T-N-T Night!
Diaz wins WBA lightweight belt!
Juarez & ref beat Raheem!
Cintron stops Reid in slugfest for WBO Interim belt!

Reports by Byron Spurlock and Randy Hammons
Photos by Chris Cozzone

Diaz wins first world title

By Byron Spurlock

20-year-old Juan Diaz (25-0, 12 KOs) is the new WBA lightweight champion after dethroning Lavka Sim (19-4-1) at the Reliany Arena in Houston. Diaz was very fast and sharp in the early going, connecting with numerous combinations. In round four, Sim got back into the fight with some very hard shots, however Diaz outboxed Sim in rounds five through seven. Sim picked up the pressure again in round eight, but Diaz wasn't to be denied as he outworked and outpunched Sim down the stretch to take a 118-110, 116-112, 118-111 win.

FULL REPORT COMING SOON

Juarez and ref beat Raheem

By Byron Spurlock

In a battle of unbeaten Olympian featherweights Rocky Juarez (class of 2000) won a twelve round unanimous decision over Zahir Raheem (class of 1996). Raheem (25-1, 15 KOs) outboxed Jaurez (21-0, 14 KOs) over the first few rounds, but after round three, he could be heard saying in the corner: "My legs are dead...the weight killed me." Raheem took a knee after a hard left hook from Juarez in round four, but fought back well enough to make the fight close if it weren't for points taken in rounds four, six and ten by referee Robert Gonzalez for holding behind the head. Scores were 115-109, 113-111, 114-110. The bout was a WBA title eliminator.

FULL REPORT COMING SOON!

Cintron stops Reid in slugfest!

by Randy Hammons

Kermit Cintron won his fourth straight bout by knockout when he stopped rugged Baltimore veteran Teddy Reid 56 seconds into round eight of a scheduled 12-rounder to win the WBO Interim and NABF Welterweight championship Saturday night in Houston.

With the victory, Cintron (24-0, 22 KOs) won the WBO title recently vacated by Antonio Margarito, who moved up to 154 pounds. Daniel Santos is the WBO 154-pound kingpin.

Reid (22-6-1, 16 KO) came forward throughout the fight. But each time he missed after throwing a punch, Cintron made him pay. Cintron connected with a stinging counter right hand to the chin after a Reid miss in the eighth round that put Reid down for the second time in the bout. A left-right combination to the head forced referee Tim Adams to step in and stop it. An overhand right hand with about 20 seconds to go in the third round put Reid down for the first time in the bout..

Clearly frustrated throughout the bout, Reid had a point deducted in the fifth round for hitting after the bell, and again in the seventh for hitting Cintron after a break.

Cintron got off a four-punch combination in the fourth round and followed with a hard left hand to the head that rocked Reid. Cintron then connected with a left uppercut and right hand to the head . Still, Reid battled back and connected on a nice combo while against the ropes. Reid had to be helped to his corner after the bell.

Cintron started the sixth round by scoring with a hard right hand. That was followed by a series of left-right combinations that landed cleanly.

After Adams took points away from Reid in the seventh for hitting on the break. Cintron landed a stinging right counter after Reid missed wildly.

Camacho beats up Verner

By Byron Spurlock

In a pair of first round blowouts, hot bantamweight prospect Raul Martinez (2-0) destroyed Lamont Lindsey (0-5)in 1:53 and welterweight Alexis Camacho (2-0) annihilated Steve Verner (0-1) at 2:55.

Litzau picks up Texas belt!

by Randy Hammons

St. Paul, Minn.’s Jason Litzau captured the vacant Texas Miller Lite Super Featherweight championship with a knock out of Colorado’s Frank Martinez. Litzau (10-0, 10 KO) floored Martinez (6-7-2, 1 KO) right at the bell that ended the third round. The bout was scheduled for eight rounds.

Martinez went down three times in the final round. A crushing left hand to the chin of Martinez sent his mouthpiece flying across the ring and also put Martinez down. A left uppercut followed by a right hand put Martinez down for the second time seconds later.

“I’ve been down here training with Rocky Juarez and sacrificing,” Litzau said. “My daughter just started walking and I missed all that. When you give 110 percent, you can’t go wrong. I just thank God for giving me the strength tonight. Maybe I should have jabbed more, but I just wanted to catch him and go home.”

“He took his time. He was a little nervous, but he took his time,” said trainer Bob Van Syckle. “The gameplan was to pace himself. In the third round, he started throwing a little harder.”

Turlington no match for Flores!

by Randy Hammons

Phoenix heavyweight prospect B.J. Flores was simply too much for Oklahoma’s John Turlington during their six-round bout. Flores (8-0-1, 6 KOs) knocked down Turlington (4-3, 4 KOs) with a left-right combination that forced referee Ronnie Ralston to wave off the bout.

Turlington was also down in the first round after a left hand to the head, and again in the second round following a hard right hand to the body. Flores weighed in at 214, while Turlington was 210 pounds.

Flores found Turlington’s mid-section an inviting target. A number of jabs and hard straight left hands to the body found their mark and helped take away Turlington’s wind.

“This was only my second six-round fight, and I wanted to be patient,” Flores said. “The jabs to the body were obviously open. I set him up with that. After I knocked him down in the first round, I loaded up too much. I felt like I could do what I wanted to do. I wanted to go a few rounds. He got me with a couple. He fought a tough fight and had a little better chin than I thought.”

Martinez dominates Lindsey for second pro win!

By Byron Spurlock

Coming soon

Ring Girls