LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Before David Benavidez and David Morrell lock horns in a light heavyweight championship eliminator in the main event of a four-bout pay-per-view broadcast, a seven-fight undercard entertained the early arrivals at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
In a WBA featherweight title elimination bout, Mirco Cuello (15-0, 12 KOs) of Arroyo Seco, Santa Fe, Argentina rose from the deck early to stop a determined Christian Olivo (22-2-1, 9 KOs) of San Diego by way of Hermosillo, Mexico late in the tenth round.
Olivo, 125.6, scored his knockdown in the opening moments of round two as he waited his turn after a Cuello flurry and uncorked a short right inside that dropped the former Argentine Olympian. Cuello, 125.6, rebounded well in the third round, turning up his output and placing his shots well, while Olivo struggled to maintain the pace.
The middle rounds were tit-for-tat, as each found their spots in a fight fought at close range. Olivo, the WBA #5 ranked 126-pounder, had a strong seventh round, snapping back Cuello’s head at times during their exchanges. Olivo had another solid round in the eighth, outworking his Argentinian adversary and breaking through with several power punches.
Sensing perhaps that his opponent had hit a lull in his energy level, Cuello, the WBA #3/IBF #15 ranked featherweight, came on strong in the ninth. With Olivo’s mouth agape, looking for oxygen, Cuello pressed his attack and carried that aggression into the early moments of the tenth, before Olivo stemmed the tide momentarily with some well-placed counters. However, Olivo’s success was fleeting, as before long Cuello placed a left to the liver that dropped the Mexican to his knee. Olivo rose slowly, before Cuello went to the well again and dropped the southpaw with a body shot for a second time. Olivo made it to his feet, but referee Chris Flores waved off the contest anyhow at 2:01 of the tenth and final round.
With the victory, Cuello puts himself as the next in line for WBA 126-pound kingpin Nick Ball, who fights T.J. Doheny in a fight he should win next month.
WBA #1/WBC #7 ranked middleweight Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez (7-0, 7 KOs) of Providence, Rhode Island by way of Camaguey, Cuba stayed busy with a fifth-round stoppage over Angel Ruiz (18-4-1, 13 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Feliciano Hernandez, 158.4, defending his regional WBA Continental Latin America title, gave Ruiz, 159.6, a tough inside fight for the duration. Despite fighting at the distance Ruiz probably wanted, Feliciano Hernandez was able to create angles and space, which made it difficult for the Mexican fighter to find any success. Feliciano Hernandez began to turn up the offense in the third round, spinning Ruiz’s head around with his right.
By the fifth, Ruiz began to wither, holding back on his offense to create less counter opportunities. With Feliciano Hernandez landing a flurry in the blue corner, referee Allen Huggins decided he had seen enough and waved the fight off to a middle protest from Ruiz. Time of the stoppage was 1:06 of round five.
With the win, Feliciano Hernandez, who ascended to the WBA #1 ranking without a recognizable name on his professional resume, continues to bide time until his management team decides to pull the trigger on a fight worthy of a top contender.
In the first fight of the preliminary broadcast, Curmel Moton (7-0, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas stopped Frank Zaldivar (5-2, 3 KOs) of Miami, Florida by way of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba in the third round of a scheduled eight.
Moton, 134.8, and Zaldivar, 135.8, traded in the center of the ring for much of the first. Zaldivar took the head shots well, but when Moton found his body late in the round, that seemed to bother the Mexican fighter. Zaldivar continued to show his toughness in the second, withstanding some clean power shots and still offering back as the round came to a close.
Moton upped his intensity a notch in the third round and quickly had Zaldivar in trouble along the ropes. With Zaldivar backed into a neutral corner and no longer answering back, referee Harvey Dock leapt in to stop the contest at 1:51 of round three.
In a stirring battle between two previously unbeaten super middleweights, former amateur star Daniel Blancas (12-0, 5 KOs) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was tested by Juan Barajas (11-1-2, 7 KOs) of Victorville, California before notching what was scored as a wide unanimous decision.
Blancas, 166.2, a regular David Benavidez sparring partner, and Barajas, 159.6, fought on fairly even terms in the early rounds. Blancas was a successful aggressor, but found a decent counter-puncher in Barajas.
Blancas came out aggressively to start the fifth, landing a short left hand, followed by a right in close that rocked Barajas momentarily. Blancas kept up the pressure, but Barajas was willing and landed occasionally with his own rights inside, while circling away from his opponent’s power hand. After some clean right hands snapped back the head of Barajas in the sixth, the Victorville native was less apt to counter and more focused on his foot movement and defense.
Barajas found his second wind early in the eighth, treating the early onlookers to some great two-way action as he engaged with Blancas in the center of the ring for much of the round. Each fighter had their moments in an excellent action round.
In the end, the official scorers did not give Barajas much credit. Patricia Morse Jarman and Don Trella had all but one round for Blancas, 79-73, while judge Cory Santos scored the bout a shutout, 80-72.
Mayweather Promotions’ super middleweight John Easter (8-0, 7 KOs) of Las Vegas remained unbeaten but was taken the distance for the first time as a professional by a tough Joseph Aguilar (6-3-1, 3 KOs) of Portland, Oregon.
Easter, 169.4, and Aguilar, 171.8, engaged in a rough-and-tumble inside fight for the duration. Accidental headbutts and elbows caused cuts from the early moments.
Easter turned up the offense as he landed with power combinations late in the fifth. Aguilar had a few moments in the sixth, but ultimately lost the decision wide, as judges Chris Maggliore and David Sutherland scored the bout 60-54, while judge Fernando Villarreal had it 59-55, all for Easter.
Nearly eight hours before he would be sitting ringside in support of his younger brother, Jose Benavidez Jr. (29-3-1, 20 KOs) of Phoenix walked down an unwilling Danny Rosenberger (20-10-4, 10 KOs) of Youngstown, Ohio, eventually forcing a fifth-round stoppage.
Benavidez, 163, only had trouble with himself, earning warnings for late punches and a low blow that forced a time-out in the first round. Rosenberger, 159, was on his bike for much of the bout, but Benavidez was not in a rush at the start.
Rosenberger quickly found himself in trouble in the fifth, as Benavidez landed with an uppercut and kept up the pressure until referee Allen Huggins had seen enough. With Rosenberger backed into his own corner, taking punishment, Huggins leaped in to call for the stoppage at 2:39 of round five.
In a bout which took place before the paying public was allowed inside, Gabriela Tellez (4-0, 1 KO) of San Antonio, Texas had to dig down deep, but managed to get by a willing Abril Anguiano (4-1, 2 KOs) of Garland, Texas via six-round majority decision.
The southpaw Anguiano, 125.2, was strong to start, landing with regularity in exchanges. Tellez, 127.8, began to really come on in the fifth, sitting down on her punches, while Anguiano appeared to be reaching for a second wind.
After a competitive sixth that Tellez probably cinched late, judge Chris Migliore scored the bout a draw, 57-57, but was overruled by judges Eric Cheek and Fernando Villarreal, who both scored the bout 58-56, for Tellez.
Scheduled eight-round bout between super featherweight prospect Kaipo Gallegos (7-0-1, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas and Leonardo Padilla (24-6-1, 17 KOs) of Petare, Venezuela will apparently shift to the walk-out bout position on the card.
Photos by Ester Lin/Premier Boxing Champions
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]
