?SEASON?S BEATINGS? USHERS THE HOLIDAYS
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 22 Dec 2008
Inglewood, CA:- Kahren Hutyunyan, the CEO of Art of Boxing Promotions promised everyone that his third fight card for the year 2008 will be the best ever.
Of course, he delivered!
Tonight, at the Casino located alongside the race track known as the Hollywood Park in this city by the LAX, Harutyunyan held his final 2008 event to usher in the Holidays.
And what an event it turned out to be. Indeed, it was season?s beatings!
The 11-bout fight card started slow but from there it simply exploded.
Wildcard Gym trained Khabir Suleymanov (6-0-0, 2KO) started the night with a lazy four round UD over Lante Addy (6-3-0.4KO)of Ghana. The scores were 38-38, 39-37 and 40-36.
Then hell broke lose.
Light heavyweight Ismayl Sillakh (6-0-0, 5KO) kept his score sheet immaculate with a 2nd round stoppage of Jose Corral (6-9-0.3KO) Referee Wayne Hedgepeth stopped the contest as Corral was being beaten up and there was no chance for him to win over his better opponent.
Glendale?s Gabriel ?Gapo? Tolmajyan (5-1-0,2KO) then followed suit with a 2nd round stoppage of Sacramento?s Andre Kim (2-3-0-1KO) in a super featherweight battle between two California sluggers. Time was 1:46 of the round.
Heavyweight Lateef Kayode (5-0-0, 4KO) then continued the knockouts for the night.
He knocked down Ethan Cox (2-4-1.1K0) twice in round 2. After the second KD, referee Jack Weiss did not even bother to count and declared the fight as over.
The evening then got better.
Two light heavyweights both making their debut provided the spectacle. Joe Schilling scored a lightning quick 5-second knockout of Orlando Brizzo. As soon as the first bell rung, Brizzo rushed rapidly towards Schilling with arms cock and ready to punch but his face was widely unprotected. Schilling threw on shot as soon as Brizzo was on range. The right cross landed right smack at the point of the chin of Brizzo sending sprawling to the canvas. Fight over!
It took the corner and the medical crew a few minutes to revive Brizzo. Thankfully, he was all right and none-the-worse for the experience.
Freddie Roach then came back to the ring. This time he had with him his Irish prot?g?, Dean Byrne. (10-0-0-4KO). Byrne, a welterweight knocked down Francisco Rios Gil (6-9-0, 5KO) in the third with a flurry of punches. On the next round, Byrne pin down Rios on the red corner and was freely hitting him with power shots. A giant right cross from Byrne wobble Rios prompting referee Wayne Hedgepeth to step in and cut the bout short to avoid further punishment of Rios. Time was 1:11 of the 4th round.
Following the successive knock-outs, Vardan (Vito)Gasparian, (11-1-4, 5KO) a fast rising Armenian-American slugger from Glendale took the square ring against a welterweight from Mexico, Octavio Narvaez.(7-6-1, 4KO). The fight was a close 6 round slam-bang affair. Pundits alongside the ring indicated that Gasparian was awarded a UD simply because he was more aggressive and willing to exchange leather. He landed the more powerful shots too. Scores were 59-55, 59-55 and 60-54.
Then came a fight between two young rising junior middleweights, Antonio Johnson (7-0-1,3KO) and a fighter whose name sounded more that of a singer than a boxer, Willie Nelson. The joke on the ringside apron amongst the photographers was: - ?Hey times are hard and there ain?t nothing wrong for a singer to fight?. But, Nelson was not really the guy who made the song ?To all the girls I loved before? popular. He was indeed a boxer and not a singer.
Nelson( 10-0-1,6KO) gave a good account of himself and was in fact doing great in the early rounds. However, as the six-round fight progressed, he got tired allowing Johnson to catch up and the fight ended up as a split draw. Scores were 58-56 for Nelson, 59-55 for Johnson and the third judge calling it as a 57-57 draw.
The boys in action.
Top photo: Lateef Kayode (white and green stripes) and Ethan Cox.
Sulaynanov (white trunks) and Lante Addy.
Ismayl Sillakh (red trunks) and Jose Corral.
Gabe Tolmajyan (white trunks) and Andre Kim.
Orlando Brizzo dives to the canvas.
Williue Nelson (white and red trunks) and Antonio Johnson.
Following the Nelson-Johnson affair, the main event was held. It was a fight between two former champions, Roman Karmazin (37-3-1, 23KO) the former IBF champ and Bronco McKart (51-9-1,31KO), the former IBF Light Middleweight champion.
For the two aging fighter, the fight could be their last chance for another title shot. Karmazin is 36 years old and McKart is 37.
Karmazin won the fight via a wide unanimous decision. The scores were 117-111,118-110 and 119-109. With the win, Karmazin won the IBF Intercontinental and NABF Midlleweight titles.
Two swing bouts followed the main event. In the first one, Middleweight David Medina (20-2-0-,10KO) beat a journeyman, Dan Wallace (9-8-0-3KO) via a 6-round UD. Scores were 58-56,59-55 and 59-55.
The second swing bout was between Vitali Demyanenko (16-0-0-, 11KO) and Marteze Logan ( 26-35-2, 6KO). Demyanenko knocked down Logan in the third round. Logan then pulled an Oscar de la Hoya stunt. He stayed on his stool and did not come out for the fourth round.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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