CABAZON, CALIFORNIA – World ranked super middleweight Anthony Dirrell is still looking to earn the lofty status he has with some of the sport’s sanctioning bodies after Kevin Engel provided little resistance through less than two rounds of action in the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa on Friday night.
Dirrell (23-0, 20 KOs) of Flint, Michigan could not miss Engel (18-5, 15 KOs) of Saint Louis, Missouri with his right hand throughout the fight. Before the end of the first, Dirrell’s right had already drawn blood from the Missouri native’s right eye.
Things did not get much better for Engel, 174, in the second as a Dirrell one-two downed the late notice replacement for Alejandro Berrio. Dirrell, 169 ½, met Engel with a right soon after he regained an upright position. The blow forced Engel’s mouthpiece out of the ring and drew blood from his mouth. Moments later, with Engel’s back to referee Lou Moret, Dirrell landed below the belt. Engel went down to a knee and remained there as Moret counted him out for the knockout.
Despite Engel’s protests, the fight was over at the official time of 1:44 of the second round. Dirrell, the WBC #4/WBA #9 ranked super middleweight, fought just twenty days ago, scoring a fifth-round stoppage of Dante Craig in his hometown of Flint, Michigan.
“It was short, but it was beautiful,” said Dirrell’s assistant trainer Leon Lawson Jr. after the bout. “He worked on his precision punches, made everything land and got him out of there.”
Engel’s team was upset the fight ended on a low blow, but Lawson felt the result was inevitable. “He did get hit low, I will admit, but he was looking for a way out of there anyway,” said Lawson. “You can tell when a fighter is looking for a way out. It is what it is, but Anthony was going to beat his ass anyway.”
Originally scheduled opponent Alejandro Berrio would have represented a move up in class of opposition for Anthony, the brother of former title challenger Andre Dirrell, had he stuck with the fight. “We are looking to step-up, but the guys keep dropping out,” said Lawson. “We are ready to fight anytime, against anybody they put in front of us.”
Lawson revealed tentative plans for Anthony to return to the ring sometime in September back in Michigan. The possibility exists that Andre would make his return to the ring on the same bill, against Sebastien Demers.
After having only accepted the fight on Monday, Aaron Martinez (15-1-1, 3 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California upset previously unbeaten prospect Joseph Elegele (12-1, 10 KOs) of Winter Haven, Florida via eighth-round technical decision.
If Martinez, 146, is a welterweight, Elegele, 145, looked like a middleweight in the ring. Somewhat surprisingly Martinez rocked Elegele late in the first round as he took advantage of his shorter arms in a clinch along the ropes. Martinez, by no means a puncher, came over the top with a right hand that stunned Elegele. Martinez’ follow-up attack downed the tall southpaw. Martinez looked primed for unexpected stoppage when the bell rang to end the first.
Martinez went for broke early in the second, but appeared to punch himself out by midway through the round. Elegele regained his footing around the same time a headbutt drew blood from Martinez’ left eye later in the round.
Elegele came out more aggressively to start the third, while the Martinez work rate dipped significantly from the two previous rounds. Both started swinging to start fourth, which got the crowd excited. Despite his size disadvantage, it was Martinez setting the distance and the pace throughout the fourth.
Just when Elegele looked to have the fifth in the bag, Martinez sprang to life again and pressed Elegele in a corner. The round consisted mostly of Elegele jabs, so perhaps that flurry could have stole the round for the East L.A. native. Having taken the fight on just a few days notice, Martinez appeared to be looking to take a breather in the sixth. Fortunately for Martinez, Elegele remained in stalker mode and did not really force the action when there appeared to be an opening. Martinez closed out the round well, another that Elegele appeared to have early.
Elegele narrowly escaped the seventh, as Martinez had him in trouble before the bell intervened again. Martinez ran out and rocked Elegele against the ropes in the eighth. The underdog Martinez seemed let Elegele off the hook as he moved to the outside. Just as the fight appeared to be headed to a dramatic ending, a terrible head clash busted open both men. Martinez’ gash was by far the worse of the two, as the cut went down to his skull.
Stopping the fight at that moment was the only call, sending things to the hands of the judges. Scoring the biggest win of his career, Martinez took all three cards by score of 76-75 and 77-74 twice.
In a offense-first, defense never type fight, Kurtiss Colvin (6-0, 5 KOs) of Austin, Texas scored one spectacular knockdown en route to a third-round stoppage of previously once-beaten Cleven Ishe (3-2, 1 KO) of Long Beach, California
Ishe, 159, threw from his hips, but did find Colvin, 159, at times in the fight. Colvin had a clear technical advantage, but chose to swing for the fences the entire way. Some clowning around led Colvin into a solid left hand to end the second round.
Ishe came out swinging to start the third, but Colvin quickly turned the fight around with a wide right hand that knocked the Long Beach resident into a cartwheel. When Ishe returned to his feet, Colvin quickly pounced before referee Lou Moret stopped the action at 1:24 of the third.
Looking to rebound from a draw in his last outing in May, Julian Williams (7-0-1, 4 KOs) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pounded out a workmanlike unanimous decision over Raul Rodriguez (2-6-1, 1 KO) of Bakersfield, California.
Williams, 154, controlled most of the action, but did not dominate Rodriguez, 154, the way one may have expected based on their records. The sixth especially brought some competitive exchanges, as Rodriguez decided to stand his ground and trade with Williams. The Philly fighter was the better and more accurate puncher, but Rodriguez did catch him at times with some pretty clean shots. In the end, two judges had Williams the shutout winner, 60-54, with one judge giving Rodriguez a round for a 59-55 final tally.
Rising super bantamweight prospect Roman Morales (5-0, 4 KOs) of San Ardo, California tore through normally durable Juan Tepoz (4-6-1) of Santa Rosa, California in a one-sided first-round stoppage victory.
Morales dropped Tepoz with a quick combination along the ropes early in the first. Pegged as a normally slow starter, Morales continued to disprove that label as he punished a wincing Tepoz when action resumed. Unable to combat Morales’ fast hands, Tepoz headed down to a knee while the San Ardo native sped up the process with a right hand. Referee Lou Moret decided to stop the contest without a count at 2:30 of the first. Morales returns to the ring August 5th at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.
In the night’s opener, DonYil Livingston (5-0, 3 KOs) of Palmdale, California easily moved past journeyman Cameron Allen (3-8, 1 KO) of Battle Creek, Michigan by pounding his way to a fourth-round stoppage.
Livingston took the fight to Allen early, stuffing right hands at short range behind his jab. By the second, Allen already seemed winded and was eventually rocked by a quick one-two at close range. Livingston had the Michigan resident in trouble late in the round and opened the third in much the same fashion. Though fading, Allen continued to wing shots from the ropes with little success.
Allen immediately went into retreat at the start of the fourth as Livingston pressured the journeyman. A Livingston left to body finally dropped Allen midway through the round. With his mouthpiece on the mat, Allen got a short reprieve from the onslaught before Livingston went right back downstairs. With Allen hunched over, Livingston landed a couple blows to his cranium which had him headed back to the mat. Referee Tony Crebs jumped in to stop the contest at 2:03 of the fourth-round.
In the walkout bout, Dushane Crooks (1-0) of Brooklyn, New York by way of Clarendon, Jamaica dropped Greg Baca (0-1) of San Bernardino, California in the second-round en route to a four-round unanimous decision. Baca, 157, had some success early, as he rocked Cooks, 156 ½, forcing the Brooklyn resident to hold on for a moment.
Crooks turned the fight in his favor with a left hook that dropped Baca. When Baca quickly popped back up, Crooks landed a couple more shots before referee Tony Crebs could jump in for the eight-count.
From the second on, the fight was completely in Crooks’ control. The Jamaican-born slugger rocked Baca with another wild left and followed up with a combination that shot his mouthpiece out of the ring. After another decisive round, all three judges handed in scorecards of 39-35 or Crooks.
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.
