In an ugly foul dest, Richard Abril retained the WBA Lightweight championship with a twelve round unanimous decision over Sharif Bogere at the Joint at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.
The raggedness pace was set early was the two clutched and Bogere headbutted and Abril was even wrestled to the canvas in the first two rounds. Two traded rounds until the fight was turned in round six when a butt from Bogere opened up a cut over the right eye of Abril.
Bogere had a decent round seven and Abril was docked a point for holding in round eight but after that it was all Abril as he started to find a home with his right hand in between clinches. Rounds nine through eleven were pretty much the same as Abril continued to land pinpoint shots in between all the rough housing while Bogere tried to work the body but it was in effective. Bogere was docked a point himself for many headbutts in round twelve and by that time he was far behind on the cards. Despite cuts around both eyes, Abril dominated the last four rounds and came home with the victory by scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 115-111.
Abril, 134 1/2 lbs of Miami via Cuba is now 18-3-1. Bogere, 134 lbs of Las Vegas via Uganda is now 23-1.
“I am very happy to get the win, but I’m not happy at all with the way the fight went,” said Abril after retaining his WBA 135-pound title with a unanimous 12-round decision over previously undefeated Sharif “The Lion” Bogere in the main event of Saturday’s SHOWTIME BOXING – Special Edition live on SHOWTIME® from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
“I was hoping for and expected a much cleaner fight,” Abril said. “It’s hard to show your skills in a fight against a dirty fighter. I kept getting warned for holding, but I really didn’t feel like I was holding. He was shorter and kept coming in head-first.”
“I definitely knew I would get the decision. I landed all the cleanest shots,” said Abril, who connected on 35 percent of his punches (152 out of 433) according to SHOSTATS provided by CompuBox. Bogere, who was busier but less effective, hit on only 15 percent (93 out of 614).
The right eye of The Tiger was cut from an unintentional head-butt in the sixth. “He used his head to come in on me the whole fight,” Abril said. “The bleeding made it hard for me to concentrate.”
Bogere said he felt the fight was much closer than the scores indicated and that he had “done enough to win.”
“He was taller and that made it difficult for me to get inside,” said Bogere, who fell short in his quest to join fellow Ugandan fighters such as Cornelius Boza-Edwards, John Mugabi, Ayub Kalule and Kassim Ouma to capture a world title. “But when I did get inside, all he did was hold.
“This is very, very disappointing. My dream was to win the world title. I’m not happy now and I’m pretty down, but I know I’ll come back. You haven’t heard the last of The Lion.”
Super prospect Gary Russell Jr. struggled with his hand and gloves more than he struggled with Vyacheslav Gusev en route to an ten round unanimous decision in a featherweight bout.
Russell got off to a blazing start as he showed his world class hand speed over the first three rounds which culminated with a knockdown in round three from a combination that made Gusev’s glove touch the canvas. After that it seemed that Russell hurt his left hand sometime in the middle rounds and threw nothing but jabs and hooks with the right hand.
Fortunately Gusev proved no threat and didn’t take any chances and Russell’s superior ability showed in what basically turned into a sparring session that Russell dominated to the tune of 100-89 on all cards.
Russell, 127 lbs of Capitol Heights, MD is now 22-0. Gusev of Russia is now 20-1.
The talented Russell fought the last several rounds with a bruised left hand. “I think I hurt it in the third round,” he said. “The last few rounds I was tentative with it and only showed it to him. My corner knew I’d hurt it and did a great job between rounds coming up with different strategies, like starting off with a stiff jab and maintaining it, and slowing down the pace.
“My right hand is bruised too, but I don’t think it is anything serious. I fully expect to fight again in three months.”
According to SHOSTATS, Russell landed 229 of 797 punches (29 percent). Gusev, making his second start in the United States, connected on just 15 percent. Of the 214 punches he delivered, he landed only 33 times, the lowest total in the history of CompuBox for a 10-round fight.
Knockout artist Jorge Melendez lived up to just that, a scintillating fourth round stoppage over Ryan Davis in a scheduled eight round Middleweight bout.
Davis had a nice first round as he tried to push the big punching Melendez on the ropes. Melendez got things going in round two by starting to land power punches. At the end of round of three, Melendez landed a hard right to the body that sent Davis to the canvas. It wasn’t long, actually just thirteen seconds into round four, Melendez landed a devastating right uppercut that sent Davis down with a thud and the fight was waved off immediately.
Melendez, 156 lbs of Vega Baja, PR is now 26-2-1 with 25 knockouts. Davis, 158 lbs of Granite City, IL is now 24-10-3.
Lightweight Jeffrey Fontanez scored a six round unanimous decision over former world title challenger Daniel Attah.
Fontonez won with activity over the first five rounds to built up an insurmountable lead and coasted home and won by scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 59-55.
Fontanez, 134 1/2 lbs of Caguas, PR is now 11-0. Attah, 135 lbs of Washington, DC is now 28-14-1.
Thomas Williams Jr. scored a third round stoppage over Kevin Engel in a scheduled eight round Light Heavyweight bout.
Williams was dominant throughout as Williams mixed up the shots with both hands and used a good variation of punches from jabs to uppercuts. Engel tried but was overmatched and in round three, Williams landed a hard combination that dropped Engel along the ropes. Referee Tony Weeks stopped the bout at the count of six at 1:31 of round three.
Williams, 175 lbs of Washington, DC is now 13-0 with 10 knockouts. Engel, 174 1/2 lbs of St. Louis, MO is now 20-8.
