 Ravelo returns with win
Gold Coast action kicks off boxing weekend in Vegas
Ringside reports by
Chris Bronte
and
Herman Patton
Photography by
Chris Cozzone
and
Rick Guzman
Said unable to unravel Ravelo
by Chris Bronte
Headlining a night of action at the Gold Coast Casino in Vegas, “comebacking” New Jersey super middleweight Jerson Ravelo was able to return from his KO loss to David Diaz with a unanimous win over the rugged Mohammed “Hitman” Said, of Las Vegas.
This was no soft road back for Ravelo in fighting the tough-as-nails Said. The bout began with the chiseled Ravelo displaying a lovely use of the jab to confound a hesitant Said, who was noticeably anxious and tense in the opening stanza.
By the second round, Ravelo was beginning to throw the right hand effectively, and even stunned Said, who went in reverse for the remainder of the round.
The third stanza continued in much the same vein, with Said unable to land anything meaningful, due to the fact that he was showing far too much respect for his biggest name opponent-to-date.
Fortunately for Said, he seemed to overcome his nerves, somewhat, and landed two cracking right hands in the fifth. But Ravelo showed a good set of whiskers and came back firing.
The ensuing rounds followed a similar pattern; Said would land the heavier shots but would always stand back and admire his work, appearing fearful of Ravelo’s retaliation. While not landing any devastating shots, Ravelo was always the busier of the two, and he was able to control the action from the outside, using a rapier-like jab to keep the sometimes rushing Said at bay. Said’s corner could be heard imploring him to let his hands go, but for whatever reason, he would remain inactive for large parts of the round—which was not endearing him toward the judges.
In the last round, the action kicked up a notch as both combatants came out swinging, However, yet again, Ravelo was the busier of the two, and ended the round stronger.
After ten rounds of “interesting” action, Ravelo was the clear winner, in fact Fightnews had him winning every round. The scores, however, were a little mystifying with one judge scoring it even at 95-95, while the other two had it 97-93, 98-92 in favor of Ravelo.
With this win Ravelo, moves to 14-1, 9 KOs, while Said slips to 14-3, 8 KOs.
 Quintero upset by ‘Stoner’ Jones!
by Chris Bronte
In a riveting lightweight contest, hometown favorite Arturo Quintero (13-1, 9 KOs) was winning handily—until he was devastatingly knocked out in the seventh round by veteran Russell Jones (18-10, 8 KOs) of Denver, Colo.
The first round was all Jones, as Quintero allowed him to steal the round by his lack of punch output. Jones used a spearlike jab to punctuate some lovely combinations, one of which rocked Quintero in the dying seconds of the round.
By the second round, Quintero had settled down and was displaying some lovely counter punching abilities, hurting Jones with a big left hook at the round’s conclusion.
In the fourth round, Jones was put down by a left hook, although, to be fair, it was more of a slip, but referee Kenny Bayless deemed it legitimate and gave him a ten count.
Things continued to look rosy for Quintero as he dominated a reticent Jones, who just couldn’t get going. Jones, however, was able to change the complexion of the fight, when, at the insistence of his corner, he backed up Quintero and went left hook crazy, landing a peach of one right on the point of his opponent’s chin. Quintero went down hard and looked like he wouldn’t beat the count. However, he somehow managed to get to his feet and while on unsteady legs insisted that he was okay to continue. Bayless let the action continue and Jones jumped all over Qunitero who bravely managed to get out of the round.
Coming out for the seventh round, one sensed that Quintero wouldn’t have had enough time to recover and, sure enough, he was wide open as Jones went head hunting, looking to land another left hook. Unsurprisingly, he did exactly that—this one even more devastating than the first. Quintero dropped like a sack of potatoes, prompting the referee to wave the fight over immediately at 20 seconds of the round, although the brave Quintero could be seen protesting the decision.
‘Black Cobra’ strikes back!
by Chris Bronte
In another exciting fight, Las Vegan Dewey “The Black“ Cobra was taking quite a shellacking from Carl Gathright before turning the fight around for a sudden win with a detonating straight left onto the chin of his opponent.
In the first round of a scheduled six round cruiserweight fight, Gathright took the fight to the popular Cooper, strathing him with all manner of shots. However, he made the mistake of backing up against the ropes where he was caught by a straight left which had him out of his feet. Dropping his hands immediately, Gathright was wide open and found himself on the receiving end of three more hellacious lefts which left him slumping on the ropes as referee Tony Weeks leapt in him to save him from further punishment. The time was 2:58 of the first round.
With this exciting win, Cooper improves to 11-0-2,7 KOs , while Gathright falls to 2-5, 1 KO.
Countryman stops Sanza in 2nd stanza
by Herman Patton
In the opening bout of the night, James Countryman (3-0, 2 KOs) kept his record clean with a second knockout over Anthony Sanza.
In the first round, Countryman put his opponent down with a left hook. Sanza was able to beat the count but in the second, Countryman sent his opponent back to the canvas with a left hook, causing the ref to call a halt at 1:07.
 Brooks unprepared for ‘Samoan Destroyer’
by Herman Patton
In the only heavyweight bout of the night, Mika “the Samoan Destroyer” Gergan (6-0, 6 KOs) destroyed outclassed formerly undefeated Jeremy Brooks (4-1).
Brooks was down twice in the first round, by a right, then, by a left hook. He was able to survive the round by tying up but 26 seconds into the 2nd, was caught with a right uppercut that sent him to the canvas, causing ref Tony Weeks to jump in and stop the bout.
Inzunza outpoints Trevisio in swing bout
by Herman Patton
In the final night of the night, Neo Izunza won a unanimous decision over Baladan Trevisio.
In the first, Baladan caused a cut over Inzunza’s left eye with a right hand. Inzunza’s coorner was able to stop the profuse bleeding, and the fighter came back to dominate the remaining rounds with left hooks.
He was declared victor with scores ofr 40-36 x 2, and 39-37.
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