Cassius Clay or Clay Pigeon? Which kind of Clay would Martinus “Magnificent” Clay end up being?  Billy Lyell definitely took the fight to Clay for eight rounds.  Dominant performance where Lyell won the fight unanimously on every scorecard, 80-72 in front of a partisan crowd.  Simons Promotions rolled out the red carpet in a very nice atmosphere for a decent night of boxing which was capped with Lyell’s dominant performance.

In round one, Lyell came out fast and strong.  He controlled the pace of the fight with his jab and swelled the nose of Clay early.  Give round one to Billy Lyell.  Clay threw punches but only hit Lyell squarely a couple of times.  Lyell threw a lot of punches but did some damage in winning the opening session handily.

The second round saw Lyell further establish his dominance of the tempo.  Lyell throws some haymakers and doesn’t get cheated, Clay was learning this the hard way.  After two, it is all Billy Lyell in Morgantown.

Rounds three and four were Clay’s best rounds of the fight to this point, But he probably still lost the rounds.  Lyell was punishing Clay on the ropes with a minute or so left in both rounds.  Lyell takes shots too, but he throws many more and lands with a higher frequency.  So far, I see it four rounds to none, Lyell.

In round five, Lyell continued to peck away at the face of Clay.  Clay was still throwing back, but Lyell was definitely in control of the pace.  Five rounds to no rounds, Billy Lyell.

In round six, Lyell had Clay covering up every time he would mount some offense.  Clay would also clinch, the couple of times he failed to clinch Lyell up, he paid dearly on the ropes by taking three or four solid shots.  Lyell stunned Clay with a left hook right before the bell and Clay wobbled for a second before he realized the bell had saved him.  Lyell was ahead on my card, 6-0.

In the seventh of eight, the boxing lesson continued.  Lyell was so fast with his counterpunches that Clay would throw first and land second.  Lyell was that much faster and showed no signs of fatigue.  7-0.

The final round, Lyell put the exclamation point on the fight despite taking a couple of shots.  Give this round to Lyell also.  Billy Lyell 8 Martinus Clay 0 was my count.

The judges saw it pretty much the same and Lyell won on all three cards 80-72.

After the fight, Keith Burnside, who trained Lyell was happy with the effort.  “Billy threw a lot of punches tonight and looked in control.  We have been working on him throwing more and you saw that tonight.”

Lyell was happy with the win as well.  “I give credit to the great team around me.  I wanted to finish him with a knockout, but I wasn’t disappointed at all with the performance.”

When asked what is next, Lyell responded, “Whatever comes my way, I am ready.”

Solid performance for Billy Lyell in running his record to 22-8 with 4 KO’s in Morgantown.  Burnside and the corner staff also mentioned that the move to 154 will help Lyell as it is more his natural weight.  In his last fight, Lyell took a last minute IBF middleweight title shot against Sebastian Sylvester in Europe and made a respectable showing but came away empty.