[BigBoyBrackey]

NEWARK -- With an announced crowd of 8,124 -- all but seven of them smoking cigars -- filling the First Regiment Armory, Fighting Bob Martin and Floyd Johnson opened the Roaring Twenties Heavyweight Extravaganza with a bout as close as their respective seedings -- 32nd and 33rd.

After a slow first half of the first round, Martin landed the first serious blow -- with the top of his head. After getting a warning from referee Johnny Callas for the rather blatant butt, Martin battered Johnson for the rest of the round and through the second, hurting "The Auburn Bulldog" with a pair of uppercuts midway through that frame, then driving him to the ropes with a smashing right shortly before the bell.

Martin scored again with his skull early in the third, drawing another warning and seemingly awakening Johnson, who landed a sneak right and several body shots in the final minute to take the frame.

Martin shifted his fouling tactics in the fourth, landing a low blow moments after the bell. Johnson later retaliated with a head butt of his own, but not until eating enough punches to drop another round.

A big left hook early in the fifth stunned Johnson, but he regained control with punishing body work and a straight right in the final minute.

The sixth through eighth rounds were tight, with Johnson seeming to have an edge over the tiring Martin.

After a slower, but still tight ninth, Johnson took a slim edge into the final round. And proceeded to do nothing with it.

Martin came out swinging and, after several misses, scored with an uppercut and a combo to the body that drove Johnson into the corner, where he ate an overhand right. Having done enough to win the round, the exhausted Martin held on for most of the final minute, with Johnson offering little protest.

Despite throwing little more than half as many punches, Johnson made them count, landing 48 percent to Martin's 28 percent. So the crowd, largely behind Johnson after Martin's early cranial offensive, started murmuring with surprise when Judge Terrance Makaluza's score of 97-93, Martin, was announced.

The boos turned to cheers when Michael Buffer reported Luis Padon's view of 96-94, Johnson, then to groans when Hans Larsen's 95-95 cop-out was revealed.

Under tournament rules, a rematch will be fought two weeks hence. Since neither fighter went down or was marked, and these guys are used to fighting a few times a month, anyway, recovery time shouldn't be an issue.

FIGHTING BOB MARTIN D10 FLOYD JOHNSON