By Michael Montero, March 14th, 2011, Los Angeles, CA: It was billed as “The Brawl to Settle it All”. Both the Los Angeles Matadors and the Mexico City Guerreros came into tonight’s match tied for first in the World Series of Boxing’s (WSB) Americas Conference. A victory this evening would secure the conference, thus locking up a playoff spot.
The atmosphere of the sold out crowd at the Avalon Hotel in Hollywood was electric as fans of both teams cheered loudly throughout the night. All five bouts were competitive, but in the end LA booked their ticket for the playoffs with a 4-1 win in a great night of boxing. With one more week to go to wrap up the WSB’s inaugural season, LA now sits alone at the top of the Americas Conference at 8-3, while Mexico City ranks second at 7-4. Here are the night’s highlights…
Bout 1: lightweights
Eric Flores (LA) TD Juan Pablo Romero (Mexico City)
In the opening bout of the evening, LA local Eric Flores (of Inglewood, CA) had plenty of family and friends in the crowd cheering him on. Mexico City’s Romero was the bigger man and attempted to use his reach advantage on the outside, but Flores was the aggressor. He took the first round by using good lateral movement to stay out of danger and landing the more telling blows. In the second round, an accidental head butt opened a cut over Romero’s right eye, prompting the ref to call in the ring doctor for a look. Even though the cut didn’t appear to be that bad, the ring doc felt it was bad enough to stop the fight. The crowd didn’t like this decision and they booed vehemently as it was announced that the fight would be declared a draw due to accidental injury.
Then a second announcement was made explaining per WSB rules, any fight stopped due to injury with at least one round completed goes to the cards – including scoring the round that the bout ended in. The crowd erupted in cheers as the scores were announced, 20-18 three times for Eric Flores, the winner by technical decision. The young man will celebrate his 19th birthday later this month on March 31st. I asked him how he felt about getting his first WSB win and he replied, “It felt great”. Regarding the stoppage of the fight he said, “I’ve seen a lot of cuts in the World Series of Boxing and I really didn’t think it was that bad.” None the less, Flores will take the victory any way he can get it, “it’s definitely an early birthday present for me for sure.”
Bout 2: light heavyweights
Kennedy Katende (Mexico City) UD Vyacheslav “Slava” Shabranskyy (LA)
Upset special! The “Ukraine Pain Train” came into this bout ranked #4 in the light heavyweight division, while Katende was ranked at #18. But the Ugandan native came in with upset on his mind and executed a perfect game plan to hand Shabranskyy his first WSB loss. “Slava” started well, but was quickly lured into a brawl and he took the bait. He abandoned his jab and began walking straight in and throwing haymakers, only to be peppered by Katende’s precise counter punches. By the fourth round the Ukrainian was frustrated, stalking his foe and purely head hunting. Katende stayed disciplined and within the game plan throughout, slipping under Slava’s head shots, countering, then circling away. Both men threw hard punches with bad intentions, but Katende was setting his shots up better. That proved to be the difference as the judges scored it for him, 48-46 three times. The win came on the eve of the Katende’s 26th birthday. What a way to get the party started. On the other hand, things went from bad to worse for Shabranskyy as a head butt toward the end of the fight opened a bad cut over his eye. He fought hard throughout, but did not fight smart. This bout should serve as a good learning lesson for him.
Bout 3: middleweights
Chris Pearson (LA) UD Yamaguchi Florentino (Mexico City)
This was the best match up on paper and it turned out to be the fight of the night. Pearson was coming in off a great performance in his week 10 WSB debut, while Florentino came in ranked #3 at middleweight with an impressive 4-1 WSB record. The Brazilian native for the Guerreros started strong in the first and landed numerous laser-like jabs that had Pearson confused. Early in the second round, a hard shot from Florentino appeared to break Pearson’s nose as blood began pouring out almost instantly. It was high drama going into the third with the Matadors middleweight clearly injured, but he showed tremendous heart and did enough to take the round. In the 4th a frustrated Florentino began to get dirty and things started to get a little wild going into the 5th. In the final round Florentino threw deliberate rabbit punch while Pearson was defenseless and the ref correctly docked him a point. Later that round the ref blew a call as Pearson slipped on the canvas and he incorrectly called it a knock down, inciting heavy boos from the crowd. It was a wild seesaw fight that had the crowd on its feet. In the end a split decision was announced; 48-45 Pearson, 48-45 Florentino and finally 47-46 Pearson. This incited a mix of boos and cheers alike. It was a tough one to score and could have gone either way, but I felt both 48-45 scores were ridiculous.
After the fight I spoke to Pearson about the nose. “This was my first time being injured in a fight,” he said, “this is boxing. You hope nothing happens, but know it can happen. I was just trying to win.” When I asked him about staying focused, especially when his opponent tried all the dirty stuff, he replied, “if you get wild and stupid you can get caught. It’s a fight at the end of the day, so he was just doing whatever he could do to try to win. I ain’t mad at him.” The man they call ‘Sweet Pea’ was scheduled to get X-rays on his nose the following morning as this article was submitted. He said broken or not, he just wants to fight. “If the doc clears me, I’ll be fighting in the playoffs”. Pearson is only 20 years old, but he shows the maturity and ring intelligence of a veteran.
Bout 4: bantamweights
Rau’Shee Warren (LA) UD Braulio Avila (Mexico City)
Warren by decision – it’s the safest bet in the World Series of Boxing. These two met back at the World Championships in 2007 and Warren dominated then; tonight was no different. The Cincinnati native cruised to take a decision victory, earning 50-45 scores from all three judges. There was a little bad blood here because Braulio had done some talking leading up to this bout. It was clear he wanted his revenge and he pushed the fight, but Warren beat him to the punch throughout. There were several furious exchanges in the middle of the ring as both men showed sturdy chins and the desire to win. In the end, Warren is just the better fighter.
I asked Warren if he saw any difference in Avila tonight versus the version he saw back in 2007. “There was really no difference, I felt like I just dominated the entire fight,” said the man they call ‘Baby Pit’. When I brought up the fighter’s WSB rankings (Avila came in ranked #4, while Warren was #7) he replied, “my performance shows who the better fighter is.” Now at 4-0 in the WSB and having just shut out his opponent, it’s hard to argue with him on that one. Warren looks very comfortable in the ring and makes it look easy. But I guess when you’ve had over 300 fights in your amateur career that just comes naturally.
Bout 5: heavyweights
David Imoesiri (LA) – Mario Heredia (Mexico City)
Heredia tried to use his height to control the distance, but he only pawed with his jab and backed straight up. Imoesiri took advantage of those fundamental mistakes. He landed straight rights in the early rounds and used to superior skills to outclass his opponent throughout. It got sloppy in the middle rounds and there was a lot of wrestling (a familiar trait of Imoesiri’s bouts), but the Long Beach native stayed in control and almost Heredia out of there in the 5th. The 19 year old Mexican never stopped trying and showed plenty of heart, but seemed to be fighting behind his more experienced opponent from the opening bell. In the end the judges scored a shutout, 50-45 three times for Imoesiri, who is now an impressive 4-1 in the WSB.
The playoff match ups for the four best teams in the WSB will be announced next Monday, with the semifinal rounds to take place in April and the finals will take place on May 6th and 7th. After the team playoffs are the individual championships, which are tentatively scheduled for the end of May. Things are shaping up nicely for some really interesting and exciting match ups. If you would like to learn more about the World Series of Boxing, check out the official web site at: www.worldseriesboxing.com
I welcome all comments, feedback or questions at monteroboxing@gmail.com
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