Tugstsogt Nyambayar was great for two rounds. He was good enough for the remaining 10.
Nyambayar rebounded from his unanimous-decision loss to Gary Russell by defeating Cobia Breedy via a split decision in a 12-round featherweight bout on the Erickson Lubin-Terrell Gausha card Saturday in Uncasville, Conn.
However, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist from Mongolia almost blew a big lead.
Nyambar (12-1, 9 KOs) put Breedy (15-1, 5 KOs) down in each of the first two rounds, which seemed to portend an early finish. Breedy, demonstrating his toughness, had other ideas.
The native of Barbados, obviously recovered from the knockdowns, outworked Nyambayar most of the remaining 10 rounds to chip away at his opponent’s early four-point lead (two 10-8 rounds).
Nyambayar followed Breedy much of the time, failing to cut off the ring as he was taking punches.
The winner had strong moments the rest of the way — he landed the bigger punches — but generally didn’t fight like a man trying to reestablish himself as an elite fighter. The fire seemed to be missing.
In the end, Nyambayar did just enough to have his hand raised. One judge scored it for Breedy (115-111) while the other two had Nyambayar winning (114-112 and 114-113). Boxing Junkie scored it 115-111 for Nyambayar.
The 115-111 score for Breedy means he won nine of the final 10 rounds on that card.
Nyambayar lost a wide decision in February to Russell, who holds one of the featherweight titles.