was looking at,” Barthelemy said. “I knew what Bey was going to bring to the table. Nothing he did surprised me. He kept going backwards and tried counterpunching, but he really wasn’t giving me any kind of problems. He was trying to be evasive. It didn’t work.

“In the second round, I don’t know what happened. I still have to look at the replay. I thought they called it a knockdown, because it was a punch in the back of my head combined with a slip. That’s what happened there. But that changed everything. It was the first time I was ever knocked down. It did wake me up. I started to fight with more urgency. This was a (Floyd) Mayweather promoted show. Bey was a Mayweather fighter. You never know how the judges will see this. It was a Mayweather card. This is what I thought about.”

It’s a good reason why Barthelemy ruled the remainder of the fight.

Barthelemy began committing more to the body. He began using his 73-inch reach, which was four inches longer than Bey’s.

It was the rangier Barthelemy applying the pressure to Bey, the shorter fighter.

Barthelemy also switched things up. In the sixth, he was using his inside game, sinking blows into Bey’s body and into his sides. Floyd Mayweather Sr., Bey’s trainer, told him after the sixth that he had to “pick it up” if he was going to change the course of the fight.

It never happened.

Barthelemy went back to work. Bey was throwing arm punches, with nothing behind them. They would bounce off of Barthelemy’s high guard. Then Barthelemy would double up with his jab, popping it over Bey’s right hand by his head. In the eighth, Barthelemy began turning up more heat. His punch output was economic, and it worked even better, considering Bey was the one backing up.

“I’m pleased with how everything turned out. Especially for my Cuban fans that showed up,” Barthelemy said. “People need to know Cuban boxers can sell. Some of us are pretty good.”

There’s no disputing that.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.