Ahunanya & Lewis Fight to Draw!
Soto Stops Figueroa!

Ringside reports by Bobby Mundy and Mike Oliver
 photos by chris cozzone

by Bobby Mundy

DSC_4353In the main event at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, heavyweights Friday "the 13th" Ahunanya(17-1-1, 9KOs) and Terrence "KO" Lewis (31-12-1,21KOs) fought  to a controversial draw in front of a sell-out crowd. All three judges felt each fighter won 5 rounds each, but most of the ringside observers felt Terrence Lewis won the contest.

Ahunanya of Las Vegas entered the ring with the local crowd behind him, but he did not put on the spectacular show that Las Vegas locals demand. Terrence Lewis landed the cleaner shots throughout the bout and had little opposition from Ahunanya who was not very active at all. In the first two rounds, Ahunanya used effective aggression to back Lewis onto the ropes and smothered most of Lewis' punches. In those rounds, Lewis did not land enough heavy shots to keep Ahunanya at bay. But from the 3rd round on, Lewis began to throw and land looping right hands that occasionally landed and kept Friday defensive for the rest of the fight. Friday did not put up any offense to keep Lewis from throwing those wild shots. DSC_4305Friday's punch output had his punches landed in the single digits. Lewis' punches landed was not much higher, however he definitely landed the cleaner shots throughout the fight. The crowd got very restless with the two heavyweights for not throwing many punches, especially since they were treated to some exciting action on the undercard bouts.

Fightnews scored the bout 97-93 for Lewis, winning 7 of the last 8 rounds.

Soto Stops Figueroa!

by Mike Oliver

DSC_4200In a ten round featherweight fight, Humberto Soto from Los Mochis, MX. scored a seventh round TKO over tough Cesar Figueroa from Mexico City, Mexico.

The fighters began Round One, cautious, trying to figure out each other's styles. Soto picked up the pace in the 2nd, finding his range with a sharp, quick jab. Soto would be content to carry the round with his jab and movement while Figueroa stalked after Soto looking to land a big power shot.

In round three it appeared that Figueroa was beginning to figure out Soto's style. Figueroa would land a left hook followed by a right hand that would buckle Soto into a neutral corner. Figueroa would follow that combination with a crisp left hook that Soto countered with his own left uppercut. Figueroa would end the round by landing two hard straight rights to the head of Soto. Figueroa would keep up the pressure in round four with another left uppercut followed by a crunching straight right hand. Soto would absorb the punishment and then change the momentum of the fight back in his favor with a sneaky left hook that sent Figueroa to the seat of his pants in a neutral corner. Figueroa would beat the count and then dance his way out of trouble to survive the round.

Round five would see the fighters reverse roles as Soto became the aggressor and began to stalk Figueroa. The fighters would exchange right hands to open the round and it appeared that Figueroa had regained his senses as the round came to a close. Figueroa would take the fight below the belt in round seven as he landed two low blows in the opening minute of the round. The fighters would close out the round with a solid toe to toe exchange. Figueroa would become the aggressor to open round eight as continued the body work he started in round seven in hopes of slowing Soto down. With his head down and working the body Figueroa was caught off guard by Soto who landed back to back left uppercuts. The uppercuts immediately took the legs out of Figueroa. Soto followed up the work with a left hook that pinned Figueroa into a corner. Soto would then tee off with a couple of straight right hands against a defenseless Figueroa prompting referee Joe Cortez to step in at 2:36 of the seventh round. The victory improves Soto's record to 26-5-2, with 15 KO's and Figueroa slips to 23-2-2, 16 KO's.

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DSC_4277Cooper Stops Muruyama

(by Bobby Mundy) The pride of Las Vegas Melinda Cooper (7-0, 4Kos) scored a 2nd round TKO as she stopped the very game Reiko Maruyama (2-3,0KOs)of Nagano, Japan. Melinda began the fight the way she always does, immediately attacking Reiko with sharp jabs and impressive three and four punch combinations. She had Reiko backing up the entire fight as Reiko found it difficult to get set at all. Reiko, however, did fight back the entire bout and stood toe to toe with Melinda. However, 1:45 into the 2nd round, Melinda landed a good right hand to the head that sent Reiko backing into the ropes and referee Joe Cortez immediately stopped the bout. The majority of the crowd, who were obviously backing the local favorite Cooper, was booing loudly as they rightfully felt what was turning into a good fight was stopped prematurely. Granted, Melinda was winning every minute of every round, but Reiko should have been given more of a chance than the 3:45 seconds she got in the bout. Reiko's corner was very upset at the stoppage. They didn't want Reiko to lose that way, but then I'm sure Melinda Cooper didn't want to win that way either.

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DSC_3846Marquez vs. Capilla
(By Mike Oliver) In the first fight of the evening, Steve Marquez from Ft. Morgan, CO. boxed his way to a unanimous decision over Leodegario Capilla from Burbank, California.

Both fighters came out anxious in Round One, missing most of their initial punches. Marquez would settle down in the 2nd, landing a perfectly thrown left hook right hand combination that knocked Capilla to the canvas. Capilla would beat the count and survive the round.

DSC_3860Capilla would come storming out to start round three that prompted the fighters into a wild toe-to-toe exchange that left each fighter exhausted. Round Four saw little action as the fighters appeared content to let the time run out and send the bout to the scorecards.

The judges' cards read as follows 40-35 twice and 39-36, all for Marquez. The unanimous decision improves Marquez to 2-1 with 1 KO and Capilla falls to 0-4-1.

Feliciano Wins Close One!
(By Bobby Mundy) Jesse Feliciano(9-1, 5KOs) of Las Vegas won a close unanimous decision over tough Alfonso Gomez (5-2-1, 1KO) in a special junior welterweight attraction. Gomez played the part of the counterpuncher, letting Feliciano open up with smothering punches while he carefully selected his opportunities for his power shots. Feliciano was definetly the busier fighter, but he did not appear to land the cleaner punches. Gomez's right hand leads was the key to his arsenal has he landed that punch almost at will. The judges preferred Feliciano's busy pace vs. Gomez's clean punching, which gave Jesse his 9th victory. All three judges scored the bout 58-56. Fightnews scored the bout 58-57 for Alphonso Gomez.

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Green Goes Haywire After Loss to Cooper

 DSC_4412(by Mike Oliver) In the final fight of the evening Dewey Cooper of Las Vegas battled Robert Green of Los Angeles in a six round cruiserweight bout.

The fight would open with Green landing a straight right that sent Cooper stumbling backwards into the ropes. It appeared that the only thing that kept Cooper up was the bottom rope but referee Toby Gibson did not rule it a knock down. Cooper would recover and ended the round with a looping overhand left that wobbled Green.

The fight would take a turn to the slow side in the middle rounds, with each fighter occasionally sneaking in a power shot. Cooper would look to the finish the fight in Round Six as he caught Green with another looping left hand that knocked Green into the ropes. Cooper would unleash a barrage and it appeared that Gibson was going to stop the fight but Green managed to punch his way off the ropes.

The fight would go the judges scorecards where two judges scored it 58-56 twice for Cooper and one judge scored it 57-57, giving Cooper the majority decision. Immediately after the decision, Green rushed across the ring and landed a punch/push that sent referee Toby Gibson to the canvas. Ring officials quickly restored order and Green was escorted back to the dressing room.

The decision keep Cooper unbeaten at 7-0-2 with 5 KO's and Green falls to .500 at 3-3-3, 2 KO's.

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