Ardreal Holmes picked up where he left off.
The 2016 U.S. Olympic alternate, who had been off for more than two years, easily outpointed late replacement Vernon Brown in a 10-round middleweight bout on Friday in Deadwood, South Dakota.
And Holmes (12-0, 5 KOs) did it fighting the shorter Brown’s fight much of the time, toe to toe.
Holmes, who had a seven-inch height advantage, started off jabbing and throwing combinations from a distance as Brown (13-2-1, 9 KOs) tried to get inside.
Then Holmes accommodated him, at least much of the time. The two engaged in inside warfare, where Brown was able to have his most success in the middle rounds.
However, Holmes held his own during the toe-to-toe exchanges and also stepped back at times, which gave him the space to pepper Brown with hard, accurate shots.
And the winner finished with a flurry, landing many of his biggest, most-damaging punches in the last three rounds. Brown survived but took a pounding down the stretch, which seemed to seal the deal for Holmes in his first 10-rounder.
The official scores were 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94. Boxing Junkie scored it 98-92, eight rounds to two.
Holmes, who plans to fight as a junior middleweight, probably caught the attention of the major sanctioning bodies with his strong performance on national television.
That means we’re likely to see more of him in the near future.