LINCOLN, CALIFORNIA – Rising middleweight prospect Islam Abdusamadov scored a workmanlike six-round unanimous decision victory over durable Jose Manuel Gomez in the featured attraction at the Venue at Thunder Valley at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort on Saturday night.
Abdusamadov (6-0, 2 KOs) of Santa Clara, California by way of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia boxed his way to the decision win in his first foray into the six-round distance over the veteran Gomez (4-6-1, 4 KOs) of Livermore, California.
Abdusamadov, 158, controlled the early part of a feeling out round one with his jab as Gomez, 158, got off to an uncharacteristically tentative opening start. Gomez upped his output in round two as Abdusamadov looked to time his right hand and counter. In round three, Gomez failed to let his hands go and gave away the round to Abdusamadov, who mostly popped his jab and occasionally followed with the right.
As the fight moved into the second half, Abdusamadov began to find a home for his right with greater frequency. Gomez got active again in the fourth, but a few well-timed rights likely gave the Russian import the round. Both had their moments in the fifth as they met each other in the middle of the ring. Abdusamadov showed great ring generalship and made subtle moves to evade some of Gomez’s offense. Abdusamadov landed with a couple more precision rights in round six to edge another one on the cards. Both took their swings in the final ten seconds before the bell sounded to end the fight.
Judge Joel Farbstein scored the bout 59-57 and judges Melissa McMorrow and Edward Collantes had it 58-56 all for the still unbeaten Abusamadov.
Without breaking much of a sweat, unbeaten middleweight Sergio Gonzalez (3-0, 3 KOs) of Sacramento, California rolled past Juan Meza Moreno (4-8, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California via first-round stoppage in the last fight of the night.
Gonzalez, 156, hurt Meza Moreno, 152, with the first right hand he threw and scored the first knockdown of the first with another soon thereafter. Meza Moreno unwisely returned to his feet before leaving himself open for a clean right hand that had him reeling again. Backed into the blue corner, Meza Moreno was touched by a left to the body and crumpled to a knee. Referee Edward Collantes did not bother a count and waved off the onslaught at 1:40 of round one.
Featherweight prospect Kyle Lacanlale (6-0, 3 KOs) of San Ramon, California flashed his power with a first-round body shot knockout of Phillip Ramirez (2-7) of Sacramento.
The much shorter Ramirez, 126, landed with a right early as he worked his way inside, but after that it was all Lacanlale. At range, Lacanlale, 124, landed with both hands at a distance that Ramirez could not counter. Soon Lacanlale pressed Ramirez back with a left and moved-in with the final left to the body that immediately dropped the Sacramento native to his knees. As referee Michael Margado counted, Ramirez slammed his glove against the mat and showed no sign of getting up. Margado reached ten and waved off the bout at 1:59 seconds of round one.
In the fight of the night, Tatiana Almaraz (2-4) of Pittsburg, California by way of Guatemala City, Guatemala battled her way to a six-round majority decision over previously unbeaten Iris Contreras (4-1) of Richmond, California.
Contreras, 118, was strong early, but Almaraz, 117, appeared to have an edge in conditioning and seemed to have more in the tank in later rounds. Almaraz came on late in round three before Contreras fought hard to take round four.
The final two rounds featured exciting two-way action. Almaraz seemed to have more steam down the stretch and outlanded Contreras in the sixth and final round.
Judge Joel Farbstein scored the bout even, 57-57, but was overruled by judges David Hartman and Melissa McMorrow, 58-56 for Almaraz.
Vicky Zhao (1-2) of Watsonville, California by way of Chongqing, China spoiled the professional debut of multi-time Muay Thai champion Fayeda An (0-1) of Long Beach, California via four-round unanimous decision.
Zhao, 111.5, landed with the harder shots and outworked An, 113.2, in stretches. Judges Melissa McMorrow, Joel Farbstein and Edward Collantes all scored the bout 39-37 for Zhao.
In his professional debut, former amateur standout Orion Cyrus Dizon (1-0) of Las Vegas, Nevada scored a decisive four-round unanimous decision over Jaycee King (0-5) of Sacramento.
Dizon, 133, had King, 133, in trouble at the end of round two and kept the pressure up as the fight moved into the second half. After surviving some shaky moments, King found his footing late, but was outworked by the faster, more aggressive Dizon. All three judges scored the bout a shutout, 40-36 for Dizon.
In a good action fight, middleweight prospect Dante Kirkman (5-0, 2 KOs) of East Palo Alto, California scored a four-round unanimous decision over a willing Dylan Carlson (2-11-3, 1 KO) of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Kirkman, 158, threw in combination and maintained a fast pace. Carlson, 159, placed a few solid shots of his own, including a clean right uppercut. The busy Kirkman got the better of every round, taking the cards of judges David Hartman, Joel Farbstein and Michael Margado, 40-36.
Two fights that weighed-in yesterday did not take place on Saturday night. Super heavyweight Junlong Zhang (20-1, 19 KOs) of Elk Grove, California by way of Qingdao, Shandong, China was to have made his U.S. debut against Vikash Deol (4-0, 3 KOs) of Hayward, California in a four-round bout. However, Zhang was ruled out earlier in the day after his pre-fight medical check.
Leonard Ocampo of Pinole, California withdrew from his scheduled four-round bout with Rodolfo Molina (0-2) of Antioch, California earlier in the day. Both fighters had weighed-in on Friday, with Ocampo coming in half-of-a-pound over. Ocampo cited health reasons according to the Molina camp.
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com
