Barrera defeats Morales in classic!

Ringside Report by Chris Bronte
Off-tv undercard by Herman Patton

Photos by Chris Cozzone

In a repeat of their classic first encounter, Mexican ring legends Marco Antonio Barrera and Eric Morales fought each other in another classic battle over twelve exhilerating rounds.

Any fears that their third encounter would be a repeat of their subdued second match were erased as soon as the bell sounded and Barrera came out firing on all cylinders. Straight off the bat he caught Morales with some solid shots with both hands. Morales seemed a little taken aback by the fury of his two-time foe and seemed hesitant to fire back, however he warmed to the task and finished the round on even terms trading blow-for-blow.

In the second round, the action didn’t let up as both men took turns in knocking lumps out of each other. But Barrera ended the round strongly in landing a corking one–two combo off the head of Morales .
Barrera continued to land the better shots in the third round and to be honest was giving Morales quite a shellacking , landing particuarly with the left hook. Morales again seemed a little reticent and one sensed that perhaps he wanted to box instead of slug.

The momentum shifted in the fourth as Barrera allowed himself to be pushed back, but the action was still furious and the two engaged in some memorable exchanges which bought the frenzied crowd to its feet. But the round belonged to Morales even though Barrera terminated the round with a good rally.

Morales’ good fortune continued for most of the fifth stanza as he controlled the action. But Barrera came on strong and landed some lovely left hooks and detonated a huge right hand to end the round strongly and probably clinch it.

The sixth round was all Barrera as he really seized the initiative and even had Morales hurt with uppercuts and flush right hands. Again Morales seemed unable to get off and what shots he was throwing were wide often wide of the mark and it was Barrera who was doing all this eye catching work.

Perhaps a little winded after the exertions of the previous round Barrera’s work rate dropped noticeably in the seventh and he allowed himself to be pushed back and punished by the right hand of Morales who seemed to have caught his second wind and was bouncing around on his toes at the end of the round.

By the eighth Morales’ face was looking very marked up indeed, particularly his right eye was becoming swollen quite badly. However, he soldiered on and continued to have tremendous success in landing the overhand right and looked to have Barrera wilting slightly. But as in their first encounter neither man would lay down and Barrera sucked it up and fired back with some good combinations, but this was still Morales best round yet.

The ninth saw this epic battle take another turn as Barrera shifted into another gear and began to crank it up. He again had great success with the uppercut and was landing some two, three, four punch combos while Morales just couldn’t seem to respond in kind and would wait too long to fire back. And the action didn’t even stop for the bell as Barrera clocked Morales after the bell and the two exchanged words as referee Kenny Bayless stood between them.

Barrera kept up the pressure in the tenth and had Morales on his back foot for majority of the round but there was corking two way action as both men took it in turns to knock holes in each other. But it was Barrera who was landing the cleaner more meaningful shots, while ducking under Morales’ winging hooks.

Barrera began the eleventh with a terrific right hand but to be fair he was beginning to look a little winded and instigated a lot of holding which drew some derision from the Morales fans. But yet again despite their respective fatigue both men refused to give an inch and there was some furious two way action right up until the bell.

When Michael Buffer announced the final round one suspected that Morales needed to at least wing this one really big and perhaps maybe score a knockdown to clinch the win. He nearly succeeded in getting the knockdown as he staggered an off balance Barrera and had him reeling across the ring. But Barrera recovered himself and fired back with some wicked shots which had Morales pinned against the ropes as the round came to an end.

At the end of twelve of perhaps most exciting rounds of the year the judges reached a majority decision in favour of Barrera who now becomes the new WBC super featherweight champion by scores of 114-114, 115-114 and 115-113. With this historic win Barrera improves 59-4, 41 ko’s while his bitter foe concedes his second loss to him slipping to 47-2, 34 ko’s.

Larios outpoints Hussein

In super bantamweight action Oscar Larios (54-3-1, 35 KOs) defended his WBC belt against little known Austarlian Nedal Hussein (36–2, 22 KOs).

Looking to stamp his authority early in the fight Larios came out fast and immediately pinned Hussein on the ropes, who appeared to be frozen. Larios let loose a nice flurry, but Hussein did a good job in catching most of them on his gloves. Hussein continued to look a little tight and was seen to be waiting to long while Larios did all the work.

This continued into the second round, as although Hussein was advancing and walking down Larios he would not get off once in range. However, he did land a nice right hand to end the round.

Unfortunately the tone of the fight would not change for the remaining rounds as Larios was seen to be all the work and initiating what action there was. It was indeed a frustrating spectacle as Hussein just simply could not pull the trigger, and what made it more frustrating was that on the odd occasion that he did he appeared to be the bigger puncher when he connected cleanly. But one must give credit where it’s due as Larios was never still for more than a moment and presenting a very difficult target . At the end of twelve uninspiring rounds the victor was clear and the scores reflected this reading: 118-110, 119-109, 120-108 all in favor of the defending champion Larios.

Marquez hammers Pastrana!

Big hitting Rafael Marquez (33-3, 30 KOs) defended his IBF bantamweight title against Columbian Mauricio Pastrana (31-5-1, 21 KOs).

The opening round saw both fighters come out bristling with energy , firing off rapid shots. Both showed good defensive skills in making their opponent miss. However, towards the round’s conclusion, Marquez, a fearsome puncher, caught Pastrana with a cracking left hook which had him reeling backwards. Marquez pursued him onto the ropes where he unleashed a barrage of heads shots, but to his credit Pastrana would not be overwhelmed and came back firing and succeeded in landing a couple of nice shots himself.

Round two saw a cagier Pastrana, as he held his hands high, especially his right hand which was glued to the side of his head to stop Marquez’s vaunted left hook. So Marquez concentrated on the body , landing some thudding shots off Pastrana’s sides. Pastarna kept the round competitive though, landing a lovely right to Marquez’s head.

The third stanza saw Marquez continue to work the body and had Pastrana hurting midway through the session. Matters only got worse for Pastrana when an accidental clash of heads opened up a cut on his left eye.

By the fourth round Marquez was beginning to find his range, although he continued to be patient and not waste any shots. In particular he landed two very nice left-rights, which caught Pastrana’s attention. But again Pastrana kept himself in the fight by sticking Marquez with a good one-two of his own.

In the fifth the action slowed and the only noteworthy punch was a cracking right hand landed by Marquez right at the bell.
The sixth round saw some good action as both men stood toe to toe and slugged it out. Pastrana hung tough but was punished to the head and body and by the round’s conclusion his right eye was beginning to close alarmingly.

The action slowed again in the seventh as Marquez patiently walked his man down. Pastrana’s output had dropped substantially and he was beginning to look a little discouraged. In addition his eye had continued to swell hindering his vision terribly.

The eighth saw Pastrana on his bike as he ran for the entire round obviously not wanting to engage a big puncher like Marquez with only one good eye. But eventually at the round’s end Marquez caught up with him and pummeled him on the ropes with a two fisted attack. As a result of his poor showing in last round referee Robert Byrd visited Pastrana’s corner where the doctor advised him that Pastrana should not be allowed to continue.

Calderon defends WBO 105 title!

By Herman Patton

WBO minimumweight champion Ivan ‘Iron Boy’ Calderon retained his WBO minimumweight title at the MGM Grand Casino Saturday night with an impressive display of skill and movement.

Challenger Carlos Fajardo was totally frustrated by Calderon's quick movement and slick boxing skills. He wasn’t able to land any crisp punches on Ivan during the 12 rounds. In the first round, Calderon staggered Fajardo slightly with a right-left combination. For the remainder of the fight Ivan hit him with pot-shots, upper-cuts, body shots and straight rights followed by left hooks. Fajardo was deducted a point in round eleven by referee Tony Weeks. In the last round, Calderon staggered Fajardo with a straight left.

Judges scored the bout 120-107, 119-109 and 118-108. Calderon improves to 21-0, 4 KOs while Fajardo falls to 12-5-1, 8 KOs.

Off-TV action

Pavlik dominates Thompson!

Unbeaten middleweight Kelly Pavlik (23-0, 20 KOs) dominated former world challenger Ross Thompson (26-10-2). Pavlik pressed forward throughout the whole fight throwing and landing punches against the elusive Thompson who seemed content with throwing very few punches throughout the fight. Two judges had the score at shutout at 80-72 with the other giving Thompson one round 79-73.

Kid Diamond first to stop Murphy!

Unbeaten lightweight Almazbek Raiymkulov (a.k.a. Kid Diamond) became the first fighter to stop former world title challenger Lamar Murphy. In the first and second rounds Raiymkulov hit Lamar with some crushing body blows but it wasn’t until the third that he sent Lamar to the canvas at the bell. Referee Joe Cortez gave a Murphy standing 8 count. In the fifth round, 2:02 second into the fight, Murphy pinned Raiymkulov against the ropes, only for Raiymkulov to land a straight right to knock him out. Referee Joe Cortez waived the fight off. "Kid Diamond" looks like a real contender in the 135lb weight class. Raiymkulov improves to 19-0 with 11 KOs. Murphy falls to 29-10 with 20 KOs.

Hidvegi pounds Zabian!

Cruiserweight Gyorgy Hidvegi from Hungary improved his record to 4-0 with 3 KOs after a knockout victory over Salah Zabian (5-5, 4 KOs). Gyorgy dropped Salah in round three round twice. The first knockdown came from a straight left and the second from a left hook. Salah survived the rest of that round only to get TKO'd at 1:07 into the fourth round when referee Jay Nady waived the fight off.

Postfight photos

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