Winning isn't everything
Undefeated Peterson, Martirosyan pile up points (but not with crowd) for lopsided decisions

Ringside report and photography by Chris Cozzone
- FightWireImages.com

Scoring points with the judges does not always translate to scoring points with the fans—that’s what undefeateds Anthony Peterson and Vanes Martirosyan proved last night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Headlining the Top Rank-promoted, Versus-televised card, Peterson and Martirosyan cruised through a collective 22 rounds, content to collect on the scorecards, preferring to show the uninspiring science of Jekyll while hiding their Hyde sides.

Stacked up against smaller-but-game foes, the two racked up points-a-plenty, both citing problems to their left paws, post-fight.

It was Peterson’s first fight under the Top Rank banner. Against junior lightweight Fernando Trejo, of Pachuca, Mexico, the Washington, D.C. lightweight had not a moment of danger through a dozen identical rounds.

Though belting Trejo with occasional left hooks, the only real belting that occurred was the belting Peterson received when he was awarded the interim NABF lightweight title at the end of the fight.

Trying to force the dance into a fight, Trejo sought to close the gap created by Peterson’s jab. When he did, however, Trejo’s plentiful punches plopped harmlessly on Peterson’s elbows, shoulders and gloves. When a direct hit was made, Peterson did little more than blink.

The size and strength difference was plain to everyone but Peterson, who rarely forced the issue on Trejo. Unthreatened by Trejo’s lack of pop, Peterson plodded ever on, popping his jab and working his hook, both, up and down.

Spurred on by a steady stream of obscenities en Espanol from his corner, to force the fight por el amor de dios, Trejo did just that, most of the time, but he could do about as much about the fight as he could about the booing in the eighth and ninth rounds.

Peterson, meanwhile, sometimes moving forward, sometimes letting Trejo come at him, covered up when attacked, occasionally battered back, but continued to spar his way to a near-shutout decision.

Two judges saw it a shutout, 120-108, while the third gave Trejo a round, scoring it 119-109, which is also how Fightnews saw it.

“It’s definitely a guy I should have taken out,” Peterson, now 27-0, 19 KOs, said after the fight.

“I hurt my left hand in the fifth, but it’s still no excuse. I’m a throwback fighter, and I really wanted to get it cooking. I’m real disappointed in my performance.”

Trejo dropped to 30-14-4, 18 KOs.

Martirosyan goes distance

Though not quite as dull as the main event, the co-main, featuring undefeated jr. middleweight Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan, resulted in a similar situation of a bigger, stronger, undefeated fighter not being able, or motivated enough, to take out a smaller foe.

Angel “Toro” Hernandez, of Chicago, was Martirosyan’s toughest opponent to date—which isn’t really saying too much when you consider that Hernandez, much chubbier than when he peaked out five years ago, has only fought twice in three-and-a-half years.

Against Martirosyan, Hernandez was game to the core but, like Trejo, circumstances were too stacked up against him. He showed it, too, opting to score points with the crowd by showboating rather than win points on the cards.

There was no indication of a distance fight in the first round, however. After a couple “Hail, Mary” overhand rights hurled from his knees, Hernandez was on the receiving end of an uppercut that put him on the canvas for the one and only knockdown in the fight. Hernandez was shaken, but stirred enough to come back at Martirosyan after beating the count.

Against Martirosyan, though, Hernandez, bearing scrape marks under his right eye by the end of the round, looked like a rank amateur against the Top Rank hopeful.

The fight turned into a clinic, with Martirosyan patiently administering injury to Hernandez, who took his medicine with a smile and the occasional taunt. Jabbing and moving, Martirosyan set up the rights and appeared to be systematically breaking down the bull, but ”Toro” survived. Pulling back out of range of Martirosyan’s sometimes-reaching rights, or charging in with a loopy overhand, Hernandez, by the mid rounds, fought a game of survival, or survived a game of sparring.

“Toro” turned rodeo clown in the middle rounds, taunting Martirosyan, who could not be cajoled or provoked from his clinical game plan. Sometimes walking down Hernandez with aggression, sometimes letting Hernandez walk right into his gloves, Martirosyan continued to spar.

In the late rounds, no longer worried about being KO’d, Hernandez tried to pour it on Martirosyan. He took the eighth, giving Martirosyan a taste of his Reyes and forcing his superior opponent into a bit of a slugging match. On the receiving end of the exchanges in the final two frames, Hernandez could do little but show Martirosyan and the crowd, that he could take it, with ease.

After ten, all three rounds saw a shutout win for Martirosyan, 100-89.

“I was surprised he was taking my power,” said Martirosyan, now 20-0, 13 KOs. “I’m excited to get back in the gym and learn from this fight.”

Hernandez drops to 28-7, 16 KOs.

Perez edges Melgarejo in opener

After the disappointing main and co-main, the five swing bouts—one opening the show, four finishing it—saved the card, though most of the crowd had filtered out of the arena after the Peterson bout.

In the opening bout of the evening, Denver junior lightweight, and former WBC world featherweight youth champ, Manny Perez, 12-4-2, 2 KOs, edged out Filipino Aaron Melgarejo, 10-6-1, 3 KOs, for a unanimous decision.

Perez played aggressor in the first, sealing the round with a crisp left hook. The two switched roles in the second, Melgarajo stalking beyond Perez’s defensive jab.

Remaining the aggressor for the rest of the fight, Melgarajo started to land his big left on Perez. The two traded often in the fourth, but Perez retained control of the ring, moving and hitting.

Both landed big body shots in the fifth, but, in the sixth, while outgeneraling Melgarejo, Perez ate several left hands and a right, or two. In the seventh, Perez loaded up, finally, with power shots, driving the Filipino back for the first time. The last round saw the best action, Perez sealing his win with big uppercuts.

All three judges scored it for Perez, as did Fightnews, 77-75.

Suleymanov-Mercado steals the show

In the best fight of the night, New York City bantamweight Khabir Suleymanov, 5-0, 2 KOs, remained undefeated with a split decision over Las Vegan Alex Mercado 5-1, 4 KOs.

Mercado’s tremendous heart and Suleymanov’s complicated style—something between a “Drunken Monkey” stance of martial arts and Sam Soliman—was a welcome bandage to the headlined bout.

It took Mercado two rounds to figure Suleymanov out—as much as one can, that is. ‘Til then, it was Suleymanov’s crazy angles and whipcord spaghetti punches that, more than once, staggered Mercado.

Mercado closed the distance in the third, doing his best to limit the human octopus by banging away close. It worked for most of the round, until Suleymanov’s crazy left hooks crashed into Mercado’s jaw, momentarily staggering him again.

Collectively throwing more punches in round than was seen in the entire 12-round main event, the two duked it out nonstop from rounds four to six. Big body shots by Mercado and more outrageously thrown rights and lefts from Suleymanov, with little concern for defense, highlighted the fourth.

In the fifth and sixth, Mercado’s sheer will won him the rounds over Suleymanov. Even flopping to the canvas in the last round, after losing his balance, did little to break the action—Mercado was throwing punches at Suleymanov going down, and getting back up, until the final rang.

The judges were split, one scoring it for Mercado, 58-56, while the other two had Suleymanov ahead, 58-56 and 59-55.

Fightnews agreed with the majority, scoring it 58-56 for Suleymanov.

Garcia TKOs Lee

In an eight-round jr. lightweight bout, Oxnard’s Miguel Angel Garcia, 12-0, 10 KOs, stopped South Korean Jae-Sung Lee, 9-2, 6 KOs, at 1:15 of round four.

After a cautious first, Garcia started to drive Lee back with a straight right set up behind a constant jab. Trying to work his way in, Lee got popped at the front door every time, until, in the fourth, Garcia landed a big right that floored Lee near the ropes.

Lee made the count but it didn’t take long for Garcia to pin his opponent against the ropes to finish him off. Referee Russell Mora stepped in to stop the contest at 1:15.

Magdaleno outpoints Rodriguez

Las Vegas southpaw Diego Magdaleno, 4-0, 2 KOs, too flashy and fast for Houston’s Angel Rodriguez, 2—2, 2 KOs, punched out a shutout decision in a four-round jr. lightweight bout.

Keeping Rodriguez at range, Magdaleno kept Rodriguez at the end of his range while he popped his jab and set up the straight left. Rodriguez tried to pressure but, even close, could not nail down, or cleanly nail, Magdaleno.

All three judges had it 40-36.

Marengo closes the show, shuts down Matthews

The final bout of the night was a junior lightweight bout scheduled for six, which was cut to four rounds.

Puerto Rico’s Hector Marengo, 4-0-1, 3 KOs, further cut the bout to just under two minutes, when he chopped down Seattle’s Napoleon Matthews, 1-2, 1 KO, with a left hook.

After a minute-and-forty of preliminary sparring, jabbing and circling one another, Marengo went to work, stepping inside range and landing a pretty left hook.

Matthews wavered on his pins for several milliseconds, before toppling to the canvas like a broken marionette. He was up at eight or nine, but failing legs had the ref calling it quits at 1:59.