 . . . The harder they fall!
Yanqui Diaz topples 7'0" Brown at Plaza
Ringside Report and Photos by
Chris Cozzone
A short battle of giants, a giant battle of shorties and an appetize-whetting co-main with a fighter named ‘Hopkins’ made up last night’s menu on a Top Rank-promoted, Telefutura-televised card at the packed-in, standing-room-only Plaza Hotel Casino in Vegas.
While most of the fans were on their feet during the main event, there was nothing standing-room-only about the 7’0” Marcellus “More than a Conqueror” Brown—not after two minutes and 16 seconds, anyway.
Against Cuban Yamplier Azcuy—newly-christened by Top Rank as “Yanqui Diaz”—the would-be conqueror did not have to worry about bumping the ceiling tiles just slightly overhead for too long.
After two minutes of flirting with Brown, crouching low and darting in for tentative jabs to the midsection, Azcuy powered up with his first bomb. After landing a hard right hand to his mug, Brown spent the next several seconds folding like a cheap lawn chair and crashing to the canvas.
Needless to say, Brown did not make it back up for the count.
Now 12-1, 8 KOs and with his second straight televised fight—the last was a giant-sized upset over previously-undefeated Juan Carlos Gomez in Texas last month—Diaz continues his climb up the ladder of contention.
Brown drops to 25-15-1, 22 KOs.
Hopkins "squeaks" by Hernandez
While one Hopkins was probably kicking back at the MGM, resting for his planned execution over Oscar De La Hoya tonight, another was simply trying to execute his game plan over too-game trial horse Ubaldo Hernandez.
Demetrius Hopkins—Bernard’s nephew—had the slick and speed to outpoint Hernandez in their eight-round co-main lightweight affair, but the Mexican’s pressure and persistence made it a close fight, at least on my card.
Hernandez’s well-timed right hands and polished moves gave him the first and second rounds. Still, Hernandez continued to plod forward through Hopkin’s counterpunching trying to land something meaningful.
In the third, Hernandez’s pressing and higher punch rate should’ve made the difference over Hopkin’s diminishing number of punches, as accurate as they were.
Striving to make this a fight and not a chase-down, Hernandez tried to pin down Hopkins in the 4th; but the slickster preferred his pinpoint pot-shotting rather than play the phone booth game.
In the 5th, Hopkins relented, trading shots and coming forward for the first time—effectively so, too. But in the next round, he went back to backtracking while Hernandez tried to mix it up.
Hernandez had his best round in the 7th, while Hopkins slowed a bit. Except for a stinging right hand that had Hernandez shaking his head, and a couple sneaky uppercuts, the Mexican was making this a close fight.
Hopkins had saved his energy for the final round, during which he played slickster again, popping Hernandez with pinpoint shots while on retreat.
At the end of eight, judges saw it unanimously for Hopkins: 78-74 x 2, and 77-75. I had it even, 76-76.
Hopkins keeps his record clean at 16-0-1, 6 KOs; while Hernandez takes his fourth loss in a row, now 19-14-2, 10 KOs.
Taylor returns to 'no mas' Mercedes
After nearly a two-year layoff, Tucson hopeful Jonathan Taylor returned to the ring to score an impressive TKO over Milwaukee’s Alberto Mercedes in a rousing middleweight bout.
Taylor’s been in better form, but the ring rust and less-than-optimal defense was still enough to wear down Mercedes.
In the first round, Mercedes showed Taylor that he’d come to fight, clubbing Taylor with several left hooks while Taylor grinned like an imp and continued to move forward, trying to land cleanly while Mercedes covered or tied up. At the end of the round, Taylor landed a solid right hand that stumbled Merceds—most likely, enough to steal what had been a close round.
In the 2nd, more hooks from Mercedes failed to bring up Taylor’s gloves. Instead, the Tucsonian focused on landing body shots and right hands. Again, in the later round, Mercedes was hurt by another right.
In the 3rd, Mercedes stood ground to bang it out, but Taylor’s aggression won out by the later round when Mercedes started to tire.
The end came in bizarre fashion. Mercedes, clearly fatigued now, fell into defense-only as Taylor came down on him. After two crushing right hands, Mercedes stopped trying to tie up and chose to turn his back—No mas!—forcing the ref to stop it at 1:24.
Taylor moves to 6-1, 3 KOs; Mercedes drops to 12-7-1, 8 KOs.
Off-TV bouts
Juarez takes Hernandez in opener
In the opening bout of the night—a feisty free-for-all between mini-flyweights—Austroberto “Li’l Dragon” Juarez of Oxnard, Calif. took a unanimous decision over Texan Rodrigo Hernandez.
Round One was close, with Hernandez acting as aggressor and Juarez counterpunching. Hernandez might’ve edged the round with his busy-ness.
In the 2nd, Juarez came out more aggressive, trying to land right hands and occasional uppercuts through Hernandez’s jab. Several toe-to-toe flurries from both fighters had this fight heating up.
Juarez slowed down in the 3rd, at first anyway, his punches losing steam; while Hernandez upped his aggression. In the best exchanges yet, though, Juarez sought to steal the round in the closing moments.
In the final round, Juarez took over, hammering Hernandez with right hands that the Texan in sudden survival mode. Survive he did, but only to lose the unanimous to Juarez with scores of 40-36 x 2 and 39-37.
Juarez goes to 3-0, 2 KOs; Hernandez evens out at 1-1.
Victor too "Vicious" for DeLeon
While the crowd chanted for Julio Caesar Chavez, Jr., who’d been take off the card the week before, the final two walkout bouts gave the fans their money’s worth.
In a scheduled four-round lightweight fight, Oxnard’s “Vicious” Victor Ortiz took care of Houston’s Lee DeLeon with a second round TKO.
Southpaw Ortiz spent the first two minutes just putting his right hand out there, but then in the final minute, started to open up. His aggression had DeLeon on the run and, at the end of the round, hurt.
Simply put, Ortiz was too fast, too good for DeLeon, and after swarming all over his hapless, hurt foe, a cut opened up over DeLeon’s eye, giving him the out. On advice of the physician, the ref stopped it at 2:35.
Ortiz goes to 3-0, 2 KOs; DeLeon, to 2-2, 1 KO.
Magallon folds Martinez
In the final fight of the night, local fave Jose Magallon had an easy time with Tucson’s Jack Martinez, stopping him with a body-folding midsection shot at 2:49 of the 1st.
Most of the round was spent with the two slow-dancing, circling one another and the too-short Martinez pawing the air in front of him. Magallon took his time and when the mood hit him, hit his man with a straight right to the belly. Martinez folded in half, and was counted out.
Magallon rises to 2-0, 2 KOs; Martinez falls further to 0-3-1.
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Bonus Pic:
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