TACOMA, WASHINGTON — With most of the boxing world’s eyes focused on events taking place about 2,000 miles southeast, fight fans of the Northwest were treated to an entertaining night of action Saturday at the Emerald Queen Casino. Longtime local favorite David Torres fought to a majority draw with Santos Pakau in the main event of a competitively-matched card from top to bottom.

Pakau (27-6-2, 10 KOs) of Spokane, Washington got off to a solid start in the fight as he employed a focused body attack in the early going and followed up with right hands to the head of his opponent. Torres (21-2-1, 13 KOs) of Othello, Washington began to wake up late in the second round, but was clearly not punching with the same power as Pakau, especially in the early rounds.

Pakau, 137, must have been feeling good, as he even played to the crowd, waving his right fist in the air. Torres, 139, was constantly moving forward and finally broke through with a solid left hook to the body, which momentarily stopped Pakau in his tracks. Action picked up as both fighters landed well in an exchange near the close of the fourth.

Pakau looked good in rounds five and six, as a right uppercut stunned Torres and forced him to hold on. Then early in the sixth, Pakau landed a clean left hand. Pakau found a range in the round where he could land and the shorter Torres could not reach him. Torres continued to press forward, and did get close enough to land some shots on the inside to close out the round.

Pakau began to look tired in the seventh and was warned for pushing. Torres was coming on, but still did not seem to have the power to really hurt Pakau. Torres did land a clean straight right late in the stanza, a round that was clearly his.

Torres outworked Pakau in the ninth, though the New Zealander did land a pretty left hook and traded well to close out the round. Both fighters came out aggressively in the tenth, as they unloaded at close quarters. Pakau would end up cut in the corner of his right eye before the two stood their ground and traded to close out the fight.

When it was all said and done, one judge favored Pakau 96-94, but was overruled by identical even scores of 95-95, forcing the draw. As should be expected after a draw, both fighters felt as though they should have been declared the winner.

“I feel I had at least six of the ten rounds,” said an obviously disappointed Pakau after the bout. “I should have worked that little bit extra I guess. But what do you do? I got a draw I guess, it’s better than a loss.”

Torres feelings on the scoring were very similar to Pakau’s only the other way around. “I think it was a really good fight for both of us, but honestly I feel I won the fight,” said Torres, who is open to the idea of a rematch. “I think I had at least six rounds. He kept a little busier, but I threw the better shots.”

A side story to the fight revolved around the weight, and weighing-in. The Torres camp was concerned going in that Pakau, who had fought most of his recent fights at or near 147-pounds, would come in heavy, or at least enter the ring with a great weight advantage. Therefore both Pakau and Torres weighed in officially on Saturday morning to hopefully curb how much weight Pakau could gain by the time they actually fought.

“They were very worried,” said Pakau after the fight. “They made me weigh-in the same day. I don’t know why, little stupid tactics. I had to drive nearly an hour out of Tacoma to go for the weigh-in this morning. It didn’t faze me, but it was just stupid.”

Although he has fought around 139-pounds for much of his career, Torres and his team have plans to eventually move down in weight. “I feel good at 139, but my goal is to go lower, probably down to 135,” said Torres.

When asked about a potential rematch, Pakau did not sound too thrilled about his prospects for a fair decision on Torres’ home turf. “It would be interesting, but what am I going to get out of it?” said Pakau. “Nothing really. There is no point in it. I knew coming into this fight that I wasn’t going to win unless I knocked him out. It’s as simple as that.”

It is incredible how a puncher can change a fight in an instant. Out of action for the last three-years, Lafarrell Bunting showed he still has an eraser for a right hand with a sixth-round stoppage over Junior Moar in the co-main event of the evening.

Bunting (17-3-1, 17 KOs) of Memphis, Tennessee and Moar (8-3, 2 KOs) of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada were two fighters just as different as their entrance music. Moar, who entered the ring accompanied by Native American drummers and dancers, is not a puncher, but is an aggressive, forward-moving fighter. Bunting, who came out to expletive-laden rap, fought most of the fight in the style of a boxer-mover, before displaying his fight-changing kayo power.

Moar, 176, was the aggressor early and often in the fight. Bunting, 175 ½, played the part of counter-puncher at the outset, as he appeared to be getting his timing right and perhaps shaking off some rust.

Things began to heat up in the second, as each fighter landed a solid blow in an early exchange. Bunting caught Moar with a left uppercut and Moar retorted with a combination of hooks upstairs. Before the end of the round, Bunting would be warned by referee Louis Jackvony for a low blow that doubled Moar over near the ropes. Moar would return to his corner with a cut near his left eye, which Jackvony told the ringside judges was the result of a punch.

Moar began to impose his will in the third, pressing Bunting against the ropes with his attack. The rough fight continued to get rougher, as Moar was warned for hitting on a break and Bunting admonished for holding the Canadian’s left hand under his own, a tactic he would employ at various times in the fight. Moar refused to complain and instead worked Bunting’s body over a bit with his free right hand.

Moar did well for much of the fourth as well, pressing the fight still while Bunting mostly looked to cover up and move away. A stiff left jab from Moar got a reaction from the crowd, but did not appear to hurt Bunting. The Memphis native reverted back to using his own jab to keep Moar off balance in closing the round.

Moar continued to press forward and land well in the fifth, but did get caught by a left uppercut that Bunting timed and measured accurately. Bunting continued to at least give the impression he was looking for that punch again, as he repeatedly loaded up with the uppercut. Moar closed out the fifth by pressing Bunting, who was again covering up along the ropes. Despite the way the fight was going, it was Moar’s face that looked the worse for wear, with his cut bleeding freely and a bad knot forming high on his left temple.

Bunting would be warned again for a low blow early in the sixth. Soon after, Jackvony called time to give the doctor a chance to look at the cut, which did look pretty bad. The referee ruled that the cut was made worse from an accidental headbutt. Jackvony would warn Bunting again, this time for hitting behind the head.

Soon after action resumed, Bunting landed the counter he had been looking for, an overhand right that dropped Moar. Three stiff rights and a left would drop Moar a second time. When Moar returned to his feet, Bunting flurried him into the ropes, prompting Jackvony to wave off the fight. Official time was 2:57 of the sixth round.

The official scores entering the sixth and ultimately final round were 49-46 and 48-47 twice, all for Moar. Had he made it out after the two knockdowns, Moar would have likely been down on two cards (57-55) and even on the third (56-56) with two rounds to go. That being said, with Moar’s apparent condition, the timing of the stoppage was just.

After the bout, Bunting expressed his confidence going in, but gave Moar credit for his performance. “Going into this fight, even though I had been off for three-and-a-half years, I knew I had the power to pull off this win,” said Bunting. “It was a tough fight. Junior Moar came to fight and I have a lot of respect for him.”

Going into the bout, promoters had designs on matching the winner with world ranked Otis Griffin for the vacant WBO NABO Light Heavyweight title. While Griffin is likely headed for an IBF title eliminator against Yusef Mack, he had informed 15rounds.com that he would be willing to take on the winner after that as a “tune-up.”

“Hey, Griffin, take the fight and stop running,” said Bunting after he was informed of Griffin’s thoughts on the prospective bout. “Why don’t you meet me January 8th, here at the Emerald Queen Casino. Let’s make it happen.”

In a rare paring of undefeated heavyweights early in their careers, Vincent Thompson (6-0, 1 KO) of Federal Way, Washington scored a six-round unanimous decision over former National Golden Gloves Champion Charles Ellis (6-1-1, 5 KOs) of Vancouver, Washington.

Despite size and strength advantages, Ellis, 227, never looked comfortable in the fight. Thompson, 226 ½, was comfortable early and became more and more confident as the fight progressed. Early action was fought on the inside, before Thompson morphed into a boxer-mover in the fourth round. Thompson would continually land his shots and move out of range. By the fifth, the plodding, discouraged Ellis refused to offer up much offense and even looked to his corner, shaking his head in the sixth. When Ellis would pin Thompson in a corner he could not, or would not, get anything done. In the end, one judge scored the bout 59-55, with the other two scoring it a shutout, 60-54, all for Thompson.

In what was a closely-contested match-up every step of the way, Rob Diezel (4-1, 1 KO) of Seattle, Washington boxed his way past Marco Cardenas (1-3) of Salem, Oregon by way of a four-round split decision. Their roles were defined in the early going, as Diezel, 130 ½, was clearly the classy boxer and Cardenas, 129 ½, the aggressor. In the end, the judges were won over by Diezel’s boxing skills.

Diezel was busted open in the second, from what was ruled a headbutt, although there was a clean overhand right that landed in that spot during the same sequence. By the third, Cardenas would be bloodied as well, as he began to leak crimson from his nose shortly after a Diezel right hook. The fourth featured many toe-to-toe exchanges. Ultimately, two judges favored Diezel, 39-37, with the lone dissenter scoring it for Cardenas, 39-38.

Former local amateur standout Virgil Green (1-0) of Arlington, Washington got his pro career off on the right foot with a four-round unanimous decision over Miguel Garcia (2-2) also of Arlington. Despite giving up his sizeable height and reach advantages by fighting on the inside for much of the bout, Green, 139 ½, proved too quick and slick for Garcia, 141, who was no pushover.

Garcia landed his best shot in the third, a solid left hook, but did not follow up. Despite his corner’s instructions to move forward and throw punches, Garcia decided to play the role of counter-puncher. In the fourth, Green took complete control and backed up his posturing opponent en route to the victory. Scores read 39-37 and 40-36 twice all for Green.

In the curtain raiser, Ralph Prescott (1-5) of Seattle moved into the win column with a four-round majority decision over professional mixed martial artist and debuting boxer Omar Avelar (0-1) of Moses Lake, Washington. Prescott, 139, fought one of the more determined fights in the history of 0-5 fighters in a back-and-forth bout from start to finish. Avelar, 145 ½, appeared to be the harder punch throughout, but began to fade midway through the fight. Rounds three and four ended with both men standing their ground and trading shots, much to the crowd’s delight. In a bout that could have gone either way, two judges favored Prescott by the scores of 40-36 and 39-37. The third scorer had it even, 38-38.

On Saturday, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael reported that the Showtime-televised bantamweight doubleheader would be taking place here December 11th, but to say that is definite would be premature. Currently the Charlie Daniels Band is scheduled to perform at the casino on that date, but efforts are being made.

Boxing will definitely be returning to the Emerald Queen Casino in 2011, with five dates already scheduled. Brian Halquist Productions will kick off the year with “Battle at the Boat 80” on January 8th.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

David Torres and Santos Pakau, fighters for tonight’s main event at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, both made the contracted weight of 139-pounds this morning, Torres’ manager Lalo Martinez confirmed to 15rounds.com.

Longtime local favorite Torres (21-2, 13 KOs) of Othello, Washington is returning from his second career defeat this past January as he takes on veteran gatekeeper Pakau (27-6-1, 10 KOs) of Spokane, Washington in a ten-rounder. Torres, the naturally smaller fighter, scaled 139-even. Pakau, who has campaigned at welterweight in recent years, scaled 137-pounds.

Both fighters weighed in before Washington State Department of Licensing officials this morning in Olympia, Washington. Members of Torres’ team had expressed mild concerns regarding Pakau’s ability to make the weight at last night’s undercard weigh-in. Torres’ promoter, and host of tonight’s fights, Brian Halquist believes Torres could make 130-pounds for the right fight. Pakau comes first however, in what is an important bout in determining the direction for rest of Torres’ career.

Tickets for tonight’s six-bout card, promoted by Brian Halquist Productions, are available online at Ticketmaster.com.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

FIFE, WASHINGTON — Two years ago, David Torres was an unbeaten, but unproven prospect before taking a major step up in class against former world champion Julio Diaz. The step proved to be too big, as Diaz stopped him in five. Torres has gone 1-1 in his two fights since, and will look to get back on track against fellow local Santos Pakau in the main event tonight at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Undercard fighters weighed in late Friday at the neighboring Emerald Queen Hotel & Casino in Fife.

Torres (21-2, 13 KOs) of Othello, Washington has been a fan favorite at the Emerald Queen Casino since shortly after turning professional in 2003, having fought all but three of his fights at the venue. Torres has only been beaten once on his home court and that defeat came last time out when Raymundo Beltran halted him in the seventh round this past January.

Pakau (27-6-1, 10 KOs) of Spokane, Washington by way of Auckland, New Zealand has taken on a very tough schedule in recent years. Since moving from New Zealand to the United States Pakau has been thrown in with a bevy of prospects and top contenders, including top welterweights Paul Williams and Randall Bailey. For the fight against Torres, Pakau is moving back down to a weight at which he could likely be more competitive. The contracted weight for tonight’s ten-round bout is 139-pounds.

Although he has routinely weighed around 139, if Torres were to ever vie for a title, it would likely be at 135-pounds. Pakau has fought the majority of his fights of late at or near the welterweight limit of 147. Thus it is to the benefit of the naturally smaller Torres that the official weigh-in takes place Saturday morning, so that Pakau has less time to plump up in weight after hydrating and eating. Thus, Torres and Pakau will weigh-in at 9:00 A.M. this morning before Washington State officials in Spokane.

In the co-main event, Lafarrell Bunting (16-3-1, 16 KOs) of Memphis, Tennessee will return from a three-year absence against Junior Moar (8-2, 2 KOs) of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada in an eight-round light heavyweight bout. Bunting, a well regarded prospect at 168-pounds a few years back, weighed in at 175 ½-pounds on his second try. Moar, the reigning Canadian Light Heavyweight Champion, will be making his U.S. debut. Moar scaled 176-pounds. Promoters have designs on putting the winner of this bout in a regional title fight on a future show.

In a battle of unbeaten big men, Charles Ellis (6-0-1, 5 KOs) of Vancouver, Washington will take on Vincent Thompson (5-0, 1 KO) of nearby Federal Way, Washington in a six-rounder. Ellis, the 2003 National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion, weighed in at a solid 227-pounds. Thompson, coming off of his career best win over former amateur rival Villi Bloomfield in August, scaled 226 ½-pounds.

Rob Diezel (3-1, 1 KO) of Seattle, Washington will meet Marco Cardenas (1-2) of Salem, Oregon in a four-round super featherweight rematch. Diezel scored a close four-round unanimous decision over Cardenas less than one month ago in Ferndale, Washington. Diezel was ahead by one point, 38-37, on two of the official cards. Cardenas scaled 129 ½ Friday, while Diezel came in at 130 ½.

Professional mixed martial artist Omar Avelar of Moses Lake, Washington will make his debut as a boxer against Ralph Prescott (0-5) of Seattle in a four-round welterweight fight. Avelar, who has a 4-0 record in MMA, scaled 145 ½-pounds after taking the fight on short notice. Prescott, who tipped the scales at 139-pounds, is winless in five tries, but has only been stopped by former Olympian Sadam Ali.

Debuting Virgil Green of Arlington, Washington will take on Miguel Garcia (2-1) also of Arlington in a four-round light welterweight fight. Green, a former regional Golden Gloves and PAL champion, weighed in at 139 ½-pounds, while Garcia scaled 141-pounds.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Brian Halquist Productions, are available online at Ticketmaster.com. Saturday’s event is the 79th edition of the “Battle at the Boat” boxing series.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Light Welterweights, 10 Rounds
Torres*
Pakau*

Light Heavyweights, 8 Rounds
Bunting 175 ½
Moar 176

Heavyweights, 6 Rounds
Ellis 227
Thompson 226 ½

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Diezel 130 ½
Cardenas 129 ½

Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Prescott 139
Avelar 145 ½

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Green 139 ½
Garcia 141

*will weigh-in at 9:00 A.M. this morning

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Sometimes when a fighter goes a year or two without a fight, we tend to assume he is either retired or at least taking a sabbatical from the sport. However, that is not always the case. When we last saw former prospect Lafarrell Bunting it was during his early exit from season three of The Contender series in 2007. Bunting will return to the ring for the first time in over three years this Saturday night at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. However, it is not a comeback, because Bunting has been active in those three years, we just did not know it.

Bunting (16-3-1, 16 KOs) of Memphis, Tennessee was eliminated from the reality series in the first episode without getting the chance to fight. “On the show I actually got headbutted,” says Bunting. “That kind of put a dent in my career. That was a great big opportunity with The Contender show. I know if I would have made The Contender show I would have won the tournament.”

Though a precious opportunity had slipped through his grasp, another would come months later for Bunting. “What a lot of people in boxing don’t know is that I got the opportunity with to work a lot of great fighters and champions – Sebastian Sylvester, Arthur Abraham, Marco Huck, Alexander Frenkel,” recounts Bunting. “And I was on a journey.”

Bunting’s journey would turn into an invaluable learning experience as he was able to hone his craft, even though he did not compete in a sanctioned bout. “I had the luxury of getting the opportunity to spar with these guys to help them win these title fights, as well as help myself. At the same time, I was making decent money so therefore I went on that journey for a while. I went without a fight, but I could call over to Europe and get the opportunity to travel overseas and make good money. But to call it a return, or a retirement or something like that, I never did retire.”

His experiences against some of the top fighters in the world have only invigorated the competitive fires in Bunting, a former amateur star and professional prospect. “I think my travels and my experience against top opposition in the those champions has motivated me more so than anything else,” says Bunting. “I went by myself, without a team, held my own and did not come out punch-drunk or hurt. I would rather have did what I did than fight, because I had made many mistakes in training and fights and I think I am at point now where I have corrected a lot of my mistakes from the past and I am ready to show the world what Lafarrell Bunting, “the Memphis Fairway” is all about now.”

Bunting’s first opportunity to show the world takes place this Saturday when he takes on reigning Canadian Light Heavyweight Champion Junior Moar (8-2, 2 KOs) in a bout billed as a WBO NABO title eliminator. “I don’t know anything about him, but I don’t take anybody lightly,” said Bunting. “With my experience, with all of the sparring, and it goes beyond sparring because some of those sparring sessions were like fights, so I don’t worry too much about what he brings to the table. I worry about what I bring to the table, most importantly that I am a major puncher in the game. But it’s a good fight. The guy has a good record. He is not a slouch with an upside down record, so he is coming to win as much as I am.”

When we last saw Bunting he was campaigning at super middleweight, but Saturday’s fight takes place at light heavyweight. Bunting, who fought at light heavy and even cruiserweight early in his career, feels his power will be the difference in his fights at any weight. “I take it one fight at a time,” says Bunting. “Super middleweight, light heavyweight – whatever opportunity comes my way. Most importantly I know I can punch with power either way, so therefore it doesn’t matter which weight at which I get an opportunity. Win this fight, and then we move onto the next. Whenever that opportunity comes down the line, we will be ready for it.”

Although he boasted a stellar amateur background and won 16 of his first 18 fights, opportunities have been hard to come by in the career of Bunting, such as hooking on with a promoter. Now a more experienced veteran, Bunting has decided to take control of his future and make his own opportunity. “Instead of taking a bulldozer and knocking a wall down, sometimes you have get down with your hands,” says Bunting. “And I think where I’m at with my career right now, I am going to get down with the two hands that I have, beginning with the fight on Saturday night.”

NOTES

-The last time Bunting claimed victory, in August of 2006, he took on then once-beaten Jose Luis Herrera on a few days notice in the first round of the Shobox Super Middleweight Tournament and scored a fifth-round knockout. Bunting, who reportedly dropped fourteen pounds on the short notice, came in as a replacement for Sakio Bika. The season of The Contender reality series which Bunting had to exit from, without getting the chance to fight, ended being won by Bika. In two weeks, three years after winning The Contender, Bika will challenge Andre Ward for the WBA Super Middleweight title.

-Saturday’s fight between Bunting and Junior Moar, which is scheduled for eight-rounds, is billed as a WBO NABO Light Heavyweight Title Eliminator. It is not clear what that actually will mean for the victor, since the title is currently vacant.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Goossen Tutor Promotions hosted a press conference this past Tuesday at Ricky’s Sports Theatre & Grill in San Leandro, California to officially announce the upcoming clash between Andre Ward and Sakio Bika. Ward (22-0, 13 KOs) of Oakland, California will be making the second defense of his WBA Super Middleweight title November 27th at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. Bika (28-4-2, 19 KOs) of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia by way of Douala, Cameroon is best known for winning The Contender tournament in 2007 and will be vying for a world title for the third time in his career.


Watch Andre Ward Press Conference

Before Showtime had even formally announced the formation of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, shortly after the tournament’s match-ups were leaked to the press, one scheduled bout that many fight fans, especially those based in the U.S., looked forward to was the Group Stage 3 pairing of former Olympic teammates Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward. Though the fight will not happen, at least not now or anytime soon, one of these Andres did suffer a damaging loss.

Rarely does a fight have a deeper, richer storyline than a match between the two Andres would have had. Casual friends, or at least acquaintances, since crossing paths at childhood boxing tournaments, Ward and Dirrell entered the Super Six as heavy underdogs and both had outperformed expectations while rooting for each other each step of the way. Ward surprisingly dominated tourney favorite Mikkel Kessler and then Allan Green in his two bouts. Dirrell lost a closely-contested, somewhat controversial decision to Carl Froch and then outboxed Arthur Abraham before getting hit late and taking a disqualification victory.

The match would not have only pitted friends, but the only two medalists from the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team. Dirrell took the bronze at the weight class Ward likely would have competed at, had it not been for his cousin DonYil Livingston’s attempt to make the squad in the same division or for his trainer Virgil Hunter’s foresight that his charge would do well to not have to worry about weight during the long preparatory period leading to the Athens Games. Ward of course left Greece with the gold.

The stakes were raised slightly when Kessler went down due to an eye injury, and the WBC title which he had held was added to the pot for the Ward-Dirrell clash. Dirrell had been previously been named the mandatory for the WBC belt due to the nature of his decision loss to Froch. The take by many in the media already was that Dirrell’s style may pose tournament frontrunner Ward his toughest hurdles to date.

Even though he had been brutally bashed while on one knee in the DQ win over Abraham, Dirrell was still expected to meet Ward this past September. Immediately after Ward’s one-sided schooling of Allan Green, Dirrell and his former teammate posed for pictures to seemingly begin the build-up to their eminent clash.

Slowly things got unexpectedly complicated.

The originally announced September 25th date was quickly approaching and no announcement regarding the fight had been made. Grumbles reverberated that the two sides were arguing over the location, something Ward promoter Dan Goossen acknowledged at a press conference in San Leandro, California Tuesday. “The only obstacle that we had, that I thought was going have any effect on whether or not the fight was going happen, since it was destined to happen, was where were we going to do it,” said Goossen.

“I was pushing for Oakland. It would have sold out Oracle Arena. It would have been a great storyline, a great fight, a great event for Oakland. They wanted to go to Detroit. The problem we had with Detroit wasn’t because it was his hometown, but I just didn’t think they could generate what Andre could do out here.”

Other rumors had Dirrell or Ward or both holding out for more money. Eventually the new date for the fight was announced as November 27th, but still no location was in place. Not too much later, Dirrell’s pullout was made official over the telephone during a conference call that Andre himself was not on the line for. The reason given was that he was suffering from neurologically-related symptoms since after the Abraham fight.

Ward of course is continuing on in the tournament, and will first meet the formidable Sakio Bika on the November 27th date – the fight for which Tuesday’s press conference had been held. Expect more on that fight in this space in the coming days. But at the moment, as was evidenced by the line of questioning offered up by the local fight media for a good percentage of Tuesday’s presser, the circumstances of the delays and eventually Dirrell’s pullout are very much still on some of our minds. Many jumped right out and called Dirrell’s injury a fake in recent weeks. Recently the validity of those questions gained steam.

Just over a week ago, Showtime’s Fight Camp 360º program seemed to suggest that maybe the network’s opinion, or at least that of the show’s producers, is very much in line with the those members of the skeptical media. The recent episode cuts to a quote from Dirrell team member, Leon Lawson Jr. “It’s not a guarantee that we fight Ward next. It’s not a guarantee…If they want to dance, get that money right.” Audio from the aforementioned Showtime-hosted conference call announcing the fighter’s pullout plays minutes later in the episode. Moments later, footage rolls of a Showtime-conducted interview with the Dirrell family, who did themselves no favor with their responses to valid questioning. Highlights included Dirrell not having the name of the doctor who treated him and his grandfather Leon saying he wanted to end the interview until their lawyer could be present.

Tuesday, Ward wished Dirrell a speedy recovery, which suggests he believes his friend’s injury was in fact the cause for the cancellation. Ward’s promoter Dan Goossen had joked about Mikkel Kessler’s pullout for double vision, but continuing to drive his 80,000 dollar vehicle, both on air and again Tuesday. However, Goossen refuses to question the injuries of Dirrell or Kessler. “I will tell you what I feel about any fighter’s injuries: I will never ever question it,” said Goossen. “That doesn’t mean I can’t tell a little joke or something.” .”

Though he wished Dirrell well, Ward made clear he was never at fault for either the delay or cancellation. “A lot of things were said in the media about me and Andre Dirrell, and how people felt like we were behind the scenes trying to undo the fight,” said Ward Tuesday. “I just want to let my fans know that was never the case with me. I understood what I was getting myself into when I signed the multi-bout agreement. I was always prepared to fight.” When a reporter asked if Dirrell had contacted him, Ward smirked and replied, “No he did not call me. I haven’t talked to Dirrell since the press conference after my last fight. That is the last time I talked to him.”

Dirrell’s problems may very well be legitimate, and if so I too wish him a full and swift recovery. While I personally refuse to question him in this instance, in part because I cannot figure what Dirrell’s motivation or benefit would be, many others have. Dirrell has lost a fight he never fought, at least in the court of public opinion. If and when the day comes when Dirrell returns to the ring, those questions will likely remain. Whether they are boxing scribes, fans or colleagues, Dirrell will have his doubters until the day he meets Ward in a ring. Hopefully for his sake, and for those of us who admire the sweet science and are suckers for a good storyline, that day comes sooner or later.

Oh and by the way, Ward’s fight against Bika in a few weeks may not be accompanied by the most intriguing back story, but based on styles it could provide viewers with more entertainment than the Dirrell fight would have. But again, more on that later.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Former title challenger Juan Carlos Candelo continued the resurrection of his career this past Thursday night with a one-sided victory over Chase Shields at the Dallas Petroleum Club in Dallas, Texas. With the victory, Candelo (31-10-4, 20 KOs) of Baytown, Texas by way of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia claimed the WBC USNBC Light Middleweight title and now looks to move back into the title hunt at 154-pounds. Candelo spoke to 15rounds.com about the disqualification ending to the fight and his plans moving forward.


Watch Juan Carlos Candelo Interview with 15rounds.com

Alfonso Lopez III stopped veteran Romero Johnson with just seconds left in the twelfth and final round to claim the vacant WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight title at the Dallas Petroleum Club in Dallas, Texas this past Thursday night. Lopez (21-0, 16 KOs) of Cut and Shoot, Texas spoke to 15rounds.com about the victory and his plans as he continues his climb up the ranks.


Watch Alfonso Lopez III Interview with 15rounds.com

DALLAS, TEXAS — Former light middleweight title challenger Juan Carlos Candelo and rising super middleweight prospect Alfonso Lopez III each took home WBC-affiliated titles with victories in the co-featured bouts of a private event held at the Dallas Petroleum Club on Thursday night.

In a rematch, Candelo (31-10-4, 20 KOs) of Baytown, Texas by way of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia notched his second victory over Chase Shields (30-4-1, 14 KOs) of Houston, Texas and claimed his WBC USNBC Light Middleweight title in the process.

Candelo, 154, appeared to have turned back the clock to about 2003 when he was a perennial top contender, as he outboxed and outclassed Shields, 154, from the outset. Without much trouble, Candelo picked his shots from the outside, as all Shields could do was cover up and flick out a jab.

Having boxed Shields silly from the outside, Candelo pressed the fight in the sixth, and forced his counterpart to the ropes with a hammering series of blows. Frustrated with the way the fight was progressing, Shields grabbed Candelo in a headlock and dragged him to the mat at the end of the round.

Just seconds into the seventh, Candelo, upset by the headlock that had closed the previous round, and Shields began jawing at each other. Referee Jesse Reyes called for a timeout, which did not stop the argument. In the midst of the break, Shields flagrantly headbutted Candelo, who fell to the mat. After being forced away from Candelo, who was still lying on the canvas, Shields broke from the referee’s restraint to land another cheap shot.

Both camps ran into the ring to separate the fighters before things got any further out of hand. With no other option, Reyes disqualified Shields, who had been escorted out of the ring, officially 38 seconds into the seventh round.

“He want to headbutt me and then hit me on the floor,” explained Candelo after the fight. “That is the only way he can hit me. So I guess he got a free shot because I was down.” The reasons behind Shields’ actions were clear to his opponent. “I think out of frustration, and he knows that he was down in the fight, and to me what I saw was that he didn’t want nothing anymore, so he just found a way out,” said Candelo. “And the easy way out was to do something unsportsmanlike in the ring.”

Candelo scored a stoppage victory in their first meeting last December when Shields failed to answer the bell for round eight. Candelo, known for stirring up pre-fight emotions with his words, explained how this feud may have started. “The first time around there was bad blood, but it was more just trash talking,” said Candelo. “But I got him out of there, because I told him ‘I am gonna whoop your ass and you are not going to finish the fight.’ And that is exactly what I did.”

Candelo, who saw a potential springboard fight fall through when Sergio Mora opted out of their scheduled July clash to fight Shane Mosley in September, hopes his title-winning effort will help alter the course of his resurgent career. “The doors were closed to me, but now I am pretty sure we can go and knock on some doors and the doors will open. To my fans, I am back.”

In the co-main event, Alfonso Lopez III (21-0, 16 KOs) of Cut and Shoot, Texas claimed the vacant WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight title with a twelfth-round stoppage of Romero Johnson (11-3-1, 6 KOs) of Cleveland, Ohio.

It took Lopez, 168, a few rounds to warm-up, but Johnson, 168, began the fight swinging freely for the fences with hooks that began from out of range and only occasionally hit the target. Lopez did however catch Johnson a couple times with short counter shots as the Cleveland resident came forward in the early rounds.

Johnson had one of his better rounds in the third, as he most notably caught Lopez with a clean left hook in the first half. As the round progressed, Lopez appeared to be getting his timing down for a counter against the forward-moving Johnson.

After a fourth round that consisted mainly of infighting, action began to heat up near the end of the fifth. In the last minute, Johnson tagged Lopez with a short punch on the inside, which seemed to inspire Lopez to open up and land a successful three-punch combination of his own.

Lopez kept the pressure on in the sixth, and began to take over the fight offensively. After a dominate three minutes, Lopez returned to his corner shaking his right hand and wincing. With the apparent injury, Lopez went left hand happy in the seventh. Despite the disadvantage, Johnson failed to capitalize on the situation and allowed himself to get outworked in the round.

In the eighth Lopez was still taking it easy with the right, even turning southpaw for a short stretch, but remained the busier fighter. Johnson continued to look for one wild punch at a time, but did land a sweeping hook late in the round that got the crowd’s attention.

Lopez continued to keep Johnson off guard with his output in the ninth, closing the round with a clean right-left combination. Though he punctuated the round, Lopez immediately looked over to his corner after shaking his right again. Lopez continued to dominate in the tenth and eleventh, landing more than one punch that snapped Johnson’s head back like a speed bag, but it appeared his injured hand may prevent him from going for the knockout.

With Johnson fading in the twelfth, Lopez refused to allow his injured right to stop him from scoring the knockout. Lopez opened up and scored with Johnson failing to defend. With Johnson forced against the ropes, and taking a series of unanswered punches, referee Laurence Cole leaped in to stop the fight. Official time of the stoppage was 2:45 of the final round.

For Lopez Thursday’s fight marked a move down to the 168-pound super middleweight class from seven pounds north, but the Cut and Shoot native seemed to adjust just fine. “Going into the fight, we knew Romero was tough, but I felt pretty good coming down to super middleweight,” said Lopez. “Overall I thought I did a lot of things right. I was getting better as the rounds were going on. I just took my time, got a little sloppy sometimes with some power punches, but once I settled down and started putting my punches together, I got him out of there.”

The injury to Lopez’ right hand, which occurred in the middle rounds just as he seemed to be warming up, gave the young pro an opportunity to prove he could overcome adversity during the course of a twelve-round fight. “It was pretty painful,” admitted Lopez afterward. “It’s in pretty bad shape. I just had to bite down, bear down on it, and try to use my left hand more and just grin it on the right hands I landed.”

Having claimed the regional WBC title over a solid veteran, Lopez now looks forward to bigger things. “We are looking for another good name, someone who’s got some credibility, someone who has maybe been on TV,” said Lopez. “Maybe we can look for a TV fight.”

Karim Martinez (3-0, 2 KOs) of Houston scored three knockdowns en route to a second-round technical stoppage of debuting Randolph Cole (0-1) of Gulfport, Mississippi. Martinez, 138, downed Cole, 138, in the early going of round one with a stiff jab and continued to work over the tentative new pro when the action resumed, forcing him to each corner with combinations. With Cole covering up in a corner, Martinez unleashed a right hook, left hand combination to down him again near the close of the round.

Cole came out more offensive-minded in round two, but eventually two light-looking body shots downed him again a minute in, which prompted referee Jesse Reyes to stop the contest. The official time was 1:05 of round two.

In a somewhat mauling lightweight affair, Alicio Castaneda (11-1, 5 KOs) of Cut and Shoot scored a four-round majority decision over Robert Lewis Hill (2-7) of Gulfport. Hill boxed well in spots during the first round, but ended up with a high on his forehead. From the second round on, the fight was fought almost entirely on the inside, as Hill’s southpaw style led to constant tangling with the onrushing Castaneda. With not much for the judges to differentiate between the fighters, scores read 40-36 and 39-37 for Castaneda, with one card tabulated evenly at 38-38.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

The fight poster for a Top Rank-promoted card which took place in Texas this past April had the heading “Young Guns – The Undefeated” and featured the faces of five unbeaten prospects. Four of those faces would likely have been recognizable to those who closely follow the sport. Mike Alvarado, Jerry Belmontes, Mikey Garcia and Omar Henry have garnered national attention and been featured prominently on national television during their ascension through the ranks. The fifth face featured on the poster, that of light heavyweight Alfonso Lopez III, would likely go unidentified by fight fans based outside the Lone Star State, but that could soon change. Lopez, a gunslinger from Cut and Shoot, educated inside and outside of the ring, is on cusp of moving from prospect to contender and setting his sights on the upper levels of the 168 and 175-pound divisions.

The way in which Lopez (20-0, 15 KOs) found boxing as a profession is a unique story. Though he had a fondness for boxing as a youth, the pull of other sports kept Lopez out of ring until much later in life. “We had a couple uncles and my stepfather had fought in the amateurs,” recalls Lopez. “We would box in the backyards. I just never competed, because I was big into baseball and football.”

Lopez’ love for football led him to walk-on to the team while at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he played linebacker for two years. In 2005, Lopez eventually decided to participate at a college amateur fight night, which brought him to the Henry Harris Gym and brought trainer Felix Ramirez and eventually Henry Harris into his life. “He was already 20-years-old and had never fought before,” recalls Ramirez. “He just started training with us and it seemed like he picked up on everything. He fought at the fight night and knocked the kid out in the first round.”

Perhaps motivated by his immediate success, Lopez decided to return to the gym and eventually pursue boxing further. “He started to come back and train for real this time,” recalls Ramirez. “With that being said, he went to fight a couple amateur fights, then went to the Houston Golden Gloves, with only three amateur fights, and he won the Houston Golden Gloves. He went to the [Texas State Golden Gloves] with five amateur bouts under his belt, won the State Golden Gloves three days in a row.”

If you think qualifying for the National Golden Gloves after so few sanctioned bouts seems unusual, then you would be correct. “It is a rarity,” admits Ramirez. “I have never seen it really, must less in such a competitive area, such as the Houston area, in Texas on top of that. There are a lot of big heavyweights and light heavyweights [in the state.]”

The Harris boxing family is very much a part of the fabric of Cut and Shoot, Texas, which just happens to be the town from where Lopez is originally from as well. Roy Harris was a stellar amateur before turning professional, going on an unbeaten run which included a win over eventual Hall of Famer Willie Pastrano, before challenging Floyd Patterson for the World Heavyweight title in 1958. Henry was a solid amateur himself, a Texas State Golden Glove Champion several times over, and eventually took to coaching.

Even with all of his many years in and around the sport, Henry has been surprised by Lopez’ accelerated development. “It is kind of unusual for somebody in college to learn how to fight,” states Harris. “Most of them start when they are young, but he is an intelligent kid and worked real hard at getting things right and he’s developed really fast. It probably doesn’t seem fast to him, but to me it seems awfully fast for somebody that just starts out. Now he is as good a boxer as there is that is out there right now.”

Lopez takes great pride in the fighting tradition of Cut and Shoot, and in a way carrying on the legacy of the Harris boxing family. “Henry had a son, Trey Harris that fought to 14-0, but never really got to get on the big stage. I am coming up and trying to put Cut and Shoot back on the map, but the whole Harris family has just been a huge, great family,” says Lopez. “The way they took me in when I came down here to start fighting. They started teaching me the ropes, and Henry is just the master of boxing, he knows so much. Their whole family is very smart, and they took me in, and my whole family in, and adopted us. They have taken care of us, I am just so glad I am in the position that I am in to start my career as a professional. I don’t think I could have done it anywhere else. This is chosen for me. This is why I came to Sam Houston and this is what I should be doing. This is what God planned for me.”

Before making the leap to the pros, Lopez had a solid 2006 amateur campaign, which included another Texas State Golden Glove title and appearance at the National Golden Gloves. In March of 2006, competing in the 178-pound weight class, Lopez made it to the finals of the U.S. Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lopez notched two victories in Colorado, including one over present day prospect Will Rosinsky, but came up short in the final against accomplished amateur Christopher Downs.

Though he did not take home the national title, the event itself provided Lopez with invaluable experience. “It was a great experience, because I met a lot of great guys,” says Lopez. “A lot of the top guys professionally now, I got to meet them and got to work out with them to see their work ethic. Just the facility, I was a little bit in awe just being there. It really helped my career and gave me more confidence just being there.”

During his 2006 amateur run, Lopez and his team decided they would turn professional the following year rather than attempt to make the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. “We thought, hey, the way the system runs now…If Alfonso wanted to, he could have gone to the [Olympic] Trials, and probably even won the Trials, because by then he already had the experience,” said Ramirez. “But I think at this point, we are ahead of the 2008 Olympic class if you look at who is out there. I think it was a wise decision now that we look back.”

Several factors went into the decision to go pro when Lopez did, one of which was the way the U.S. structures their training program. “He would have had to leave us for that entire camp,” explains Ramirez. “How are you going to have somebody just leave you like that? Somebody you trained and you just turn them over to somebody and say ‘Ok, here you go.’ And on top of that, he has a wife and kids. So you are going to leave them too, come on now. It would have been for a long period of time too, not just a couple of weeks. Based on the coaching and everything, he was not going to get the coaching he gets here. And that’s a bold statement. Argue with it, but I think we made the right decision in the end.”

Lopez agreed with his coach’s assessment and was on board with the decision to go pro in 2007. “I was waiting to finish up college,” says Lopez, who graduated from Sam Houston. “My wife was finishing up her Master’s, and I was getting my graduate degree. I finished mine, and we decided at the age I was, and I was married and had a little girl, they thought it was the best decision to turn pro. I went ahead and went with it, rolled the dice early and went professional. I think it was a smart decision.”

Lopez turned pro that March, and crossed over some difficult hurdles in that very first outing. “My pro debut was probably the toughest fight I have had to this point,” admits Lopez. “I just went in so green into it, and the nerves. I got headbutted in the first 30 seconds of the fight. I got cut bad and it just exploded everywhere. There was blood in my eyes. Things guys go through in a ten-year professional career, I learned in one day. In one four-round fight, I was cut, I was bleeding, I was exhausted, I was throwing way too many punches – like a 100 and something punches a round. I was so excited and so dehydrated. It was just a huge, huge learning experience.”

Lopez won every round against Bonnie Joe McGee that night and was ready to move forward in his career, while constantly applying his college work ethic in the gym. “He’s a smart fighter and he takes advantage of other styles,” says Harris. “And it is just hard for someone to start boxing late and learn all of that stuff. But he has been a great student.”

In the 19 fights since, Lopez has remained undefeated and in recent bouts turned back the challenges of stiffer competition. In May of last year, Lopez fought outside of Texas for just the second time as a pro and went the ten-round distance for the first time in a win over veteran Ronald Weaver. “It was a big learning experience for him, to go over there into someone else’s hometown, and show that you can do what you have to do to get the win,” said Ramirez. “In my opinion, he won every round in that fight. If you are the opponent and you got one of the scorecards saying 100-89, then you know what happened.”

In his most recent outing, Lopez stepped up against former title challenger Rubin Williams and scored a unanimous ten-round decision, winning every round on every official card. “That was a fight that really got me up, just because the name Rubin Williams – fought for a world title against Jeff Lacy,” says Lopez. “I knew he was an experienced guy that could give me a couple different looks. I knew he was going to do some things other guys haven’t done, adjust the range and try to control the pace. But I felt I dictated everything in the fight. I fought when I wanted to fight.”

Next up for Lopez is a move down to 168-pounds to take on Romero Johnson for the vacant WBC Continental Americas title this coming Thursday in Dallas, Texas. It is an important fight, because an impressive victory could vault Lopez near the top fifteen in the WBC rankings. “It does excite me to go for a minor title,” admits Lopez. “That was one of our goals before the year had ended, and it turned out for me. Romero Johnson, I don’t know much about him, but I am working with the best in Marcus Johnson and Brian Vera. I am working hard, so whatever he brings, I may need a couple rounds to figure him out, but I plan on taking it to him and getting the win. Then hopefully look for some bigger things next year.”

Bigger things are present on the mind of Lopez’ head trainer and co-manager, Henry Harris. “We are reaching the stage now where we need exposure,” says Harris. “We got him where he can fight, so he just needs the exposure and to fight somebody that is supposedly a good fighter. We are willing to fight anybody for that matter. It is just a matter of what makes more sense. We would like to be [ranked] number one, but we are not there, because we can’t get the fight to prove it. I think he is. I think he is the best fighter out there right now.”

There are easier ways for college graduates to make their living than inside a boxing ring, but Lopez is completely focused on becoming the best boxer he can, and will think about putting his diploma to work for him at a later time. “Boxing is not a sport where you can say I am going to work and get a job and go ahead and get my Master’s and become a dietician,” says Lopez. “Boxing has to be your job. It has to be your passion. You have to love what you do everyday. Even when fights are falling through and you are not making any money, you have to stick with it mentally. It has to be what you want to do. You have to give it your life. You have to give it your heart. There’s no looking back.”

Photo by John Giles

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Light welterweight prospect Mike Dallas Jr. scored three knockdowns en route to a second-round knockout of veteran Lenin Arroyo this past Thursday at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. Dallas (16-0-1, 6 KOs) of Bakersfield, California spoke to 15rounds.com about the victory and his next move as he continues to climb up the ladder. Dallas will next be fighting October 30th at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.


Watch Mike Dallas Jr. Interview with 15rounds.com

2008 U.S. Olympian Shawn Estrada scored an unfulfilling technical stoppage over hapless Nathan Bedwell at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California this past Thursday night. Estrada (9-0, 9 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California talked to 15rounds.com about the abrupt ending to the fight and his upcoming ESPN2-televised match-up.


Watch Shawn Estrada Interview with 15rounds.com

In following the sport of boxing, fans get well acquainted with all sorts of different personalities and types of people. To succeed in boxing, or most professional sports, it takes a minimum amount of ego and self-confidence. Fighting in the spotlight and making it to the upper levels of the sport can inflate those attributes in some, while others are able to keep themselves in check. This past September, two prominent fighters again proved which side of the coin they are on.

Sugar Shane Mosley is one of the greatest fighters of his era. His accomplishments are too plentiful to list in this space, but include legitimate titles at three weight classes from lightweight to junior middleweight. He notched two wins over Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas to go along his victories over other noteworthy names, such as Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga, Jesse James Leija, Phillip Holiday and others. Time and again, Mosley has also proved to be one of the great class acts in boxing.

Paulie Malignaggi has proven himself to be a world class boxer, but he has usually tripped up at the elite level. His accomplishments can be listed in this space. Malignaggi ran up an unbeaten record against the usual suspects into a junior welterweight title fight against world class Miguel Cotto. In that fight, Malignaggi surprised many by showing incredible heart and lasting the distance. Two fights later, Malignaggi picked up a title against Lovemore Ndou and made three successful defenses before losing to Ricky Hatton. Malignaggi split two with undersized, but world class Juan Diaz, losing the first one controversially, and then was completely outclassed by Amir Khan.

Time and again, Malignaggi’s emotions have got the best of him at inopportune times, which has precluded him from consideration for the class act label outside of the ring. A glaring occasion in the recent past was his post-fight temper tantrum after the loss to Hatton, which was beamed nationally by HBO. Soon after that fight, his trainer Buddy McGirt, who stopped the uncompetitive fight, was thrown under the bus. Another event to point to would be Malignaggi’s “Boxing is full of shit” rant after the loss to Diaz, which also aired on HBO.

Mosley has had to deal with very public setbacks, but has managed to do so in a professional manner. Mosley parted ways with his father/trainer Jack Mosley twice, but you would be hard pressed to find any quotes from Sugar Shane blasting his father. Quite the contrary, Mosley has repeatedly given his father credit for shaping him into the fighter that he has become. There was BALCO and a divorce from his wife/manager Jin Mosley. Shane never took the easy way out and blamed a conditioning coach for the BALCO scandal, nor can I recall him publicly tearing down his ex-wife.

Recently, Malignaggi exercised his ego and emotions again by blasting his former promoter Lou DiBella shortly after signing with Golden Boy Promotions. DiBella was the promoter that steered Malignaggi’s career from its infancy and somehow managed to get a light-hitting, trash talker with brittle hands eight fights on premium cable and two fights against money players, i.e. Cotto and Hatton. The public digs at DiBella would be surprising had they come from another source, but for Malignaggi it seems par for the course.

On the other side of the coin last month was Shane Mosley. The vast majority of experts and critics believed Mosley was wronged when three California judges scored his fight with Sergio Mora a draw. It would not have been out of line for Mosley to claim he felt he had won the fight, but it would have been out of character. Even weeks later, with public sentiment clearly in his favor, Mosley refused to trash the decision when the fight was brought up with him at the commentators’ desk during a Fox Sports Net telecast.

It may not be fair to Malignaggi to hold him to the standard of a Shane Mosley. There are not many fighters today that would look favorable when compared to one of the more genuine class acts the sport has seen over the years. It is a bar few could attain with such longevity, but it is one that should be strived for. If more fighters attempted to duplicate Mosley’s example, our sport would be much better off.

Photo by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

LEMOORE, CALIFORNIA — Light welterweight prospect Mike Dallas Jr. scored three knockdowns in round two to halt veteran Lenin Arroyo and inch closer to a world ranking in the main event of a seven-bout card at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino on Thursday night.

Arroyo (20-14-1, 4 KOs) of Miami, Florida by way of San Jose, Costa Rica got off to an aggressive start, but the quicker and slicker Dallas did the better work in the first. Dallas (16-0-1, 6 KOs) of Bakersfield, California came out guns blazing in the second, eventually dropping Arroyo, 143, with a short right uppercut to his body and elbow. Arroyo protested the knockdown as referee Marcos Rosales gave him the standing eight count.

Dallas, 142.2, made any debate over the validity of the knockdown a moot point before round’s end. Shortly after action resumed, Dallas landed a hellacious right and left combination that downed Arroyo for the second time. Arroyo rose again, much worse for the wear, before two hard right body shots and a left put him on the canvas for the third time. With the three knockdown rule in effect in California, Rosales waved off the fight at the 1:30 mark.

“I was just waiting for him to make a mistake, and I caught him with some smooth punches,” said Dallas, describing how the knockout came together. “I used my angles and hit him with a couple good power shots.” In Dallas’ previous fight, he scored an eye-opening decision win over fellow unbeaten Lanard Lane on Showtime. Arroyo represented a new test considering his experience level and former fringe contender status. “I am stepping up every time and trying to become the new face of boxing,” said Dallas, who plans to return to the ring on October 30th in Detroit, Michigan. “I am not taking any breaks. I will be back in the gym Monday.”

2008 U.S. Olympian Shawn Estrada (9-0, 9 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California scored a unsatisfying technical stoppage over Nathan Bedwell (3-5, 2 KOs) of Jackson, Tennessee to continue his rout of the lower rungs of the super middleweight and middleweight divisions. Estrada, 164.8, landed one or two clubbing blows to the head of the clumsy Bedwell, 165.2, before inadvertently hooking him to the ground. Bedwell rolled around on the mat, wincing in pain and favoring an already bandaged right knee.

The ringside doctors were quickly summoned into the ring to check on the downed Bedwell. After very little observation, Bedwell left the ring on his own power and the fight was called off. Referee Jon Schorle ruled that the fall was caused by an accident, and when Bedwell could not continue he called the technical stoppage in Estrada’s favor. Bedwell’s corner had informed Schorle that their fighter had been battling a recurring injury to his right knee, which may have helped the referee make his decision on the verdict. Estrada, who previously hailed from nearby Hanford, apologized to the crowd for not putting on a better show.

After the fight Estrada gave his opinion on how the fight ended. “I believe that he felt my power. I believe he felt my speed and strength and he took the fast way out,” said Estrada. “He took the knee, but I don’t blame him. Who wants to be in the ring with me?”

Estrada will take a step up in class for his next bout, which takes place on November 8th at the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Opposing Estrada for the ESPN2 televised bout will be the rugged Tony Hirsch (12-3-1, 6 KOs) of Oakland, California. The two had been originally pegged to meet for what would have been Estrada’s sixth pro bout in May of last year, but Hirsch suffered a torn rotator cuff muscle and had to withdraw. In three bouts since returning from injury this year, Estrada has fought for just over two minutes.

Moving down from bantamweight to super flyweight, Michael Ruiz Jr. (6-0, 3 KOs) of Fresno, California flexed his power at the lighter weight class with a brutal fourth-round knockout of Frank Gutierrez (2-8-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California. Ruiz had competed at 112-pounds during a stellar amateur career, but turned pro just under the 118-pound limit.

After Ruiz, 115.8, landed a head-snapping straight left in the early going, Gutierrez, 114.8, took a more defensive approach to the fight. Ruiz proceeded to thoroughly dominate rounds one and two, before Gutierrez provided some resistance in round three as he suddenly became offensive. However, Gutierrez’ aggression only left more openings for Ruiz to exploit. Gutierrez’ habit of holding his chin high in the air did not help his cause much either.

Gutierrez’ fleeting competitiveness was quickly halted in round four. Ruiz landed a short left inside that dropped the Highland native in the fourth. Once Gutierrez returned to the vertical position, a sweeping left ended the fight. Referee Marcos Rosales waved of the contest shortly after Gutierrez’ head bounced off the canvas. Official time of the stoppage was 2:07 of round four.

Javier Molina (4-0, 4 KOs) of Norwalk, California ended a nearly eleven-month layoff with a 39-second stoppage of journeyman Marco Antonio Arauz (3-7-2, 1 KO) of Palmdale, California. Molina, 154.8, rocked Arauz, 149.2, with the first clean punch he landed and followed up with a somewhat unnecessary flurry score the knockdown. Referee Jon Schorle called a halt to the bout without need for a count. Molina, also a 2008 U.S. Olympian, matured into a full-fledged junior middleweight as he turned 20-years-old during his time away due to a hand injury.

Super flyweight puncher Matt Villanueva (3-0, 3 KOs) of Van Nuys, California scored an emphatic second-round knockout of Christian Salgado (1-2) of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Villanueva, 114.8, controlled the action from the outset, eventually dropping Salgado, 114.4, with two short rights late in the first. Before Salgado could begin to clear the cobwebs, Villanueva ended matters with a straight right early in the second. Official time of the stoppage was 28 seconds of the round.

Jonathan Arrellano (6-0-1, 1 KO) of Ontario, California scored a unanimous four-round decision over the game but outclassed Abel Gomez (3-4, 1 KO) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Gomez, 117.4, pressed forward in the early stages of the fight, which seemed to only aid the offense of Arrellano, 118.2. The Ontario native was effective by picking his spots and landing the harder shots, as was evident by Gomez’ rapidly reddening face.

Arrellano really opened up in the third, stunning Gomez with three and four-punch combinations. To his credit, Gomez often returned fire and continued to press on. The fight looked much the same in the fourth, but ended on a good note with a two-way exchange. In the end, all three judges had the fight for Arrellano by the scores of 39-37 and 40-36 twice.

Powerfully-built super featherweight Kevin Hoskins (3-0, 3 KOs) of Moreno Valley, California scored a second-round knockout of Rene Torres (0-4-1) of Pomona, California in the opener. Hoskins, 129.8, caught Torres, 128.6, with a vicious short right at the bell to end round one. While it was not ruled an official knockdown, Torres still felt the effects and was not all the way back by the start of round two. At 58 seconds of the second, Hoskins landed a left that put the finishing touches on Torres and netted him the victory.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola will headline in season debut of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, which takes place January 7th, his trainer Henry Ramirez told 15rounds.com Thursday. Doctors recently signed off on the hands that he injured in his last bout against Manuel Quezada, which will allow him enough time to train and get ready for the January bout.

Arreola (29-2, 25 KOs) of Riverside, California downed Quezada three times en route to a clear-cut twelve-round unanimous decision win despite badly injuring both hands in the bout this past August. The opponent and venue have yet to be decided for the WBC #5/WBA #9/WBO #11 ranked heavyweight’s return bout. Should Arreola succeed in January, it is expected that he would return to HBO sometime during the first quarter of the year.

Photo by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]

LEMOORE, CALIFORNIA — Fresh off of his career-best win, light welterweight prospect Mike Dallas Jr. finds his name at the top of the marquee for the first time in his career as he takes on venerable journeyman Lenin Arroyo in an eight-rounder at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino tonight. Fighters weighed in at the casino’s Den Sports Bar on Wednesday.

In his last time out, Dallas (15-0-1, 5 KOs) of Bakersfield, California burst onto the national scene with a decisive eight-round decision over fellow unbeaten Lanard Lane in a Showtime-televised bout in July. Dallas has fought at the Tachi Palace seven times in his pro career, but never before as the headliner. The Central Valley’s brightest young star will look to inch closer to a world ranking with a victory tonight. Dallas scaled 142.2-pounds at Wednesday’s weigh-in.

Arroyo (20-13-1, 4 KOs) of Miami, Florida by way of San Jose, Costa Rica has seen his career take a downturn, as he has dropped his last six fights. The previously solid chin of Arroyo failed to hold up in his two most recent fights, knockout losses to contender Mike Alvarado and prospect Sadam Ali. Prior to those two outings, Arroyo lasted the distance against power-punching prospects Mike Jones and James De La Rosa. Should Dallas outdo any of Arroyo’s recent opposition it will be quite the statement. Arroyo, once a fringe contender, came in at 143-pounds.

2008 U.S. Olympian and former resident of nearby Hanford, Shawn Estrada will appear in a featured bout on the undercard. In his third outing since returning from a year-long layoff, Estrada (8-0, 8 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California takes on Nathan Bedwell (3-4, 2 KOs) of Jackson, Tennessee in a four-round super middleweight fight. Estrada, who weighed in at 164.8, used attempted a little intimidation by going nose-to-nose with his opponent on Wednesday. The baby-faced Bedwell, grinning at Estrada’s bravado, came in at 165.2-pounds.

Estrada’s Olympic teammate Javier Molina (3-0, 3 KOs) of Norwalk, California has experienced similar injury-induced setbacks, but will look to get his career rolling again against Marco Antonio Arauz (3-6-2, 1 KO) of Palmdale, California in a four-round light middleweight fight. Molina, 154.8, has not been in the ring since last November. For his part, Arauz, 149.2, has not seen action since September of 2008, and had previously been inactive since early 2003.

Promising prospect Michael Ruiz Jr. (5-0, 2 KOs) of Fresno, California will move back down to super flyweight to take on Frank Gutierrez (2-7-2, 1 KO) of Highland, California in a six-round bout. Already competing for the sixth time as a professional having turned pro just in April, Ruiz came in at 115.8-pounds. Gutierrez, making his 2010 debut, weighed in at 114.8-pounds.

Joe Goossen-trained super flyweight Matt Villanueva (2-0, 2 KOs) of Van Nuys, California will look to remain unbeaten against Christian Salgado (1-1) of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico in a four-round contest. Villanueva came in at 114.8-pounds, while Salgado, fighting in the United States for the first time, weighed in at 114.4.

Jonathan Arrellano (5-0-1, 1 KO) of Ontario, California will take on Abel Gomez (3-3, 1 KO) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in a four-round bantamweight fight. Arrellano weighed in at 118.2, while Gomez scaled 117.4-pounds.

The seventh undefeated fighter on the card, Kevin Hoskins (2-0, 2 KOs) of Moreno Valley, California will meet Rene Torres (0-3-1) of Pomona, California in a four-round super featherweight fight. Hoskins came in at 129.8-pounds, while Torres scaled 128.6.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, are available online at Tickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Light Welterweights, 8 Rounds
Dallas Jr. 142.2
Arroyo 143

Super Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Estrada 164.8
Bedwell 165.2

Bantamweights, 6 Rounds
Ruiz Jr. 115.8
Gutierrez 114.8

Light Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Molina 154.8
Arauz 149.2

Super Flyweights, 4 Rounds
Villanueva 114.8
Salgado 114.4

Bantamweights, 4 Rounds
Arellano 118.2
Gomez 117.4

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Hoskins 129.8
Torres 128.6

Photos by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]

Once-beaten heavyweight prospect Travis Kauffman was preparing to take on Bowie Tupou as part of the ESPN2 boxing special emanating from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on November 8th. However, Kauffman received word that the network would not approve of the bout, which forced its cancellation.

“All I heard was ESPN wouldn’t accept the fight, which makes no sense,” Kauffman told 15rounds.com. “We are both top contenders with winning records and it would have made for a great heavyweight fight.” Kauffman (20-1, 16 KOs) of Reading, Pennsylvania knows something about making good TV fights, as the last time he fought on national television he lost a somewhat controversial thriller to Tony Grano on Showtime in 2008. “I offered lucky ass Tony Grano a rematch many of times, and to top it off I offered to give him my purse, which he also turned down,” says Kauffman. “Well that offer is out the door, but I’m still willing to rematch his sorry ass if he wants. It was the best heavyweight fight of ’09, so why not make another great fight for 2010?”

Outside of a rematch against Grano, Kauffman would love to get into the ring with one of the more recognizable faces of the heavyweight division. “I need a bigger name and I would love to fight Chris Arreola for his comeback fight, maybe in the main event on ESPN or Shobox,” said Kauffman, who has sparred Arreola in the past. “I know that it will be an awesome fight. We are both friends, but this is a business and I know I’m the better fighter.”

Recently, a 6’7” British heavyweight made his U.S. television debut, and Kauffman has added his name to the hit list. “I’d also love to fight that big ugly rudiment Tyson Fury, but the big boy has to come to the States, unless they want to double my pay in England,” said Kauffman. “Look I’m not one to talk shit, but I’m tired of beating C-level fighters. I want nothing but big names.”

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Newly crowned NABA Middleweight Champion Kassim Ouma spoke to 15rounds.com shortly after his title-winning sixth-round stoppage of Joey Gilbert at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, Nevada on Saturday night. With the win, Ouma (27-7-1, 17 KOs) likely earned a world ranking with WBA, which could eventually lead to a fight against their champion Felix Sturm.


Watch Kassim Ouma Interview with 15rounds.com

RENO, NEVADA — Former junior middleweight titleholder Kassim Ouma scored a come from behind stoppage victory over Contender alum Joey Gilbert to announce his presence as a middleweight contender at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino on Saturday night. In a must-win fight for both, Ouma overcame a knockdown to quickly turn the fight in his favor and ultimately score the technical knockout to claim the vacant NABA Middleweight title.

Ouma (27-7-1, 17 KOs) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States by way of Kampala, Uganda and Gilbert (20-3, 15 KOs) of Reno made the fight an inside fight at the outset. The style favored Gilbert, the harder puncher and bigger man. Gilbert smothered a fair amount of Ouma’s offense early on and flurried his opponent against the ropes to close a dominating opening round.

Gilbert, 160, landed a straight right counter that appeared to hurt Ouma, 158, in the second round. The former champion slowly picked up his work rate, and began to outwork Gilbert in some exchanges. There was great action late in the round, and it was Gilbert landing a few hard shots with Ouma against ropes to close the stanza.

Both fighters decided to stand and trade in the third. Ouma would land more often, but it was clearly Gilbert landing the harder shots. The fight continued to be fought on the inside through the third. By the sound of the bell, Gilbert’s face began to show the wear of Ouma’s continuous offense. Round four was the fight in microcosm. Gilbert continued to land a stiff straight right, but Ouma just kept his hands going, and was always coming forward.

In round five, Gilbert extended his apparent lead in the fight after landing with a grazing straight right that caught Ouma off balance, but counted as a knockdown. Ouma was clearly not hurt, and more or less tripped over his own feet, as Gilbert landed. Back-and-forth action closed out the round.

The fight, firmly in Gilbert’s grasp entering round six, quickly took a turn early in the round. Ouma came out of his corner on a mission, and forced Gilbert, cut and swollen, to the ropes with his aggression. With Gilbert covering up, Ouma unloaded with an unrelenting flurry until the Reno native fell to one knee. Undoubtedly ahead on the cards, despite the knockdown, Gilbert got to his feet, before signaling to referee Vic Drakulich that he could not continue. Shortly after the fight, Drakulich informed us ringside that Gilbert had told him he was seeing double.

Gilbert, who was immediately taken to a local hospital for observation, fought well, but ultimately wilted under Ouma’s pressure. Ouma, who claimed the WBA-affiliated NABA title, will likely see his name appear in that sanctioning body’s next rankings and should be in line for a meaningful fight not too far down the road. “I am going to stay at middleweight,” said the former IBF Light Middleweight Champion after the fight. “And I want that champion Felix Sturm. I am ready for it.” Felix Sturm, the reigning WBA Middleweight Champion, is a name that was mentioned by some of Ouma’s team in the aftermath of his victory last night.

Another fight on Ouma’s wish list is a shot at current IBF Light Middleweight Champion Cornelius Bundgrage. Bundrage scored a closely contested upset decision over Ouma back in 2008, before eventually taking the title from Cory Spinks. “Bundrage beat me, come on, put your belt on the line and I will fight you tomorrow,” Ouma told 15rounds.com. “I will crush him. It will not go six rounds like Gilbert.”

Super middleweight prospect Mark DeLuca returned to the ring, ending a two-year layoff with a second round knockout over Alex Rivera (2-4, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada. DeLuca (7-0, 5 KOs) of Whitman, Massachusetts joined the Marine Corps shortly after his last bout, which also took place in Reno.

Southpaw DeLuca, 167, dropped Rivera, 165, with a one-two combination early in the second round. DeLuca landed a straight left and a couple more in follow-up to drop Rivera again seconds later. Rivera gamely got up to his feet, but another straight left counter ended it in emphatic fashion. Referee immediately waved off the fight with the official time of 2:02 of the second.

In a heated battle of Reno-based pro debutants, Nelson Lopez (1-0) earned a hard-fought shutout decision over Bubba Dupree (0-1). Dupree, 180, had the better boxing skills, but he was out-slugged by the relentless Lopez, 176, for most of the fight. A wild first round featured two-way action early. Late in the round, Lopez caught Dupree with a shot that forced him to the ropes. In the last minute Lopez continued to swing away at a dodging Dupree against the ropes. Dupree threw just enough punches and held just enough to not get stopped.

After a second round that was slow by comparison to the first, Lopez continued to land the cleaner punches, eventually dropping Dupree with a straight right. Dupree slumped to his knees, but made it up before referee Vic Drakulich finished his count. The fourth heated up early, with Dupree boxing well. But as was the case anytime Dupree got into a rhythm, Lopez answered back. In the end, all three judges scored the bout for Lopez, 40-35 and 40-34 twice.

MMA

Jerel Clark (5-0, 1 KO, 3 Submissions) of Sparks, Nevada pleased his raucous supporters on hand with a second round submission over Jack Montgomery (9-9, 2 KOs, 7 Submissions) of Winnemucca, Nevada.

Montgomery, 170, was badly bloodied after taking a serious ground-and-pound beating for much of the first round. Clark, 170, maintained control of the fight in the second round, taking Montgomery to the ground. Eventually Clark forced a tapout with a rear naked choke at the time of 2:03 of the second.

Reno’s Joe Baros (3-5, 3 KOs) scored an explosive second-round knockout of Josh Rabedeaux (5-8, 1 Submission) of Phoenix, Arizona. Baros, 135, landed a swift high kick that landed clean on the head of Rabedeaux, 135, to procure the instant stoppage from referee Kim Winslow. Official time was 3:15 of the second round.

John O’Donnell (3-0, 2 KOs) of Fallon, Nevada scored a second-round knockout over John Corstorphine (6-4, 1 KO, 5 Submissions) of Sacramento, California in the night’s opener. O’Donnell, 171, punished Corstorphine, 173, with a vicious series of strikes on the ground. With Corstorphine unable to protect himself, referee Kim Winslow stopped the fight. Official time of the stoppage was 3:55 of round two.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

RENO, NEVADA — In an intriguing crossroads bout, Joey Gilbert will attempt to leap back into contention while defending his home turf against former titleholder Kassim Ouma at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino tonight. Their regional title clash headlines “Reno Xtreme Fights VI,” an evening of boxing and mixed martial arts. Fighters weighed in Friday at the casino’s Xtreme Sports Bar & Lounge.

Gilbert (20-2, 15 KOs) was a ranked middleweight by two of the major sanctioning organizations heading into a fight at this same venue three years ago. Despite scoring a quick knockout that evening, Gilbert would lose those rankings after his Nevada State Athletic Commission conducted post-fight drug test revealed the presence of banned substances. After a lengthy legal battle, Gilbert was cleared of all but one positive, which resulted in a one-year suspension. It has taken him three years, but Joey Gilbert finds himself one win away from making up for lost time and likely finding himself at the doorstep of a major fight.

Standing in Gilbert’s way is the most accomplished foe he has ever faced, in former IBF Light Middleweight Champion Ouma (26-7-1, 16 KOs) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States by way of Kampala, Uganda. Ouma has dropped five of his last six fights, but two were split decisions and the last was a controversial defeat suffered at the hands of rising contender Vanes Martirosyan earlier this year. Ouma will also be stepping up to the middleweight division for only the second time in his pro career.

Both of these fighters, Ouma especially, are known to have a high work rates and solid chins. Considering their styles, this fight could turn out to be a corker, especially if Gilbert decides to utilize his size and strength advantage while standing his ground. The term “must win” is an often overused expression, but it applies to tonight’s fight. The winner of the bout will claim the vacant NABA Middleweight title, which is affiliated with the WBA. The new champion will likely see their name listed among the top fifteen middleweight contenders when the next WBA rankings are released. Gilbert weighed in at 160, while Ouma came in at 158.

In undercard action, super middleweight prospect Mark DeLuca returns to the ring after having joined the Marine Corps in 2008. DeLuca (6-0, 4 KOs) of Whitman, Massachusetts has not fought since scoring a first round knockout in Reno in June of 2008. Opposing DeLuca will be Alex Rivera (2-3, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada in a four-round bout. DeLuca weighed in at 167-pounds, while Rivera came in at 165.

In a pairing of pro debutants, Bubba Dupree of Reno will take on Nelson Lopez, also of Reno, in a four-round light heavyweight fight. Dupree came in at 180-pounds, while Lopez scaled 176.

Mixed martial arts action will include a battle of locals, as Jerel Clark (4-0, 1 KO, 2 Submissions) of Reno will take on Jack Montgomery (9-8, 2 KOs, 7 Submissions) of Winnemucca, Nevada in a three-round middleweight fight. Both fighters weighed in at 170-pounds.

In the another MMA bout, Reno’s Joe Baros (2-5, 2 KOs) will take Josh Rabedeaux (5-8, 1 Submission) of Phoenix, Arizona in a three-round bantamweight fight. Baros scaled 135, as did Rabedeaux.

A late addition to the card, John O’Donnell (2-0, 1 KO) of Fallon, Nevada will take on John Corstorphine (6-3, 1 KO, 5 Submissions) of Sacramento, California in a three-round welterweight fight. O’Donnell came in at 171-pounds, while Corstorphine weighed in at 173.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Let’s Get It On Promotions, are available online at GrandSierraResort.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

NABA Middleweight Championship, 10 Rounds
Gilbert 160
Ouma 158

Super Middleweights, 4 Rounds
DeLuca 167
Rivera 165

Light Heavyweights, 4 Rounds
Dupree 180
Lopez 176

MMA Weigh-in Results:

Middleweights, 3 Rounds
Clark 170
Montgomery 170

Bantamweights, 3 Rounds
Baros 135
Rabedeaux 135

Welterweights, 3 Rounds
O’Donnell 171
Corstorphine 173

Photos by Mike Searson/Examiner.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

The powerful rags to riches story of Kassim Ouma has been well publicized in print, television and most notably in a documentary feature film. Kidnapped at the age of six to be part of the National Resistance Army in Uganda, Ouma beat immeasurable odds to realize his dream of becoming a world champion at 25. Now a veteran 31-year-old, five years removed from his title reign, Ouma has set out to realize the dream a second time. His journey begins Saturday night, in an important crossroads bout against Joey Gilbert at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, Nevada.

If one were to take a quick look at the official ledger of Ouma (26-7-1, 16 KOs) of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida by way of Kampala, Uganda, they may think he is a fighter on the decline. Ouma has dropped five of his last six contests and has not won a meaningful fight in over four years. But if you were to look a little deeper, you would notice that there is more to that story.

The first of those five losses was suffered at the hands of Jermain Taylor, who was defending his unified middleweight title. Ouma was coming up in weight, having never fought as a 160-pounder before, and was more or less overpowered by a larger, skilled fighter. “As you can see, since I fought Taylor he has been getting knocked down,” Ouma points out. “He has not been the same.”

Ouma’s next three losses take a little more explaining. Ouma at his best probably does not lose to Saul Roman or Gabriel Rosado, which he did in split decisions in 2007 and 2009 respectively. In his first fight after the loss to Roman, Ouma was upset by then-lightly regarded Cornelius Bundrage, who went on to claim a title from Cory Spinks earlier this year. “There were some fights that maybe I should have won, but maybe I was not prepared,” admits Ouma. “But now I am ready to do it again.”

Exhibit A that Ouma is in fact ready to do it again would be his last performance, a controversial decision defeat suffered at the hands of rising contender Vanes Martirosyan this past January. Ouma downed Martirosyan in round nine and it was the belief of many sitting ringside and watching on television that he deserved the nod on the scorecards. However, the judges gave him little credit and scored the fight wide for Martirosyan. “I have fights that I did not really lose, they were just controversial,” explains Ouma. “I don’t think they really beat me.”

For the fight against Martirosyan, his best performance in years, Ouma was trained by former world champion Livingstone Bramble, who is not training him for this fight. “We didn’t get along,” Ouma explains simply. “He was a good trainer, but we just couldn’t get along. I am with a different trainer, a different gym.” Ouma trained for this fight under the guidance of respected trainer Ruben Castanon out of the Capital Punishment Boxing Club in Riverside, California.

For this fight against Gilbert, Ouma is moving back up to the 160-pound middleweight division. The change seems to be a result of circumstance more so than a plotted path for the former IBF Light Middleweight Champion. “I was looking for fights all over everywhere,” says Ouma frustratingly. “I could not get nobody to give me a fight. Thanks to Joey for giving me this fight. This fight is big. If I win, I have decided that I am going to stay middleweight.” While making weight is not likely to be much of an issue for the career junior middleweight, Ouma did not alter his training regimen based on the elevated weight class. “It does not change my preparation,” claims Ouma. “I just train like I have been training, and just have more speed than ever.”

Much as was the case when he stepped up in weight to meet Taylor (his only other fight at middleweight), Ouma will be taking on a naturally larger opponent. Gilbert was a ranked middleweight three years ago and has been campaigning recently as a 168-pounder. In Gilbert’s last fight, he weighed in officially at 172-pounds, roughly fourteen pounds more than Ouma has ever weighed. Despite those facts, Ouma does not seem too concerned about any size or strength advantages Gilbert may have in the bout. “I don’t know [how it affects] him. I just know he has been a middleweight before, says Ouma. “It does not matter. We are just going to fight.”

Ouma has studied previous Joey Gilbert fights, but refuses to read too much into what he saw in the footage. “I think he is a tough guy, but watching him doesn’t mean he is going to bring it in the fight, because he is fighting a different cookie,” says Ouma. “When he fights me, he is not going to have the same plan.”

The outcome of Saturday’s fight, which is for the WBA-affiliated NABA Middleweight title, will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on the career of both fighters. “I am focused on becoming champion of the world again. That is what I want,” says Ouma. “But right now I am just focused on Gilbert and that is it.” Should Ouma move past Joey Gilbert Saturday, fight fans ringside may have witnessed the beginnings of Kassim’s second dream run. No matter the outcome, Ouma has a promise. “The people are going to see Kassim Ouma back in the ring, bringing what I always deliver and I will deliver that night.”

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Sources close to the situation have informed 15rounds.com that the November 8th boxing special to air on ESPN2 from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on November 8th will be headlined by a pairing of heavyweight prospects. Once beaten big men will look to regain some of their luster, as Travis Kauffman is pegged to take on Bowie Tupou.

Kauffman (20-1, 16 KOs) of Reading, Pennsylvania has won two straight against journeymen opponents since suffering a nationally televised setback against Tony Grano last September. Despite an accomplished amateur career, Kauffman made the mistake of slugging with the crude Grano, which made for an entertaining fight for Showtime, but ultimately helped lead to a somewhat controversial fourth-round stoppage defeat. In his last bout, Kauffman knocked out the well traveled Chris Koval in two rounds this past May.

Tupou (19-1, 15 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way of Nuku?alofa, Tonga quietly built himself into a prospect by scoring a string of quick knockouts in mostly non-televised fights before running into longtime opponent Demetrice King in August of last year. King caught Tupou with a counter off the ropes to score a knockdown late in the first that swung the fight in his favor. Tupou, who had been signed by prominent promoter Gary Shaw, did not recover during the minute rest between rounds and was ultimately stopped in the second round. In his one fight since, Tupou stopped Alexis Mejias in four rounds in May.

The Veterans Day themed card has become an annual tradition for ESPN. Tickets will not be sold and the crowd will be comprised of servicemen and women.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Fighting on his 29th birthday, Jhonny Gonzalez dropped Jackson Asiku three times in less than six rounds to wrest the IBO Featherweight title and validate his standing among the top 126-pounders in the main event of a pay-per-view telecast emanating from the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday night.

What ended up becoming a dominate showing for Gonzalez (46-7, 40 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico, was actually a highly competitive fight for the first three rounds. Asiku (26-4, 14 KOs) of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia by way of Uganda traded on even ground with the Mexican free-swinger, and may have deserved the nod in the first and third rounds. The third round especially featured some excellent two-way action.

Gonzalez, 125.8, turned the fight completely in his favor with a picture-perfect left hook that landed squarely on Asiku’s chin halfway through the fourth round. The punch rocked Asiku, 125, with Gonzalez’ follow-up swings leading to the first knockdown. Asiku returned to his feet and stayed on his toes the remainder of the round. Gonzalez closed the gap late, but time ran out before he could really punish him any further.

Early in the fifth, Gonzalez, the WBC#3/WBA #3/IBF #4 ranked featherweight, dropped the defending IBO titlist with another clean left to the chin. Asiku showed great heart in getting up again, but he would taste the canvas after another left late in the round. Referee Kenny Bayless looked to have thoughts about stopping the fight then, Asiku still had the foot work to maneuver around the ring and out of the round.

Asiku’s bravery would be for not, as Gonzalez rocked the Ugandan into a corner with a two-handed flurry early in the sixth, leaving Bayless with little other choice but to leap in and stop the fight. The official time of the stoppage was 1:09 round of round six. The victory netted Gonzalez the IBO title and could put him in line for a crack at one of the major title holders or other top featherweights. “I am ready for anybody,” boldly proclaimed Gonzalez after the fight.

All-action super featherweight Miguel Roman (31-7, 23 KOs) of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico notched a quality win over Tyrone Harris (24-7, 16 KOs) of Lansing, Michigan via fifth-round stoppage. Roman, 131.8, began asserting himself in the second round, pressuring Harris, 130, and landing a few big shots.

Even though he took control early in the bout, it looked as though Roman may get himself into trouble with fouls. Referee Jay Nady warned him twice for headbutts and called a timeout for a low blow in the third. Harris took his time recovering from the low blow, which may have been an indication that his dedication to the fight was waning.

Roman continued to press the action into the fifth, before landing a rib-caving left to Harris’ body that prompted a delayed knockdown. At 2:03 of round five, Nady counted Harris out. This fight was put together on short notice, when Harris’ originally scheduled opponent Juan Carlos Salgado pulled out of their fight with an injury. Roman had been slated to fight Cuauhtemoc Vargas on the undercard. By weighing in over the super featherweight limit, Roman may have cost himself a fight against Salgado, which would have been for the IBO Super Featherweight title.

Middleweight prospect Marcos Reyes (17-1, 15 KOs) of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico made short work of journeyman Victor Villereal (9-6-2, 5 KOs) of Longmont, Colorado, scoring a second-round technical knockout. Reyes, 159, opened up early in the second, eventually hurting Villereal, 158, with a right to the body and dropping him with a follow-up barrage upstairs. Villereal beat the count, but was soon down again from another body shot. When Villereal rose again, Reyes pounced looking for the knockout. With Villereal covering up and moving against the ropes, referee Russell Mora stopped the fight at 2:57 of the second.

Khadaphi Proctor (6-5-1) of Hesperia, California took advantage of his reach advantage to score a four-round unanimous decision over Rynell Griffin (6-3-1, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas. Griffin, 133, boxed well to open the fight as he outworked the longer Proctor, 135.2. As the fight wore on, Proctor began to move his hands and stay out of the shorter Griffin’s punching range. One judge scored the fight even, 38-38, but was overruled by the other two judges who had the fight a shutout 40-36 for Proctor.

In the televised opener, Yohan Banks (4-4-3, 1 KO) of Redwood City, California rescued a decision defeat with a right uppercut induced knockout over ESPN The Magazine cover boy Quadtrine Hill (1-1, 1 KO) of Sunrise, Florida with less than a minute to go in the fight. Hill, 228, controlled the pace for much of the bout and landed two hard left hands which may have left him overconfident. With one swift right, Banks, 272, made all of Hill’s hard work for not. Officially the knockout came at 2:24 of round four.

Photo by Naoki Fukuda/Roy Englebrecht Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Mexican icon Erik Morales did not dare disappoint the crowd of over 50,000 on hand at the Monumental Plaza de Toros in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico celebrating in advance of Mexican Independence Day Saturday night, as he stopped Willie Limond in six rounds to notch his 50th career victory. Just two fights into his comeback, Morales seems to have shaken off much of the rust left from his retirement.

Limond (33-3, 8 KOs) of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom got off to a solid start. Limond, 143, showed solid defense as he blocked and parried a fair amount of the Morales, 143, offense for the first two rounds. While Limond may have been the naturally bigger guy, his eight kayos indicate that he is not much of a puncher. Morales (50-6, 35 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico was the heavy hitter in the fight, and that became clear as the fight progressed.

By the fourth round, Morales was asserting himself in the fight. Whereas Limond returned fire on even ground for the first few rounds, he was left defensive against Morales’ offensive pressure as the bout moved into the fifth round. In the sixth, Morales broke through with a vicious body shot that dropped Limond. While the Scot was clearly in pain, he was able to muster the energy to angrily punch the ground while taking referee Jay Nady’s count. Before the conclusion of the round, Morales dropped Limond twice more prompting the stoppage at 2:46 of the sixth.

Strangely, even though both fighters weighed in at the contracted 143-pounds, it was announced that the bout was for the WBC Silver Light Welterweight title. The light welterweight division limit, or super lightweight as the WBC calls it, is 140-pounds. Maybe even stranger, the WBC issued a press release earlier in the month that if Morales, the WBC #2 ranked light welterweight, defeated Limond, the Mexican legend would be made the mandatory challenger for the WBC Lightweight title. Morales has not made the lightweight limit of 135-pounds since August of 2007.

After the fight, Morales clearly stated his desire to campaign at lightweight. Looking ahead for Morales, the current WBC Lightweight Champion is Humberto Soto, who fights unheralded Fidel Monterrosa Munoz on September 18th in Mexico. Reportedly, Soto has a title defense against Marco Antonio Barrera in the offing. Should Barrera defeat Soto, it goes without saying that a Barrera-Morales IV would be the biggest fight either fighter’s handlers could make.

In a thrilling fight, WBC #1 ranked flyweight/IBF #5 108-pounder Edgar Sosa (40-6, 23 KOs) of Mexico City stopped game Filipino Ryan Bito (18-7-3, 6 KOs) of Sucat, Muntinlupa City, Philippines to win the WBC International Flyweight title.

Bito, the WBC #16 ranked flyweight, fought on even ground with Sosa, 111.76, early on in the bout, but eventually wilted to the Mexican’s vicious attack. Sosa supporters had reason to worry early on, as an accidental head clash opened a cut on his forehead in the third round. The blood seemed to give Bito, 110.26, additional confidence, as he landed several hard shots in the third and fourth.

Another accidental clash late in the fourth opened another cut on Sosa’s forehead late in the fourth. With two bad cuts bleeding steadily before the fight had gone long enough to become official, the bout was in danger of being stopped as a no contest. Especially considering Bito, fighting in North America for the first time, was having considerable success – it would not have been a surprise if the Mexican official stopped the fight at that convenient juncture.

Just as it seemed Sosa was in trouble, he rocked Bito just before the bell to end the fourth. As the fight entered into the middle rounds and the blood coming from his cuts stopped flowing, Sosa began to control the action. Sosa, in his third fight as a flyweight since dropping his WBC 108-pound title in controversial fashion to Rodel Mayol, varied his attack to Bito’s body and head, and started backing up the Filipino.

One minute into the tenth, Sosa dropped Bito with a horrid left body shot. Bito looked done, but gamely rose to his feet, and immediately entered into a fiery exchange with Sosa. A minute later, Sosa dropped Bito again with the same exact shot. Again Bito got up before the count of ten, but referee Guadalupe Garcia wisely stopped the contest. Official time of the stoppage was 2:05 of round ten. “I’d like to have one more fight before I fight for the title,” said Sosa after the fight.

Ana Maria Torres (22-3-2, 13 KOs) of Mexico City pleased her compatriots on hand at the bullring with an almost shockingly dominant ten-round unanimous decision over Alesia Graf (24-2, 9 KOs) of Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany to retain her WBC Super Flyweight title. Torres, 114.4, dropped Graf, 114.4, twice in the third round and continued to control the entire fight. Graf, the reigning WIBF/GBU 122-pound title-holder, not only had the superior boxing skills of Torres to deal with, she slipped at several instances on the rain dampened mat. Torres seemed on the verge of scoring a stoppage in the ninth, but Graf managed to make it the distance. All three judges scored the bout for Torres, 100-88.

Photos by Notimex

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected]

Fourteen-year veteran Orlando Salido rode an up-and-down career en route to winning the IBF Featherweight title earlier this year – a win that has netted him a high profile bout against flashy offensive wizard Yuriorkis Gamboa at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada tomorrow. Though he does carry the tag of champion into this unification bout, his role as of now is that of a supporting player. Gamboa is the attraction, and few give Salido much of a chance of pulling off the upset.

The last time Salido (34-10-2, 22 KOs) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico found himself inside a Las Vegas ring was also the last time he had an opportunity to springboard himself into the spotlight as a major player in the featherweight division. Fighting in the main supporting bout underneath the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Carlos Baldomir main event at the Mandalay Bay in November 2006, Salido completely outfought rising star Robert Guerrero to claim the IBF title. Finally, after a long journeyman’s career, Salido had broken through.

So it seemed.

Two days after scoring the biggest win of his career, Salido’s post-fight urinalysis, as conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, tested positive for the banned steroid Nandrolone. The result of the bout was changed to a no decision, and Salido’s title was stripped. Salido had a follow-up test taken at the nationally known blood lab LabCorp, which found him negative of any steroids. It should be noted that Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid that may be present naturally in the human body in minute quantities. “I said I never took steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs and the lab tests prove it,” Salido was quoted as saying by the SportingLife.com after the second test.

While Salido may have felt vindicated by the second test, he remained suspended for nine months and did not fight again until scoring an eight-round decision over journeyman Marty Robbins the following September. In his next fight, Salido knocked out Hector Julio Avila in an IBF sanctioned title eliminator. Salido, who had publicly called for a Guerrero rematch in the aftermath of their first encounter, appeared set to get his wish granted. At the time Salido was made the mandatory challenger, Guerrero had already regained the IBF title.

Two months after Salido stopped Avila, Guerrero successfully defended his belt against Jason Litzau and soon thereafter vacated, stating his desire to move up in weight. Salido would not get the chance to prove the legitimacy of his victory over Guerrero, and was instead matched with fellow longtime Mexican journeyman Cristobal Cruz for the vacant title. In an exciting fight, Salido would drop a twelve-round decision that could have easily gone his way.

After Salido posted two wins over nondescript opposition, Cruz granted him a rematch this past May. In a fight that took place in Ciudad Obregon, far from the bright lights of Las Vegas or American television cameras, Salido dropped Cruz twice and scored a decisive decision win to claim the title. It was a big win, a title-claiming victory no less, but not one the magnitude of the triumph that slipped through his fingers in November of 2006.

Not until this Saturday has Salido had the kind of opportunity he had against Guerrero four years ago. Gamboa, the WBA Featherweight title holder, may have even more cache in the sport now than did Guerrero when Salido had his crack at him. Gamboa has made a swift rise from touted former Cuban amateur star to HBO headliner. He has a skill set and physical tools like few others we have seen in recent years. “I know how good he is,” said Salido at a Wednesday press conference. “But I also know I am capable of winning this fight and that is why I am here.”

It is hard to envision a scenario in which Salido, in spite of how rugged and willing he is, finds a way to unseat the Cuban virtuoso Saturday. However, boxing history tells the tale of many who have taken advantage of similar second chances. Four years in the making, Salido has his.

NOTES

-Several big fight nights have taken place in Las Vegas on the Saturday before Mexican Independence Day over the years, but one would think that there may not be an influx of Mexicans headed to Sin City to support Sonora’s Orlando Salido this year. Part of the reason being that Mexican icon Erik Morales goes for his 50th win against Willie Limond in Mexico City on the same day.

Morales (49-6, 34 KOs) ended a 31-month sabbatical looking much pudgier with twelve-round decision over former lightweight belt holder Jose Alfaro. That fight took place at 147-pounds, while Saturday’s will have a limit of 140-pounds. Curiously the WBC issued a press release stating that should Morales win, he will be implemented as the mandatory challenger for their lightweight title, which has a limit of 135-pounds.

-Integrated Sports will distribute the Morales-Limond pay-per-view event in the United States. Holding down the commentary duties will be long tenured play-by-play man Colonel Bob Sheridan and analyst Benny Ricardo. Three weeks ago, Sheridan and Ricardo held those same positions ringside in Puerto Rico for the Ivan Calderon-Giovanni Segura title unification bout. In the opening moments of the broadcast, the duo gave a puzzling endorsement for Javier Capetillo, the trainer who had his license revoked for the Antonio Margarito hand-wrapping controversy.

Capetillo is now a part of the Segura training team, and had attempted to gain a license to work the corner in Puerto Rico. Capetillo was eventually denied a license and therefore not allowed to work the corner, as he had done for Segura recently in Mexico.

Shortly after stating that if Capetillo were indeed guilty of what he is accused, they could “hang him,” Sheridan introduced Ricardo who took the time to defend the disgraced trainer. “I had the bandages right up on top, they were all together. I accidentally grabbed the old ones and ended up wrapping them,” said Ricardo, paraphrasing what Capetillo had told him earlier. “We have to put a rest to this thing,” Ricardo proclaimed. “We looked at Javier Capetillo eye-to-eye and said ‘tell us your story’. I believe him in this. Margarito has been a great guy, a great champion and this has never popped before. It has been addressed and we can put this to rest.”

Sheridan, who would call his 890th world title fight when Segura knocked out Calderon later that night, followed up Ricardo’s explanation. “I believe this guy, I believe this guy whole-heartedly. I think he has been duped by a lot of people. I take my hat off to Javier, and I hope you get your license back.”

I wish I could say that if it’s good enough for the Colonel and Benny it’s good enough for me, but I cannot. The fact is that Margarito’s hand wraps, admittedly wrapped by Capetillo, contained two primary elements of plaster of Paris, sulfur and calcium. There is no reason that any “old” wraps should have had those elements either. Segura has stated publicly that Capetillo has never wrapped his hands, an answer to a question he will likely have hurled at him as long as Capetillo remains a part of his team.

Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

During a recent HBO broadcast, an onscreen graphic depicted the top welterweights in the world according to the network. One name likely unfamiliar to the American boxing public was that of Jan Zaveck, the reigning IBF Welterweight Champion. The Slovenian-born, Germany-based title holder is currently wrapping up preparations for his second defense of the title he won last December. Opposing him Saturday will be his mandatory challenger and lone career conqueror, Rafal Jackiewicz. A win would go a long way in improving Zaveck’s standing among the 147-pound elite, and perhaps give him the valuable bargaining chip needed to entice one of the big names in the division into the ring.

Zaveck (29-1, 17 KOs) of Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany by way of Ptuj, Slovenia burst onto the international scene with his title-winning three-round destruction of Isaac Hlatshwayo in South Africa late last year. Shortly after touching gloves with the champion, Zaveck seemed to hurt Hlatshwayo with the first left hook he landed, and would go on to control entire bout. The two boxed to close the first and open the second, but a right hook that landed high on Hlatshwayo’s temple prompted a delayed knockdown late in the round.

Zaveck patiently stalked the South African to begin the third, before landing two more right hooks that again downed the champion. Hlatshwayo made it up on wobbly legs and took a few more shots before falling into the ropes, which prompted referee Kenny Chevalier to end the fight and declare Zaveck the new champion. When asked when he knew he had his opponent hurt, “I knew right away, after the first punch, a left hook off his chin, and I saw his eyes a little bit confused,” Zaveck told South African broadcaster SABC Sport. “I cannot really believe that this happened, because Isaac Hlatshwayo is a great fighter.”

After claiming the title, Zaveck returned to Slovenia, receiving a hero’s welcome and has since become a celebrity in his native land. “Everybody in Slovenia knows me since I got the title in South Africa,” Zaveck told 15rounds.com. “People in the street all the time stop me to have a talk and ask for a picture. I get lots of invitations for TV, radio and other shows and I can not deny that I go everywhere with pleasure. I am happy that people want to know more about me and my sport.”

While his convincing defeat of Hlatshwayo was considered a major upset by many in boxing, it did not surprise his longtime promoter Ulf Steinforth of Sport Event Steinforth Boxing. “When Jan came to us in Magdeburg we immediately realized he had a lot of potential,” said Steinforth through his executive assistant Nadine Rasche. “I didn’t need to think it over. He continuously improved his performance in lots of fights. Jan is a natural winner who went only straight ahead on his way to the championship.”

The rematch with Jackiewicz (36-8-1, 18 KOs) provides Zaveck with another opportunity to show his improvement as a fighter. Their first fight, which took place in November of 2008, was a split decision scored narrowly for Jackiewicz. It is a result that Zaveck disputes vehemently. “I am sure I was the winner in the first fight,” claims Zaveck. “The decision of the judges was [scandalous].”

There is one major change that may have an effect on the upcoming bout. When they first met, Zaveck made the trip to Jackiewicz’ home country of Poland for the fight. This time around, Zaveck will have his loyal supporters cheering for him ringside at the Sportpark Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia. “I will come off as a winner in this title bout far more clearly,” said Zaveck. “This time I box where my fans are and it makes me unbeatable. It is something very special when I box in my homeland Slovenia. Here reside most of my fans who give me unbelievable enthusiasm. I feel incredibly inspired by this atmosphere.”

With a successful title defense this weekend, many options will loom for Zaveck and his promoter. One fight that would seem logical would be a unification bout with WBA Welterweight kingpin Vyacheslav Senchenko (31-0, 20 KOs) of Donetsk, Ukraine. Considering Senchenko has failed to leave Donetsk for a fight in nearly four years that may be a difficult fight to put together.

Over the years, we have seen several champions emerge from European countries and come over to the United States for either one major fight, or to make an extended campaign. While Steinforth has no outlined plan for such a venture, he is ready to listen to the right offer. “Jan Zaveck is well known throughout Europe and surely will dispute most of his fights here,” explains Steinforth. “This is where his roots are and everybody knows him. Of course if spectacular fights could be staged in USA, we will consider certain offers. Nothing is in store for us in the moment, but we are open for all kind of challenges in the sport.”

Zaveck himself is proud to be considered a world champion, and sounds willing to travel the globe for the right fight. “I am ready to defend my title all over the world,” said Zaveck. “What counts is how attractive are the offers that I receive and which [major] fights are possible.” Should Zaveck turn back the challenge of Jackiewicz, the possibilities at 147-pounds could prove endless.

Photo by Crtomir Goznik/DejanZavec.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA — Immensely popular amateur Muay Thai kickboxing star Jenna Castillo showed her heart as she outwilled and out-skilled tough challenger Tiffany Van Soest in the main event of a fight card featuring mixed martial arts, boxing and amateur kickboxing at the San Mateo County Event Center on Saturday night.

The San Jose, California-based Castillo found herself facing a bit of adversity early in the fight. When she and San Diego, California’s Van Soest got tangled up and fell to the mat, it forced Castillo’s left shoulder to pop out of place. While still on the mat, Castillo, 122, signaled to referee Dan Stell that she was injured. Castillo was brought to the corner to see the ringside doctor and calmly proved she was fit to continue by rolling her shoulder and arm in several directions.

Seconds after the bell to end the first rang, Castillo landed a straight right then left combination. Van Soest, 121.5, simply grinned and it looked like a tough fight may lay ahead for Castillo. The second round featured two-way action and could have been scored either way. Castillo likely stole the round as she capitalized on a wild swing from Van Soest just before the bell. The third was unquestionably Van Soest’s best round, as a quick combination had Castillo holding on briefly.

Van Soest grasp of momentum was completely stripped away in the fourth. Castillo implemented an all out attack on Van Soest’s abdomen, with her knees serving as the main weapon of choice. After a relentless series of knees forced Van Soest across the ring, the referee decided to give her a standing eight count, making it a two-point round for Castillo. Van Soest was physically drained, but was still trying in the fight as the fifth and final round came to a close. In the end, all three judges had the fight for Castillo, with scores of 50-44 and 49-45 twice.

With the victory, Castillo successfully defended her IKF Muay Thai Bantamweight title and earned a spot on the September 11th card to be held at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

MMA


A.J. Fonseca (5-3, 2 KOs, 2 Submissions) of Roseville, California completely dominated Joey De La Cruz (1-2) of Lemoore, California en route to a three-round unanimous decision victory. Fonseca, 141, took control in the second half of the first round and never relinquished his advantage in the fight. De La Cruz, 141, found himself on his back for much of the contest and suffered a badly busted up left eye late in the second round. De La Cruz’ injury was the result of a vicious Fonseca elbow.

The third round of the fight looked much like its predecessor, with Fonseca proving his dominance on that mat. In the end, all three official scorers came to the same conclusion in scoring the bout a 30-27 shutout for Fonseca. The win ends a two-fight skid for the Lemoore resident.

It only took three punches for Tristan Arenal (1-1, 1 KO) of Milpitas, California to end the night of Josue Tirado (1-1) of Fresno, California. Arenal, 155, threw two jabs and a straight right. The second jab stunned Tirado, 155, and the straight right laid him out. It took only 17 seconds, as referee Marcos Rosales did not need administer even the beginnings of a count.

Crowd favorite Phil Baldacci (2-2, 1 KO, 1 Submission) of San Francisco, California did not disappoint his vocal supporters as he ended a one-sided bout with Rene Gabaldon (1-2) of Riverside, California in under two rounds. Baldacci, 145, made just one mistake in the bout, as he got caught by a hook as he went for a takedown early in the first. Baldacci quickly attempted another takedown on Gabaldon, 145, and got it. From that moment, Baldacci controlled the fight.

The first ended with Baldacci reigning down with blows on a flat on his back Gabaldon. Quickly in the second, Baldacci gained the same position and came down with a series of well-placed forearms. Before two long, referee Dan Stell had no choice but to end the one-sided beating at the 1:09 mark of round two.

Moses Lira (2-2, 1 KO) of Oakdale, California spoiled the professional debut of Geoffrey Quares (0-1) of Vallejo, California via second-round submission. Quares, 166, managed to bloody the nose of Lira, 169, early in the fight. However, Lira quickly gained control and by the end of the opening stanza, it was Quares’ face that looked the worse for wear.

Quares landed a couple good hooks early in the second, but eventually found himself falling through the middle ropes onto the ring apron. Soon after the fight resumed, Lira gained control of Quares on the mat and landed several shots before cinching in a rear naked choke for the tapout. Official time of the stoppage was 1:20 of the second round.

Boxing

Making a statement in his professional debut, Juan Hernandez (1-0, 1 KO) of Redwood City, California needed just 22 seconds to halt Seth Keeling (1-1) of Escondido, California. Hernandez, 194, landed a merciless right uppercut that literally lifted Keeling, 192, off the ground. The punch had Keeling out before the left hook that came next expedited his descent to the mat. Somehow Keeling rose on unsteady legs, blood dripping from his mouth and he stumbled into a neutral corner.

Referee Ray Balewicz immediately stopped the fight, which delighted the strong gathering that came out to show their support for Hernandez. The Redwood City resident is a cruiserweight built in the mold of former 200-pound champion Kelvin Davis. Hernandez’ amateur career was highlighted by two California Golden Gloves Regional titles. Keeling, who managed to leave the ring under his own power, had scored a mild upset of Mike Lee (0-1) of Sacramento, California in his debut in March.

Unfortunately for boxing fans in attendance, originally scheduled bouts involving two locally-based prospects were cancelled when suitable opposition was not found in time for the event. Former amateur stars Richard Hargraves (2-0, 2 KOs) of San Francisco and Bruno Escalante Jr. (1-0-1) of San Carlos, California were slated to fill those two spots on the card.

Amateur Kickboxing

In the night’s semi-main event, Skylr Penna of San Francisco retained his IKF Muay Thai North American Super Welterweight title with a unanimous five-round decision over free-swinging Jon Pryor of Sacramento, California. Penna, 147 ½, controlled much of the action in the first, before Pryor, 150, landed a two-punch combination late. Beginning in the second round, Pryor focused on throwing and landing punches and found a fair amount of success with that plan. Penna was much more effective with his legs and knees throughout the bout.

After Pryor, the IKF Muay Thai West Coast Super Welterweight Champion, briefly had his rival in trouble in the third, Penna turned the tide with a vicious series of knees to his abdomen. A right kick from Penna was the most telling blow of the fifth and final round which helped lead to a unanimous 49-46 win for the San Francisco native.

Kristina Alvarez of San Diego claimed the IKF Muay Thai West Coast Super Lightweight title with a four-round unanimous decision over the powerfully built Katie Toliao of Dublin, California. Toliao, 137, used her apparent strength advantage early, as she and Alvarez, 134.5, engaged in a rough inside fight in the first. After a strong opening round for Toliao, Alvarez came out for the second with renewed vigor. After taking some hard knees to the body, Alvarez landed a strong series of hooks out of nowhere to force a standing eight count just before the end of the round.

As rounds three and four continued, Alvarez fought fatigue, but still landed clean hard punches and stunned Toliao at various times. Toliao was only effective at range, where she could touch Alvarez with her kicks. However, Alvarez had little trouble finding her way inside to land her telling blows in the final half of the fight. In the end, all three judges had the fight for the scrappy Alvarez by the scores of 39-35 and 38-37 twice.

In an injury abbreviated bout, Kevin Arceo of San Francisco scored a first-round technical knockout over Sean Ueda of San Diego. Arceo, 149, controlled the fight early, as his knees continually made the midsection of Ueda, 144, home. Very early in the first, both fighters got tangled up near the ropes which led to a left arm injury for Ueda. With Ueda obviously in pain, apparently from a torn left bicep, referee Dan Stell called the fight at 1:43 of round one.

Anthony Gonzalez of Dublin, California scored a three-round unanimous decision over Ryan Mazon of Upland, California. After a back-and-forth opening round, Gonzalez, 143, took control of the fight in the second. After feinting a right kick, Gonzalez dropped Mazon, 144, with a left hook. Mazon regained his composure, but would have a badly bloodied nose by round’s end. Gonzalez maintained control in the third, dropping Mazon with a four-punch combination that ended with a right hand. To his credit, Mazon never stopped trying and pressured Gonzalez late in the final round. In the end, all three judges scored the bout a shutout for Gonzalez, 30-26.

Gary Archuleta of San Diego took a three-round unanimous verdict over Arturas Barkauska of San Francisco. Archuleta, 137, stunned Barkauska, 134.5, with a left hook midway through the first. Barkauska seemed to regain his composure before a looping overhand right dropped him to the mat right at the bell. Barkauska did his best work as the fight came to a close, as he kept Archuleta on the end of this kicks and landed a hard right to end the fight. In the end, Archuleta won over all three judges by the scores of 29-27, 29-28 and 30-36.

In the opening fight of the night, Dereck Leung of San Francisco scored a three-round majority decision over Phil Devera of San Jose. Devera, 136.5, caught Leung, 136.5, with a hard two-punch combination against the ropes early in the fight. However, Leung quickly turned the tide, rocking Devera with a right and dropping him with a left late in the first. Leung rebounded nicely in the second, before the fight turned into a boxing match in the third, as each fighter landed their fair share of shots. One judge had the fight a draw, 28-28, but was overruled by the other two who both had the fight for Leung, 29-27.

Saturday’s event was part of the national “Fight Night to the Mansion” series. Events have taken place at several locations across the United States, all leading to the September 11th date at the Playboy Mansion. At each event, local females serving as ringcard girls compete in hopes of advancing to the Playboy Mansion event next month. The final winner will be featured in an issue of Playboy. Adding additional entertainment value were the Playmate Dancers, led by 2006 Playmate of the Year Kara Monaco. The next “Fight Night to the Mansion” event will be boxing-only and take place at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington on August 28th.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

USBA Light Heavyweight Champion Otis Griffin spoke to 15rounds.com after the Beibut Shumenov-Vyacheslav Uzelkov fight at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California on July 23rd. Griffin, the WBA #10 ranked light heavyweight, gives his take on Shumenov’s WBA title defense and discusses his career and the state of the 175-pound division. Griffin (22-6-2, 9 KOs) recently scored an eighth-round knockout of Byron Mitchell and his headed for an August 28th fight against Billy Bailey.

Watch Otis Griffin Interview with 15rounds.com

LEMOORE, CALIFORNIA — Beibut Shumenov may have only eleven pro fights to his name, but Friday night at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino he strengthened his claim as a title holder at 175-pounds with a dominant twelve-round decision over previously unbeaten mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov.

Shumenov (10-1, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Chimkent, Kazakhstan was making the first defense of the WBA Light Heavyweight title he won in controversial fashion earlier this year. Uzelkov (22-1, 14 KOs) of Vinitza, Ukraine was expected to provide a stern test for the unproven champion. Outside of one punch in the first round, the fight was completely controlled by Shumenov, who also defended his IBA Light Heavyweight title.

Shumenov, 175, outworked Uzelkov, 172, for the first minute-and-a-half of the fight before the Ukrainian unleashed a left hook to score a knockdown. Uzelkov’s greatest moment in the fight may have been to his detriment, because he seemed content looking to land that same punch throughout the remainder of the contest and his success would not be repeated.

Shumenov’s aggression took over the fight in the second round against a completely defensive Uzelkov. Shumenov pressed the fight as Uzelkov covered up and offered little in return. Uzelkov seemed to be looking for the opening to counter with an overhand right, but most times his attempt would miss the mark. Then, just before the end of the third, Uzelkov stood in front of Shumenov after throwing a shot and was met with a straight right hand the sent him to the canvas.

Through the first three rounds, their fight had the potential to turn into a back-and-forth classic. By the end of the fight, the competitive beginning was a distant memory. Shumenov continually placed precision shots, especially to the body, as a reluctant Uzelkov remained in a defensive posture.

The pace slowed in later rounds, as Shumenov was even more selective with his shots and took breaks by clinching or moving. Still, Uzelkov was far too inactive to take any advantage of the lull in Shumenov’s output. In the eighth, Uzelkov turned to taunting Shumeov, as he feinted that the champion’s punches did not hurt. Shumenov quickly landed a solid right uppercut that hurt Uzelkov against the ropes.

Shumenov turned up the heat to start the eleventh before cruising to the decision victory. Scores were deservedly one-sided, reading 117-109 and 118-108 twice for Shumenov. “The first round knockdown was a lucky punch and I improved every round after,” said Shumenov. “My opponent was very good, he was 22-0 and he knocked out my last opponent which shows you how much I have improved in one fight.” When asked who he would like to fight, Shumenov responded, “I want a unification fight.”

According to the WBA, Shumenov must defend his title against his next official challenger within the next nine months, but may make an interim defense. Shumenov’s next mandatory is Gabriel Campillo, the man who he won the title from earlier this year.

Rising super bantamweight contender Rico Ramos (17-0, 9 KOs) of Pico Rivera, California outclassed Cuahtemoc Vargas (15-4-1, 10 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico to score an eight-round unanimous decision. Ramos, the WBO #3/IBF #15 ranked 122-pounder, was too complete a fighter for Vargas to handle.

Ramos, 121, set the tone from the start, flashing his speed and athleticism against the straight-ahead style of Vargas, 121.5. Ramos gave Vargas a moment of hope early in the fourth, as he backed himself into a corner. However, Vargas was tentative to open up offensively and was quickly boxed back into the center of the ring. By the sixth, Ramos began to move Vargas back with some stinging shots. In the end, all three judges scored the fight in favor of Ramos, 79-73 and 80-72 twice. With the victory, Ramos successfully defended his WBO NABO Youth title.

2008 U.S. Olympian Shawn Estrada (7-0, 7 KOs) of East Los Angeles ended a twelve-month layoff, but got only 53 seconds of work against Eddie Hunter (3-4-1, 1 KO) of Kent, Washington. Estrada, 167.2, dropped Hunter, 167.5, with a cuffing punch just a few ticks into the bout. Hunter got up, but was downed twice more inside the first minute, prompting the referee to wave off the fight.

In the opening bout of the evening, Stan Martyniouk (10-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California used his size and range to outbox Jonathan Bobadilla (4-3) of Los Angeles, California over four rounds en route to a unanimous decision. The much taller Martyniouk, 135, kept a busy pace and kept Bobadilla, 134.8, away with his jab. By the fourth round, Bobadilla’s face looked the worse for wear. Scores read 40-36 and 39-37 twice all for Martyniouk, who is penciled in fight on the August 13th undercard of the Chris Arreola-Manuel Quezada fight at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.

In a rematch, Michael Ruiz Jr. (4-0, 1 KO) of Fresno, California scored a dominant six-round unanimous decision over the game as always Juan Tepoz (4-4-1) of Santa Rosa, California. Ruiz Jr., 118, was punishing Tepoz, 120.6, with combinations by the third round. Still, Tepoz refused to back down or turn defensive. Finally, Ruiz broke through Tepoz’ armor with a left hook in the fourth and dropped his durable foe to a knee with the follow-up barrage.

Many fighters would have bowed out of the fight in after rounds like the third and fourth, but Tepoz continued on and tried his best to turn the fight around. Ruiz, a former amateur star, refused let Tepoz back into the fight and closed out the final two rounds by outboxing his adversary. Final tallies read 59-54 and 60-53 twice for Ruiz. Last month, Tepoz dropped Ruiz for the first time in his career, but dropped a unanimous four-round decision. Ruiz is tentatively scheduled to return to the ring on the August 13th card in Ontario.

Ravshan Hudaynazarov (13-0, 11 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Andijan, Uzbekistan remained undefeated with a fifth-round stoppage over Pavel Miranda (16-6-1, 8 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Hudaynazarov, 148.4, applied a punishing inside attack from the onset of the fight. Miranda, 148.2, was able to withstand unrelenting pressure before remaining on his stool before the sixth. Official time was 3:00 of the fifth round.

Gayrat Ahmedov (15-0-1, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Andijan made short work of usually durable Dallas Vargas (22-5, 16 KOs) of Toledo, Ohio in the final fight of the evening. Ahmedov, 174.2, ended the fight with a left to the body of Vargas, 174.4, late in the first round. Official time of the stoppage was 2:43 of the first round. After the fight, Ahmedov, the WBA #9 ranked light heavyweight, grabbed the house microphone and called out Glen Johnson. It is unlikely Johnson will get word of Ahmedov’s request, considering the crowd was fairly scarce by the time the final bout’s winner was declared. Ahmedov and Hudaynazarov are slated to fight November 13th in Kazakhstan.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

LEMOORE, CALIFORNIA — WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Beibut Shumenov will attempt to further legitimize his claim to the 175-pound throne tonight as he takes on mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights emanating from the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. Fighters weighed in Thursday afternoon at the casino’s Den Sports Bar.

Shumenov (9-1, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Chimkent, Kazakhstan claimed the title in just his tenth pro bout with a highly questionable split decision over Gabriel Campillo in January. Last August, Campillo had scored a closely contested majority decision over Shumenov in Kazakhstan. In that bout, a knockdown scored against an off balance Shumenov in large part decided the result.

Despite the controversial scoring in the second Campillo bout, Shumenov did show his heart in surviving a vicious barrage in the ninth to find success in the championship rounds. It is that mentality and ability to persevere that may lead to some exciting fights and should eventually endear him to American fight fans. Shumenov, who will also be defending the IBA title he claimed with a devastating knockout of Byron Mitchell in May of last year, weighed in at 175-pounds.

Uzelkov (22-0, 14 KOs) of Vinitza, Ukraine loomed as the next official challenger while Shumenov and Campillo were battling it out for the WBA title over the course of the last year. The result that jumps off of the page on Uzelkov’s pro ledger is a sixth-round stoppage over a then undefeated Campillo to claim the regional WBA Intercontinental title in 2007. Uzelkov continued to flex his punching power by scoring stoppages in four of his last five fights. Uzelkov, the WBA #2 ranked light heavyweight, weighed in at 172-pounds.

Another factor that could play into how tonight’s card plays out is the weather. The boxing action will take place outdoors in a specially constructed stadium instead of the cozy indoor bingo hall as is the norm. According to Weather.com, it will be 95º in Lemoore at the 6 PM first bell. Add in the bright ESPN2 ring lights and conditions inside the squared circle will likely be less than comfortable. By 8 PM, when the main event is scheduled to begin, the forecast predicts an 89º temperature.

WBO #3/IBF #15 ranked super bantamweight Rico Ramos will appear in the televised co-feature, taking on Cuahtemoc Vargas (15-3-1, 10 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico in an eight-round bout. Ramos (16-0, 9 KOs) of Pico Rivera, California will be defending the WBO NABO Youth title he won late last year. Vargas, a member of the famed fighting family that includes former titleholder Gregorio Vargas, scaled 121.5-pounds, while Ramos came in at 121 even.

Gayrat Ahmedov (14-0-1, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Andijan, Uzbekistan goes against Dallas Vargas (22-4, 16 KOs) of Toledo, Ohio in a ten-round light heavyweight fight. Ahmedov, the WBA #9 ranked light heavyweight, is 2-0 since moving to the United States. Vargas ended a nearly two-year layoff with a third-round kayo of Kevin Engel to score a minor upset in February of last year. However, Vargas, who weighed in at 174.4, has not fought since. Ahmedov, holder of two regional titles not on the line, weighed in at 174.2-pounds.

2008 U.S. Olympian Shawn Estrada (6-0, 6 KOs) of East Los Angeles, California will end a twelve-month layoff by taking on late replacement Eddie Hunter (3-3-1, 1 KO) of Kent, Washington in a four-round super middleweight fight. Estrada’s career has been sidetracked by a hand injury which forced the cancellation of several scheduled bouts over the last year. Hunter, whose three losses came against prospects, weighed in at 167.5-pounds. Estrada, who had been scheduled to fight Alex Armenta, weighed in at 167.2.

Michael Ruiz Jr. (3-0, 1 KO) of Fresno, California will take on Juan Tepoz (4-3-1) of Santa Rosa, California in a bantamweight rematch scheduled for four or six rounds. Ruiz, a decorated former amateur star, got off the deck in the opening round of their first meeting last month to box his way to a four-round unanimous decision. Ruiz, who had been originally scheduled to fight Adrian Aleman, weighed in at 118-pounds, while Tepoz scaled 120.6.

Stan Martyniouk (9-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento, California will meet Jonathan Bobadilla (4-2) of Los Angeles in a lightweight swing bout that may be four or six-rounds depending on the length of the other fights. Martyniouk is coming off of his toughest test to date, as he came off of the canvas in the first round to outbox a determined Brian Ramirez en route to a six-round split decision in May. Bobadilla scored a spilt decision over the same Brian Ramirez back in 2007, but has largely been inactive since. Martyniouk weighed in at 135-pounds, while Bobadilla scaled 134.8.

Welterweight prospect Ravshan Hudaynazarov (12-0, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Andijan will open things up in a step up bout against Pavel Miranda (16-5-1, 8 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico scheduled for eight. Hudaynazarov, who along with the aforementioned Gayrat Ahmedov is promoted by Beibut and Chingis Shumenov’s KZ Event Productions, weighed in at 148.4-pounds. Miranda, who scaled 148.2, has hit a skid, losing four out of his last six and three by stoppage.

Tickets for the event, promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions and KZ Event Productions, are available online at Tickets.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

WBA Light Heavyweight Championship
IBA Light Heavyweight Championship, 12 Rounds
Shumenov 175
Uzelkov 172

WBO NABO Youth Super Bantamweight Championship, 8 Rounds
Ramos 121
Vargas 121.5

Super Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Estrada 167.2
Hunter 167.5

Light Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Ahmedov 174.2
Vargas 174.4

Super Bantamweights, 4 or 6 Rounds
Ruiz, Jr. 118
Tepoz 120.6

Welterweights, 8 Rounds
Hudaynazarov 148.4
Miranda 148.2

Lightweights, 4 or 6 Rounds
Martyniouk 135
Bobadilla 134.8

Photos by Chris Ronquillo/FUNews.net

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

WBA Super Middleweight Champion Andre Ward spoke to 15rounds.com at a gala event at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, Nevada on July 2nd, honoring the centennial anniversary of the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight title fight. Ward (22-0, 13 KOs) recently defeated Allan Green in Group Stage 2 of the Super Six World Boxing Classic and is headed towards a September 25th title defense against his 2004 U.S. Olympic teammate Andre Dirrell.

Watch Andre Ward Interview with 15rounds.com

RENO, NEVADA — In a measured performance, world ranked light flyweight Ulises Solis scored a ten-round unanimous decision win over shop-worn former titlist Eric Ortiz at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino on Saturday night. Their bout headlined a fight card which was part of a celebration weekend, honoring the centennial anniversary of the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight title fight which took place in Reno.

Solis (31-2-2, 21 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico fought far more cautiously than many had expected he would against Ortiz (32-11-3, 21 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. After all, Solis was completely dominant in their first encounter which took place in 2006 and ended in a ninth-round stoppage.

Solis, 113 ½, started out slowly before Ortiz, 114, landed two rights in the second round that seemed to wake up the former IBF Light Flyweight Champion. Solis, currently the IBF #1/WBO #3 ranked 108-pounder, began to assert himself in the third, most notably landing a hard leaping lead left hand.

As the rounds went on, Solis utilized his superior boxing skills and built up a heavy lead on the scorecards. Ortiz could not make his way around Solis’ stiff jab, and thus was a sitting duck on the outside. As the fight moved into the seventh round, Solis began to press the fight as Ortiz began to fade.

Early in the eighth, Solis stunned Ortiz with a left hook, but did not press the issue with an aggressive follow-up attack. Ortiz burst with a quick flash of energy in the ninth and pressed Solis into a corner, where he landed some feather dusting combinations. Ortiz seemed to begin to lose his legs as he leaned on Solis moments later. With Ortiz already falling over, Solis gave him a shove that accelerated his fall to the mat. For that action, referee Jay Nady deducted a point from Solis.

The shoving incident proved to be an indication that Ortiz was deteriorating in the fight. Moments later, Solis landed a quick jab, overhand right combination that forced Ortiz to touch his right glove to the mat to score a knockdown and negate the point deduction. Ortiz would make it out of the round, but another right would result in another knockdown for Solis in the tenth. Ortiz, who outperformed expectations based on his recent performances, proved game until the end as he continued to come forward until the final bell.

In the end, Solis earned the nod in lopsided fashion by the scores of 99-88 and 98-89 twice. Solis is the mandatory challenger for the IBF Light Flyweight title currently held by Luis Lazarte. However, Lazarte already has a defense scheduled for September 4th against Carlos Tamara. Instead of sitting on the shelf waiting for his mandatory to be enforced, Solis took the calculated risk of fighting Ortiz. “He had everything to win, and I had everything to lose,” said Solis after the fight. “But I feel I showed I am a world class fighter. The meaning on this fight was to get ready for the next title, and not waste any time.” Solis’ next fight will likely be against the winner of Lazarte-Tamara, although Omar Nino, holder of the WBC version of the title, is another possibility.

In the co-feature, welterweight hopeful Mark Jason Melligen (19-2, 13 KOs) of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines scored a ten-round unanimous decision over Anges Adjaho (25-3, 14 KOs) of Geneva, New York by way of Cotonou, Benin. Adjaho, the IBF #9 ranked contender at lightweight, fought well down the stretch, but was not active enough in the early rounds to win any favor with the official scorers.

Melligen, 147, landed well to the body of Adjaho, 146 ½, at times early in the fight. However, it was when Melligen would wow the crowd with his attack on Adjaho’s midsection, that the Benin-born contender would wake out of his defensive posture and mount an offense of his own. Far too often though, Adjaho would cover up and wait for Melligen to stop throwing before attempting a punch of his own.

Adjaho came out of his shell some in the sixth, landing first for a change and buzzing Melligen with at least one shot mid-round. Melligen turned the tide late in the stanza, as he backed Adjaho up just before the bell. After a nondescript seventh, Adjaho controlled most of the eighth before Melligen landed a quick flurry to close the round.

Adjaho continued to press a tiring Melligen in the ninth. Each had their moments in the round, but the flow seemed to favor Adjaho. After a tenth round in which both fighters seemed to have little left in the tank, all three judges scored the fight rather widely for Melligen. Scores read 99-91, 98-92 and 97-73.

Melligen had been pegged to fight Michel Rosales Saturday, the last man to defeat him. However Rosales opted to take a fight in Mexico for a minor light middleweight title, and bowed out of the planned rematch. “I would like to fight Rosales,” said Melligen after the fight. “I accept my loss, but if Rosales would like to rematch me I will fight him.” Melligen stated he has tentative plans to return to the ring in August.

Joey Gilbert (20-2, 15 KOs) of Reno continued his rise back into contention with an eight-round unanimous decision win over the always tough Billy Bailey (10-9, 4 KOs) of Bakersfield, California.

Gilbert, 172, utilized an excellent body attack in round one, but the telling blows, especially upstairs, were landed by Bailey. Gilbert fell back on his boxing skills in round two, far outworking Bailey, 173, and landing best with hooks to the body. Gilbert started out on his toes in round three, and found success by landing potshots and getting out of range. Inexplicably, late in the round Gilbert allowed himself to get into a heated, flat-footed exchange with Bailey. Both landed their share of punches, but more importantly Gilbert was giving Bailey the one shot he had in the fight.

Gilbert regained control of the fight in round four, as he was again busier than the onrushing Bailey, and landed the stiffer blows for the first time in the fight. Round five featured some excellent two-way action, but it was Gilbert that landed in combination, while Bailey’s shots were usually one at a time. Again in the sixth, Bailey landed the cleanest punch in the round, but allowed Gilbert to outwork him for the majority of the three minutes.

Gilbert punctuated a seventh in which he outboxed Bailey again with several hard rights to the body, one after another. Throughout the fight, Bailey had just missed with several swings at Gilbert’s chin. As the bell rung to open the eighth, it was clear Bailey would need to do something dramatic to win the fight. A now bloodied Gilbert gave Bailey the opportunity again, as the two stood in the red corner and unloaded to close the fight. In the end, all three judges had the fight for Gilbert by the scores of 80-72 and 79-73 twice.

In the opening fight of the night, 2008 Mexican Olympian Francisco Vargas (2-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California by way of Mexico City scored a four-round decision over the game Juan Sandoval (1-4, 1 KO) of San Bernardino, California. Sandoval, 132, came to fight, but did not have the skill set to match the former amateur star. Vargas, 130, went all out in the fourth, landing several cracking blows against the defensive Sandoval. All three judges scored the bout a shutout in favor of Vargas, by the scores of 40-35 and 40-36 twice.

Carlos Gaytan (2-0-1, 2 KOs) of Reno pounded Alex Rivera (2-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada en route to a second-round stoppage victory. Gaytan, 169, was the aggressor from the outset. Rivera, 168, was often in retreat, but was able to take several head shots without going down. Unable to put a dent into Rivera with punches to his head, Gaytan stuck a left hook to his body that downed the Las Vegas resident, forcing him into submission on the mat. Official time of the knockout was 1:33 of round two.

In the final walkout bout, Khadaphi Proctor (5-5-1) of Hesperia, California evened up his journeyman record with a hard-fought six-round split decision over John Figueroa (7-6-3, 3 KOs) of Salinas, Puerto Rico. Figueroa, 137, started out well as he rocked Proctor, 138, with a looping overhand right halfway through the first round. As the fight progressed, Proctor slowly began to seize control of the fight. In the end, one judge had the fight for Figueroa, 58-56. That tally was overruled by scores of 60-54 and 59-55 for Proctor.

Let’s Get It On Promotions will bring fight action back to Northern Nevada on August 28th at the Churchill County Fairgrounds in Fallon. USBA Light Heavyweight Champion Otis Griffin is expected to be part of a card that will feature both boxing and mixed martial arts.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

RENO, NEVADA — In a rematch of former 108-pound titlists, Ulises Solis will take on Eric Ortiz in the ten-round main attraction at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino tonight. The event will be televised live by Fox Sports en Espanol and air on tape delay on Fox Sports Net affiliates nationwide. Saturday’s fight card is part of a centennial celebration weekend honoring the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight Championship fight, which took place in Reno on July 4th exactly 100 years ago. Fighters from tonight’s card weighed in Friday afternoon at the casino’s Xtreme Sports Bar & Lounge.

Solis (30-2-2, 21 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico will fight Ortiz (32-10-3, 21 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico in a bout held just about the 112-pound light flyweight limit. Their first meeting took place in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 2006. Solis, making the first defense of the IBF title at the time, outboxed Ortiz and bloodied him in the middle rounds. With a little over a minute left in the ninth, Solis landed a sweeping left hook that dropped Ortiz flat on his back. Ortiz gamely rose to his feet, but was downed again by right hand, which was followed by a grazing left hook. Ortiz watched the count and got to his feet again, but referee Jesus Salcedo wisely stopped the fight.

Ortiz peaked with a surprising upset of Jose Antonio Aguirre by seventh-round stoppage to claim the WBC Light Flyweight title in March 2005. However, just six months later Ortiz would drop the belt to Brian Viloria via devastating first-round kayo. Six months after that came the loss to Solis for the IBF strap. Outside of a couple upsets over largely unproven prospects, Ortiz has lost when he has fought against quality opposition in the years since.

Solis, currently the IBF #1/WBO #3 ranked 108-pounder, is taking a calculated risk by even stepping into the ring tonight. In his last time out, Solis gained mandatory contender status for the IBF title currently held by Argentinean Luis Lazarate. However, Lazarate has a September title defense against Carlos Tamara already scheduled, so it was important for Solis to land an interim fight. Appearing quite friendly at the scales, Solis weighed in at 113 ½, while Ortiz scaled 114-pounds on Friday afternoon.

In the televised co-feature, welterweight Mark Jason Melligen (18-2, 13 KOs) of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines will look to continue to rehabilitate his prospect status against IBF #9 ranked lightweight contender Anges Adjaho (25-2, 14 KOs) of Geneva, New York by way of Cotonou, Benin in a ten-round bout.

Melligen originally was tabbed to fight the last man to defeat him, Mexican Michel Rosales. The fight was scrapped when Rosales opted to take a bout in Mexico for a minor title on June 26th in lieu of the rematch with Melligen. “He is plain scared to face me again,” said Melligen in reference to Rosales’ late pull out. While Adjaho has never before fought a legitimate welterweight, he also has only lost to two high caliber opponents. With a clear cut win over Adjaho, Melligen would undoubtedly improve his standing in regards to world rankings with the major sanctioning bodies. Melligen weighed in at 147-pounds, while Adjaho 146 ½ on Friday.

Drawing interest from local fight aficionados, former world ranked contender Joey Gilbert (19-2, 15 KOs) of Reno will look to take another step back towards contention against the always tough Billy Bailey (10-8, 4 KOs) of Bakersfield, California in an eight-round light heavyweight bout. Gilbert is coming in off of two consecutive stoppage victories since his February 2009 decision defeat to local rival Jesse Brinkley. Prior to a suspension in 2007, Gilbert had been ranked in the top ten by both the WBC and WBO at 160-pounds.

While Gilbert has been campaigning at super middleweight, in Bailey he will meet a more natural 175-pounder. Bailey fought just two weeks ago, losing a disputed eight-round decision to hyped prospect Mark Tucker on the Andre Ward-Allan Green undercard in Oakland, California. Bailey has had an up-and-down career, fighting mostly in his opponents’ backyards. However, Bailey has been stopped just once, and more than a few of his losses have been questionable decisions. Their fight, scheduled to be the second of the night, could be the show-stealer. Gilbert weighed in at 172-pounds, while Bailey came in at the contract limit of 173.

In the opening fight of the night, 2008 Mexican Olympian Francisco Vargas (1-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California by way of Mexico City will take on Juan Sandoval (1-3, 1 KO) of San Bernardino, California in a four-round super featherweight fight. Vargas, who turned pro with a fourth-round knockout in March, weighed in at 130-pounds. Sandoval, who took the fight on short notice, replacing the originally scheduled Andrew Rempp, weighed in two pounds over at 132. Originally Vargas’ trainer had asked Sandoval to lose a pound, but he was later convinced to allow the additional weight.

Carlos Gaytan (1-0-1, 1 KO) of Reno will take on the heavily tattooed Alex Rivera (2-1, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada in a four-round super middleweight bout. Gaytan, who scored a brutal knockout over Jack Montgomery in his debut at the Grand Sierra earlier this year, weighed in at 169-pounds. Rivera, coming off of his first-career defeat in February, scaled 168-pounds.

In a pairing of journeyman light welterweights, Khadaphi Proctor (4-5-1) of Hesperia, California will take on John Figueroa (7-5-3, 3 KOs) of Salinas, Puerto Rico in a bout that may be six or four-rounds depending on the length of the televised fights. Proctor, who scaled 138-pounds, has dropped three straight, albeit to touted prospects. Figueroa, who weighed in at 137-pounds, ended a three-fight skid with a decision victory in April.

The weekend celebration of Johnson-Jeffries began Friday night with a gala held at the casino’s Grand Theatre where the fight card will be held tonight. Johnson’s great niece, Linda Haywood, stole the show with an emotional story about how the 1910 fight has affected her family. Author Wayne Rozen recounted the lead-up, aftermath and actual fight with a detailed multimedia presentation. Several events will take place this morning as well as Sunday, for more information visit JohnsonJeffries2010.com. Tickets for the tonight’s live boxing event, promoted by Let’s Get It On Promotions and Top Rank, are available online at GrandSierraResort.com.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Flyweights, 10 Rounds
Solis 113 ½
Ortiz 114

Welterweights, 10 Rounds
Melligen 147
Adjaho 146 ½

Light Heavyweights, 8 Rounds
Gilbert 172
Bailey 173

Super Featherweights, 4 Rounds
Vargas 130
Sandoval 132

Super Middleweights, 4 Rounds
Gaytan 169
Rivera 168

Light Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Proctor 138
Figueroa 137

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

Sunday, July 4th marks the 100th anniversary of the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight title fight. In the history of our sport, perhaps only the 1938 Joe Louis-Max Schmeling rematch surpasses the bout in terms of historical significance. Johnson was the controversial first black heavyweight champion, having defeated Tommy Burns in Australia less than two years prior. Spearheaded by famed writer Jack London, racially-motivated calls rang out from all over the country for the former champion Jeffries, retired since 1904, to return to the ring and unseat Johnson.

Promoter Tex Rickard had hoped to place the fight in Jeffries’ hometown of San Francisco, California, but the controversial nature of the fight and the sport of boxing in general at the time forced it out of the state. Rickard quickly found Reno, Nevada to be an excellent fit, as many east-west railroads met in the city. Rickard had a specially constructed stadium erected to host the fight, which would be known as the ‘Fight of the Century.’

July 4, 1910, less than 50 years since the end of the Civil War, Johnson would take on “The Great White Hope” in a bout scheduled for 45 rounds. Where the United States stood racially at the time, made the fight much bigger than boxing. That much goes without saying. However, it is interesting to note that the fight would have been significant under any circumstances. Well into the late 1960’s, Nat Fleischer would rank Jack Johnson as the greatest heavyweight champion of all-time. Fleischer, co-founder of The Ring Magazine in 1922 and its editor-in-chief until he passed away in 1972, rated him ahead of Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and the early reign of Muhammad Ali. Who did Fleischer rank second behind Johnson? James J. Jeffries.

The fight itself would end brutally one-sided. The time away from the ring had eroded Jeffries, who according to some reports had ballooned up to 300-pounds in his retirement. Johnson, in his physical prime, would pound away on the would-be white man’s hero for fifteen rounds before dropping him twice, the first two knockdowns of Jeffries’ career. According to some sources, it would be former champion James J. Corbett, who had been shouting back-and-forth with Johnson all fight, that would order Rickard, acting as the referee, to stop the fight.

With the press fanning the flames with their coverage of the bout, race riots would break out all over the country over the result. It would be Jeffries final bout. Johnson would go on to defend his title just once more in the U.S., before being convicted of violating the Mann Act, or “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes.” Johnson was convicted even though the instances which prompted the charges took place before the Mann Act went into effect. Johnson was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, but skipped out on bail and left the country.

After two defenses in France, and a non-title bout in Argentina, an aging Johnson would lose the title to Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba. Johnson fought on for four years, in Spain and Mexico, before returning to the U.S. and turning himself in on July 1920. Johnson was imprisoned until July 9, 1921.

Johnson returned to the ring nearly two years after his release, fighting into his fifties. Johnson, known to drive at high speeds, died on June 10, 1946 in a car crash in North Carolina. Johnson was reportedly headed to New York to witness Joe Louis, the next black fighter to fight for and claim the heavyweight title, defend his laurels against Billy Conn.

In recent years several attempts have been made to exonerate Johnson of his violation of the Mann Act. Most recently, in April of 2009, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Representative Peter King of New York appealed to President Barack Obama for a posthumous pardon for Johnson. However last December, the U.S. Justice Department recommended against the pardon, as Justice Department pardon attorney Ronald Rodgers wrote King a letter which stated it is general policy not to process posthumous pardon cases for the reason that pardon resources “are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request.” President Obama has not made a public comment on the matter.

Reno-based promoters Terry and Tommy Lane of Let’s Get It On Promotions have organized a centennial celebration weekend to honor a monumental event in both the history of boxing and our country, Jack Johnson vs. James J. Jeffries. It had been the original hope that the weekend would celebrate the pardon of Johnson, as well as commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fight.

In any event, the jam-packed weekend begins this Friday with a gala hosted by boxing commentators Al Bernstein and Rich Marotta. Beginning Saturday morning, several discussions will be held by noted authors and journalists, leading in to a live boxing event held at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, headlined by former IBF Light Flyweight Champion Ulises Solis and televised by Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports en Espanol. On Sunday, an honorary ten-count will take place using the original ring bell at the original fight site.

For more information on the series of events, visit JohnsonJeffries2010.com.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Andre Ward continued to prove why he is the class of the super middleweight division as he completely schooled Allan Green over twelve rounds before 8,797 at the Oracle Arena in the most one-sided fight of the Super Six World Boxing Classic thus far.

Green (29-2, 20 KOs) of Tulsa, Oklahoma claimed in the build-up to their fight that he understood jive, and that was the reason why he would do what Mikkel Kessler could not – defeat Andre Ward. That statement proved to be completely false as Green had no answers for anything Ward did inside the ring on Saturday night.

Ward (21-0, 13 KOs) of Oakland began to exact his dominance in the third, as he pressed Green to the ropes and kept him there. Ward remained in Green’s face, as he found success with his uppercut with the Tulsa native’s back against the ropes. Ward, 167 ¾, continued to do excellent work as the third round continued. Green, refusing to move away from the ropes, was hit by everything in Ward’s varied attack, including a clean right hook, body shots and the uppercut.

The fourth round looked like much the third, as Ward continued to prove to be an adept inside fighter. Ward began the fifth fighting at long range seemingly to just show that he could dominate at that distance just as much as he had done at close quarters the previous stanza. A brief exchange late in the round would give great insight to Ward’s superiority over Green. A right landed for Ward, he then blocked Green’s retort and landed a clean counter to close the round. If Green, 166, could not compete effectively on the outside, he had no shot in the fight.

Green resorted to holding for much of the sixth, especially after Ward got him in trouble early in the frame. Ward opened up a bit with Green against the ropes again, landing a clean left hook to close the round. Green was clearly a beaten and dejected fighter as he sat down on his stool before the seventh.

By the seventh round, the lead right hand thrown at long range had become a lethal weapon for Ward. The Oakland native began to utilize feints to find openings for clean blows throughout the middle rounds. Green looked completely lost, with his will to make the fight apparently depleted. With Green in survival mode, Ward picked his shots as the fight progressed.

As the fight wound down, Green would get caught clean at times, often while he looked to tie up Ward. The only question that remained was whether or not Ward would rally to score the knockout, or if Green would hang on until the final bell. To Green’s credit, he did not take the easy way out, and made it to the final bell. As the fight concluded, Oakland celebrated as their fighting son soaked in the adulation. Scores revealed the fight to be a shutout, as judges Glenn Feldman, Marty Sammon and Alfredo Polanco unanimously scored the bout 120-108 for Ward.

Somewhat expectedly Green gave Ward credit for the win, but found an excuse to justify the one-sided defeat. “Ward fought a hell of a fight,” said Green in the immediate aftermath. “I came in at 166, which was a little lower than I expected, and I feel it sapped me. I felt extremely weak. I trained hard, but I don’t feel I did it effectively.”

Despite failing to win a single round against Ward tonight, Green will fight Mikkel Kessler for his WBC Super Middleweight title later this year in Group Stage 3 of the Super Six tournament. At a press conference last month, Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter had stated his belief that Green would go on to defeat Kessler in the next stage, but tonight’s fight seemed to curb those feelings.

“If he can make the adjustments, he’s got a style that can be successful for him against Kessler,” Hunter said. “But if he comes in like he did tonight, I think Kessler is going to cut right through him. Because of the type of fighter Kessler is. But Kessler will put himself at risk, so Allan Green does have a puncher’s chance.”

Ward had a conversation with Green after the fight that offers some insight on that Group Stage 3 match-up. “Before this fight, I liked Allan Green [to beat Kessler,]” said Ward. “But he revealed some things to me after the fight, about his weight, how he needs to go up to 175- and how he felt flat. I told him, ‘if you train smart and get the weight off smart I think you can beat Kessler and go get the belt.’ But he kind of seemed out of it, and he was like ‘yeah, well, I don’t know.’ So if that weight is that big of a deal, I would have to lean towards Kessler.”

“But if he can regroup and get the weight off the right way and still be strong, I think he has a bit more than Kessler,” said Ward, who could have a bright career has an analyst later on in life. “But he has got to prove it. You have got to stop the talk and you have got to be able to prove you can compete at this level. Kessler has proved it, he has not yet.”

Perhaps the most anticipated Group Stage 3 pairing will be Ward’s title defense against his former 2004 U.S. Olympic teammate and close friend Andre Dirrell. No fight to take place in the tournament thus far has a deeper back-story. If you have been following the Fight Camp 360° documentary series on Showtime, then you have seen them root for one another every step of the way. It was apparent at the post-fight press conference that Ward does have mixed feelings about the bout.

“It will be difficult to fight Andre Dirrell in the upcoming fight, but I am going to put that aside for now,” said Ward. “We have got to find a way to get it done. But I have never experienced it before, so I can’t really say how I am going to feel. We have just got to find a way to get it done.”

Many fight pundits have expressed concerns regarding the unnerving end to Dirrell’s disqualification victory over Arthur Abraham in Group Stage 2 in March. Dirrell, who was defenseless after having slipped to a knee, was hit by a devastating blow from Abraham. In the moments that immediately followed, Dirrell was incoherent and inconsolable. Ward believes that his good friend is in fine health, and that scary scene will have no bearing on their fight.

“I think he is ok,” stated Ward. “I think it looked bad, but I think a lot of people are a little too worried about it. It was a concussive kind of shot, but I don’t think it was a career-ending shot or anything like that. I think he is fine, he is still silly as ever. He is still Andre to me, so I don’t think it is a problem.”

Win or lose against Dirrell later this year, Andre Ward has clinched his place in the semi-finals of the Super Six with the four points he has earned after two fights. Having scored the tournament’s only knockout, Abraham is sitting pretty with three points, while the rest of the field will be fighting for their tournament existence in the third stage. What is most clear after tonight, Andre Ward is the man to beat.

Junior welterweight Steve Upsher Chambers (22-1-1, 6 KOs) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania remained undefeated as he boxed his way to a unanimous eight-round decision over Hector Alatorre (16-10, 5 KOs) of Tulare, California in the last fight before the main event.

Chambers, 144, was cut in the third round by what was ruled an accidental head clash, but failed to allow that to bother him at anytime in the bout. Alatorre, 142 ½, hit the canvas in the fourth, possibly from a left hand, however referee Dan Stell ruled that it was slip. It was not clear from ringside what caused Alatorre to go down, but soon after the Tulare resident was clearly stunned. Chambers pressed Alatorre the rest of the round, but was unable to fully capitalize on the moment.

As the fourth round came to a close, it looked as though Chambers may score his seventh stoppage, but the Philly fighter let off the gas pedal and cruised to the decision the rest of the way. Alatorre failed to threaten at any point and was unable to solve the puzzle of the smooth-boxing Chambers. Judge Kermit Bayless scored the fight a shutout, 80-72, while Marshall Walker and Jon Schorle both had it 79-73.

Tough luck light heavyweight Billy Bailey (10-8, 4 KOs) of Bakersfield, California rocked unbeaten prospect Mark Tucker (14-0, 7 KOs) of Eldersburg, Maryland several times over eight rounds, but failed to win over the judges who scored the fight unanimously for his DiBella Entertainment-promoted opponent.

Bailey, 175, got off to a great start, as he rocked Tucker, 175, with a couple clubbing overhand rights to close round one. As the fight progressed, Bailey would get outworked by the jab-and-move style of Tucker for stretches, but then clearly land the harder shots. Tucker found his rhythm in round four, the one round that was clearly his. The pace slowed in the next two rounds which favored the boxer Tucker.

Bailey regained control of the fight in the seventh as he landed a solid combination that buckled Tucker’s knees late in the round. Tucker resulted to clutching the onrushing Bailey and even ducked his head out of the top rope to avoid shots in several instances. The eighth looked much like the final minute of the seventh, as Bailey chased down a wobbly Tucker looking to land the one punch he needed to score a knockdown. Unfortunately for Bailey, Tucker managed to grapple and move enough to avoid a potentially fight-ending blow.

Judges Marshall Walker and Jon Schorle both scored the bout 77-75, while Judge Kermit Bayless had the fight a puzzling 78-74 for Tucker. The official scores read by the ring announcer were vehemently booed by the crowd on hand. With the victory, Tucker claimed the inaugural WBO NABO Youth Light Heavyweight title.

Fight fans that made their way to the arena promptly at the five o’clock start time were treated to an entertaining four-round slugfest as Alexander Podrezov (2-0) of Los Angeles, California by way of Sukhumi, Abkhazi scored a four-round majority decision over game journeyman John Dunham (1-6-1) of Stockton, California. Outside of a dominant third round, Podrezov, 144, was pushed in every frame by the free-swinging Dunham, 142. In the end Judge Marshall Walker had the fight even, 38-38, but was overruled by the scores of Jon Schorle and Kermit Bayless, who had the fight 39-37 for Podrezov.

In the first of two walkout bouts, former amateur star Michael Ruiz Jr. (3-0, 1 KO) of Fresno, California survived the first scare of his professional career, coming off of the canvas to score a four-round unanimous decision over Juan Tepoz (4-3-1) of Santa Rosa, California. Pacheco, 118, came right at Ruiz, 117 ½, eventually landing a right hand to down him in the first round. Ruiz, likely a bit shaken by the blow, got up quick and made it to the bell. As the fight went on, Ruiz began to flash his superior boxing skills, landing his cleanest shots after countering the aggressive Tepoz. After a fourth round that clearly favored the Fresno native, all three judges, Kermit Bayless, Jon Schorle and Marshall Walker, had the fight for Ruiz by the score of 38-37.

In the final fight of the evening, welterweight prospect Willie Nelson (14-0-1, 8 KOs) of Cleveland, Ohio scored a first-round stoppage over faded former title challenger Jesse Feliciano (15-10-3, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada. Nelson, 148, came right at Feliciano, 149, who was all too willing to engage. Nelson, who is Paul Williams-like in size, quickly landed a left jab, straight right combination to down Feliciano. The always game Feliciano got up to his feet, but was not on sturdy legs. Nelson moved in and landed a flashy combination that prompted referee Dan Stell to stop the fight at the mark of 1:23 of the first. Nelson was a replacement for former 140-pound titlist Kendall Holt, who decided he needed more time before launching his comeback at welterweight. For Feliciano, a loser of five straight bouts against high caliber competition, it appears time to call it career.

Photo by Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at [email protected].