WBO #7 super featherweight Czar Amonsot, of Bohol, Philippines, survived a first-round knockdown to win a unanimous decision victory (95-94, 96-93, 96-93) over Jose Reyes, of Vineland, New Jersey to headline Friday night’s Guilty Fight Night card at the Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
At the opening bell, Reyes came out swinging. He connected with a combination of power shots early in round one, sending Amonsot sailing to the floor. Amonsot was not visibly hurt as he rose from the canvas after the flash knockdown.
Amonsot regained his form and midway through the round rocked Reyes with a straight left. It looked as though Reyes might go down himself in this thrilling opening stanza. But, Reyes regained his composure before Amonsot could take advantage of his opponent’s shaken state. Reyes fought his way out of trouble to end the first round.
In round two, Reyes effectively demonstrated his boxing ability, jabbing and keeping busy throughout the round. In the middle of the round, Reyes backed Amonsot into the corner and unloaded his power shots. Reyes was impressive early on in the fight, but Amonsot’s superior boxing skills and ring generalship became more and more evident as the bout wore on.
Midway through round three, Reyes engaged in a display of showboating in the middle of the ring. Perturbed, Amonsot backed Reyes to the ropes and unleashed a strong left uppercut that landed on Reyes’ chin. Reyes fought his way off the ropes, but Amonsot backed Reyes to the ropes again and connected with two uppercuts near the conclusion the round. Amonsot then demonstrated a little showboating of his own.
By round four, the momentum had firmly changed hands. Boxing smartly, the southpaw Amonsot worked to establish his jab. An Amonsot right hook with ten seconds left in the fourth round hurt Reyes.
Round five saw Amonsot showcasing his defensive skills. Midway through the fifth, Amonsot dug four right uppercuts into the midsection of Reyes. The end of round five saw Reyes demonstrating his own defensive ability as he worked to keep Amonsot at bay.
By round six, Amonsot was clearly in the driver’s seat as he continued to work the body of Reyes with power hooks. In round seven, Amonsot continued to unleash his targeted body attack.
At the beginning of round eight, Amonsot was deducted a point for a low blow. After the point deduction, Amonsot took things up a level, pushing the action even more.
The beginning of round nine saw the combatants change roles as Reyes came out as the aggressor. The round saw Reyes increase his punch output as the action began to boil over in this crowd-pleasing affair. As the round was coming to a close, a Reyes left hook landed to the head of Amonsot.
Both boxers engaged in a thunderous exchange of power shots to begin round ten. Midway through the final round, an Amonsot left tagged Reyes, who tried to stay busy, but was being out-landed. The final round ended as it began with both men in the center of the ring letting their hands go.
Amonsot clearly earned his unanimous decision victory in this entertaining headliner. His record improves to 16-1-1, 10 KO’s while Reyes’ record drops to 8-3, 7 KO’s.
Lovato Stops Gaines in 4!
Monica Lovato of Rio Chama, New Mexico, (7-1, 4 KO’s) stopped Sharon Gaines of Las Vegas, Nevada, (9-7, 3 KO’s) in the fourth round of their bantamweight bout.
In round one, a crushing left hook by Lovato landed upstairs. Lovato established her jab early while Gaines relied on her defense to stay in the fight. A Lovato one-two combination landed midway through the round, but then Gaines took the offensive and backed Lovato to the ropes, unleashing her body attack to end the first.
In round two, Lovato landed a right over the top and then connected with successive blows to the body, sending Gaines to the floor. Gaines began to bleed from the nose as she received her standing eight-count. The second round ended with Lovato clearly in control of the fight.
In the third round, Lovato displayed her superior boxing ability as she landed her left jab with consistency. But, Gaines is game and she landed a devastating left hook midway through the round. However, the outmatched Gaines quickly found herself on the receiving end of a Lovato uppercut and then successive power shots that sent her to the ground once again. Gaines survived the round as blood continued to pour from her nose.
In round four, Lovato landed a strong right followed by a left hook and successive power shots from both hands. Referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to bring a halt to the fight with Gaines still on her feet. Gaines protested the stoppage but to no avail. Lovato is declared the victor by TKO at 1:13 of round four.
Santiago Earns Decision!
In a featherweight battle, Joel Santiago of Las Vegas, Nevada, improved his record to 8-0, 2 KO’s with a unanimous decision victory (60-54, 59-55, 59-54) over Noe Inzunza, 7-10-1, 2 KO’s, of Thousand Palms, California.
From the opening stanza, Santiago established himself as the aggressor. Round one saw him pushing the action as he successfully labored to land his jab and power shots. Inzunza landed a solid one-two combination with 10 seconds left in the first, but it was not enough to steal the round.
Santiago continued his relentless assault on his opponent in round two, winning the round convincingly. Inzunza was unsuccessful at keeping the forward-moving Santiago off of him.
Santiago stunned Inzunza several times in the match. He came out in round three and landed an overhand right flush on the chin. Inzunza tried to avoid the pressure, but the exciting Santiago did not let up and exhibited a high punch output throughout, which kept Inzunza on the defensive most of the fight. With 10 seconds left in the third round, Santiago hurt his opponent with a crushing overhand right, but the game Inzunza shook off the damage.
In round four, Inzunza continued to rely on his counter-punching, but it was ineffective against Santiago’s unyielding attack.
At the end of round five, Santiago stunned Inzunza with an overhand right that backed him against the ropes. For the last ten seconds of the round, both men engaged in a non-stop exchange of lefts and rights to the pleasure of the crowd.
By the sixth and final round, Inzunza was visibly fatigued. Recognizing the opportunity, Santiago let it all hang out. During the last 10 seconds of the fight, Inzunza took a beating with his back to the ropes. Nevertheless, he finished with his feet under him.
Denoy, Gaona: No Decision!
In flyweight action, Philippino Along Denoy (14-5-1, 10 KO’s) and Mexican Esau Gaona (12-2-1, 8 KO’s) gave it their all over four rounds until the fight was stopped on cuts suffered by Gaona.
This was a great shame, as their fight was turning in a barn burner. The first round saw the aggressive Denoy stagger his opponent with a short right, but Gaona managed to weather the storm and fight on fairly even terms for the remainder of the round.
Again early in the second round, Gaona was caught by a good shot and shaken to his heels, but much to the delight of the crowd he came roaring back to stagger his the rampaging Denoy, in a what was a give-and-take round.
In the third stanza, Denoy seemed to be edging it, just being a little craftier and more accurate with his shots. However, the action was halted by referee Kenny Bayless after a clash of heads. As a result Gaona was left with a nasty gash above his left eye which bled freely down the side of his head.
He made it through the round and back to his corner where his cut man was unable to stem the flow. Consequently, almost immediately as the fourth round began, Bayless again halted the action so that the ringside doctor could examine the cut.
Quite rightly, the doctor instructed Bayless to halt the fight. The time was 9 seconds into the fourth. As four rounds hadn’t yet been completed, the fight was ruled a no-decision.
Dickens Quits, Harris Wins!
In another bizarre fight, cruiserweight Brandon Harris improved his record to 2-0, 1 KO after opponent Elijah Dickens (0-4) quit on his stool at the end of the first round, having suffered a sprained ankle.
The rapid action of the opening stanza looked to be setting the crowd up for an entertaining fight. However, near the end of the round Andrews missed with a half-hearted shot, lost his footing and twisted his ankle. He managed to stay on his feet, but was leapt upon by Harris who pinned him on the ropes until the round drew to an end. Andrews hobbled back to his corner and then indicated he was unable to continue, much to the rancor of the crowd, who booed him. The referee was Kenny Bayless.
Andrews Brutally KOs Embry!
Tonight’s action kicked off with a breathtaking fight between light heavyweights Derek Andrews (5-2, 1 KO) and Jonathan Embry (4-3-1, 3 KO’s).
Scheduled for six rounds, this fight started at a fast pace with both men looking to impose their power. Although there was a lot of missing, it was Embry who looked the sharper man and landed some nice jabs to the head of his opponent.
At the mid-way point of the second round, Embry got tagged by a crushing one-two combination that sent him sprawling to the canvas. He gamely got up to beat referee Richard Steele’s count, but was still on shaky legs.
Seeing his opponent in obvious distress Andrews charged at his man and landed yet another left/right combo, the right landing so clean to the point of the chin that it nearly decapitated the now unconscious Embry, who fell awkwardly to the canvas with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The brutal knockout came at 2:10 of the second round.
Some at ringside could be heard questioning referee Steele’s decision to let the fight continue after the initial knockdown, but to be fair, although Embry looked shaky, he looked far from defenseless.
