Portland’s Russell Lamour Jr. had a rising welt under his right eye and an ice bag wrapped around his right hand.

The real pain couldn’t be seen as easily.

Russell Lamour Jr. ducks a punch thrown by Thomas Falowo and throws a punch of his own. Falowo handed Lamour the second loss of his professional career. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Jorge Abiague, left, fights Josh Crespo at the Portland Expo on Saturday. Abiague lost his New England super bantamweight title to Crespo on a unanimous decision. Gregory Rec/ Staff Photographer

Saturday night at the Expo, Lamour lost his IBA North American middleweight boxing title to old foe Thomas Falowo in a unanimous decision. Falowo added the IBA belt to the New England title he had put on the line.

“I just feel like I let everybody down. You know, here in my hometown,” said Lamour, whose record fell to 12-2. “Like I said, I’ve fought guys way tougher and better than this guy.”

Over the eight-round match, the 27-year-old Falowo gradually and then decidedly imposed his will on the Lamour, 32. It was the seventh time they had fought each other. Lamour won the first four bouts, when they were amateurs. Falowo won their last amateur fight and now has beaten Lamour twice as a pro – the only boxer to top Lamour in a professional fight.

They last fought in January at Mohegan Sun Casino on a televised card. That was a lost opportunity for Lamour to impress a wider audience.

Saturday at a full-house Portland Expo, site of some of Lamour’s biggest triumphs, Falowo beat him again.

“I just felt like my timing was a little off. I was waiting a little long,” Lamour said.

Through three rounds Lamour probably had a slight edge on the judges’ cards but had failed to land any significant punches.

Early in the fourth round Lamour slipped some of Falowo’s hooks to the head and applied a couple of hard body shots. For about a minute it appeared he was gaining dominance.

That changed with one Falowo right hand that landed solidly to Lamour’s head, sending him careening rubber-legged to the next section of ring ropes. Soon after that Lamour fell to the mat – with some forceful help from Falowo who slung him to the side during a clinch. Lamour was given a standing eight count.

For the next 90 seconds, Lamour was in survival mode. He danced. He clutched. He tried to throw a few punches of his own.

Lamour got through the fourth round but the fight now belonged to Falowo.

“I’m still a much better technical boxer,” Lamour said. “But his awkwardness and him just pushing forward the whole time, like I said, I just kept timing him wrong.”

Falowo had a different take as he spoke quietly in the locker room.

“I felt that I had more power and a more aggressive physical style and with that I was able to force him to fight my fight a little more,” Falowo said. “He was the better amateur but I wanted to show that I’m the better pro and that’s what counts.”

The judges agreed, scoring it 77-74, 79-73, 78-74, all in favor of Falowo.

Falowo, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is now 14-3 as a pro. He believes beating Lamour a second time – especially on his turf – can accelerate his career. He spoke of hoping to get on the undercard of an HBO fight show scheduled for January in Montreal.

Lamour will turn 33 on Dec. 18. He will probably have to take smaller steps. The trail will be less-publicized or, possibly riskier. It may be that Lamour and his manager/trainer Bob Russo will have to be willing to go up against a younger, rising fighter.

Lamour says he’s willing to walk that path, just like he’s ready to get back in the gym.

“I definitely keep coming to the gym,” Lamour said. “Just get back and fix the mistakes that were made and just moving on, you know. I’m not going to let his fight overwhelm me. Things happen for a reason and I’m going to continue to fight my way to the top.”

Lamour wasn’t the only Portland Boxing Club fighter to lose a title on Saturday.

Super bantamweight Jorge Abiague lost his eight-rounder and his New England title in much the same fashion. Like Lamour, Abiague lost for the second time as a professional, coming out on the wrong end of a unanimous decision against a busy, determined, familiar and younger opponent.

One difference was that through seven rounds, whether Abiague, 35, or Josh Crespo, 27, was winning the fight was very much in question.

Abiague (9-2) appeared about one solid punch shy of ending Crespo’s night in both the third and the seventh round. But Crespo (6-2-3) had convincingly won rounds 4 through 6 with heavy combinations while Abiague was being exhorted by his corner to get his hands up and “be first,” with his punches.

The fight ultimately hinged on one well-timed, go-for-broke right hand from Crespo early in the eighth round that dropped Abiague to his right knee. That led to Crespo wining the round 10-8 on at least two of the judges’ cards. That extra point was a difference maker.

Crespo won unanimously, with two judges giving him a 76-75 edge and the third scoring it 77-74.

In their first meeting, Abiague won by split decision.

Crespo said one big difference on Saturday was that he had “four eyes” in his corner. He said in the first fight he took a punch early in the fight that left him with vision in one eye and his trainer Brian Clark was recently removed from open-heart surgery.

“I was so determined to get a rematch with him and to redeem myself,” Crespo said. “I feel like I had to win the eighth round and my trainer told me to go out there and drop him. I was hurting him throughout the whole fight. I felt it. He hurt me. It was a tough fight. But I’m a firm believer that in order to beat me, you have to beat me twice, and he didn’t do it.”

In earlier bouts, Portland Boxing Club fighters Jimmy Smith and Jason Quirk scored convincing technical knockouts against overmatched opponents, while Casey Kramlich fought to a four-round draw.

Smith (4-2), of Portland, showed power with both hands and dropped Brian Walsh (1-3) of Boston twice in the first round, the latter ending the fight at 2:36. All of Smith’s wins have come by knockout.

Quirk (4-0), of Scarborough, needed two rounds to dispatch Noel Garcia of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Garcia (2-21-2) was game but not nearly as fit as Quirk. In the second round, Quirk scored a knockdown with a hook and then closed the round with a vicious flurry along the ropes. Garcia did not come out for the third round.

After Quirk’s TKO was announced, he was beckoned to the ringside seat of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini for a congratulatory handshake.

Kramlich (3-0-1) struggled to find the range against Antonio Chaves Fernandes (6-23-3), a defensive lefty in his 32nd professional fight whose fitness belied his sub-par record.

Related Stories