Joe Schilling was the heavy favorite going into this fight against the young Canadian prospect Robert Thomas and the bookmakersâ odds were justified by the course the fight took.
Sheer toughness kept Thomas in the fight as Schilling piled the pressure on, hammering him with right hands and hooks. Several times Schilling looked close to scoring a finish, particularly with a third round knockdown from a right hand which snapped Thomasâ head back like a car crash, but the Canadian refused to be taken out.
The fight wasnât completely without success for him - he scored well with the right knee to the body, a favorite strike of his - but the experience gap was clear and that was exacerbated by the fact that Thomas comes from Muay Thai and so is transitioning into a sport which does not allow clinching and which requires a higher standard of boxing from its fighters.
Schilling started to swing a little wild as he chased a show-stopping finish and his growing frustration was evident. He came close but couldnât seal the deal and so had to content himself with a decision win. The scrappy, heated encounter was a crowd-pleaser though, as Schillingâs bouts generally are.
âIâm not entirely satisfied with my performance because I wanted to put him away but Robert Thomas is a really tough kid,â Schilling said afterwards. âI think heâs got a bright future in the sport He took some big shots from me and kept coming. I was surprised he was able to beat the count after that knockdown in the third round.â
The win puts Schilling on a 3-1 run in his last four outings and with him being in the #1 contender slot already he seems to be in prime position for a title shot against Russian champion Artem âThe lionâ Levin.
âItâs no secret that me and Artem Levin are rivals. He actually recently moved to California and weâre friendly but inside the ring itâs all business. Heâs got the middleweight title belt and I think I can take it from him,â said Schilling afterwards.
âGLORY has put a Middleweight Contender Tournament together for Dubai in April but I am ranked above all those guys and Iâm not in the tournament. So I think either I should get a title shot or maybe Filip Verlinden, who is ranked #2 and also not in that tournament, could fight me and the winner fights Levin. I donât know; weâll see what happens.â
