The top featherweight contender called for a title-bout after beating former title-challenger Ricardo Lamas, Saturday.
Lamas hung tough, kept on swinging and had his moments, however, constantly throwing punches, kicks both high and low, and shooting for takedowns. In the end, it wasn’t enough and Holloway won with scores of 30-27 on all three judges’ scorecards.
The fight was hard-fought, though. Holloway first hurt Lamas mid-way through the first round but the Chicagoan survived and began incorporating takedown attempts into his attack.
The Hawaiian was ready, however, and stuffed all of Lamas’ takedown attempts, often ending up on top, threatening with submissions and scoring with big strikes. Lamas refused to back down, however, and kept scoring with kicks and marching forward with punches.
With just seconds left in the third round, and fight, Holloway had a large lead but decided to give Lamas a punching chance. Holloway, who had used superb footwork all fight, long, stood in the center of the cage and dared Lamas to trade punches.
Of course, Lamas obliged him and the two warriors ended the bout in a fire-fight. “He told me he wanted to bang, mentally, psychologically, he gave me that look,” Holloway explained, afterwards.
“So I let him bang.”
With the win, Holloway improved his record to 16-3. Lamas’ defeat dropped his to 16-5