LAS VEGAS–In the last appetizer before the main card headlined by the super featherweight unification bout between Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson at the MGM Grand Garden Arena inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Raymond Muratalla (14-0, 12 KOs) of Fontana, California scored an impressive third-round stoppage of Jeremy Hill (16-3, 11 KOs) of New Orleans, Louisiana to claim the minor WBC USNBC silver lightweight title.
After controlling the first minute of the bout, Muratalla, 134.8, landed a clean right that appeared to drop Hill, 134, two-thirds of the way through round one. Despite motioning as such, referee Tony Weeks apparently informed the official scorers that Hill was not knocked down, as he somehow managed to keep his gloves just off the canvas. Muratalla continued his relentless onslaught throughout the second round, punishing Hill along the ropes and landing clean with his right hand.
In the third, lefts to the body softened Hill up for more punishment upstairs as Muratalla forced him to drop his hands to protect against the attack. Muratalla would land another left to the body that opened Hill up for a two-punch combination that dropped his game, but overmatched adversary hard to the mat. Weeks only got his count up to about five before deciding to call for the stoppage at 2:27 of the third round.
Rising super featherweight prospect Andres Cortes (17-0, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas scored an exciting and impressive sixth-round stoppage of a game Alexis del Bosque (18-6-1, 9 KOs) of Dallas, Texas.
After a feeling-out first round between Cortes, 131.8, and del Bosque, 131.6, the action heated up in the second round and did not let up through the rest of the bout. Cortes opened up over the left eye of del Bosque in the fourth and had the Dallas resident in some serious trouble soon thereafter. Cortes would land a well placed body shot that dropped del Bosque midway through the fourth. Del Bosque continued to fight back off the ropes and weathered the storm for the rest of the round.
In the fifth, del Bosque sprang back to some life and found spots when Cortes would let off the gas pedal. Still, the overall momentum of the bout was Cortes’ as eventually del Bosque could not keep up with the pressure. In the sixth, Cortes landed a beautiful straight right, left, right combination directly down the middle on a weary del Bosque. Somehow, del Bosque managed to get back up on his shaky legs, but referee Celestino Ruiz mercifully called a halt to the bout 43 seconds of round six.
Cortes, who signed a promotional pact with Top Rank earlier this year, appears primed for a bout with a world ranked contender in the near future.
Former national amateur champion Troy Isley (5-0, 3 KOs) of Alexandria, Virginia dominated Anthony Hannah (3-3, 2 KOs) of Augusta, Georgia with speed and aggression en route to a second-round stoppage.
Hannah, 156.8, was in constant retreat as the classy Isley, 157.4, forced him to the edges of the ring throughout.
Isley landed a hard jab to the body to down Hannah midway through the second. Another jab to the body, followed by a glancing right, scored a second knockdown, prompting the corner to throw in the towel as referee Robert Hoyle began counting to ten. Time of the stoppage was 2:33 of the second.
18-year-old former youth national amateur champion Abdullah Mason (2-0, 2 KO) of Cleveland, Ohio punished normally tough Luciano Ramos (1-3) of Stockton, California by way of Buenos Aires, Argentina en route to a first-round stoppage victory.
Mason, 136.4, was simply too fast and too strong for Ramos, 137.8, to weather. Mason quickly forced Ramos to the ropes, landing in combination. A stiff body shot that left Ramos reeling, led to a Mason flurry along the ropes that prompted referee Tony Weeks to call a halt to the bout at 2:32 of round two.
Antoine Cobb (1-0-1, 1 KO) of Chicago, Illinois was lucky to leave Las Vegas with his “O” in tact as Jaylan Phillips (1-2-1, 1 KO) of Ebro, Florida clearly won three of the four rounds in the opening bout of the evening, but failed to convince two of the official scorers.
Phillips, 142.4, troubled Cobb, 143.6, fighting out of the southpaw stance and applying constant pressure. Cobb woke up the sparse opening doors crowd with two solid rights to close the second round, but it would be his lone shinning moment. Phillips was again the aggressor in the third, forcing Cobb to the corners and landing clean. Phillips dominated the action in the fourth, landing flurries on a retreating Cobb for much of the round. In the end, Phillips took the dissenting card 39-37 in the majority draw. The other two judges scored the bout even, 38-38.
