August 23, 2009

Boxing and MMA in Primm

by: Steven Robinson

It's Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm and Roy Englebrecht Events in association with Primm Valley Resorts is staging the semifinals of The First Ever $175,000 Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Tournament at the Star of the Desert Arena. The winners of today's bouts will collect $3000 for their effort and advance on to the finals scheduled to be held October 10, 2009 at the same location. Finals winners can expect to collect a check for $5000. There are six bouts (3 boxing and 3 MMA) scheduled for this afternoon and an additional six scheduled for 7:00 this evening. I suppose the promoter determined that 12 bouts was too many for the fans to sit through in one session and six may have not been enough to split the semifinals into two different dates in the arena. A fairly sparse crowd is present at the beginning but not out of line with the level of entertainment scheduled- probably the same friends and relatives of the participants that would have been here anyway. As usual I'm here to cover the boxing, mostly because I don't know enough about MMA to report intelligently and therefore will only report the MMA results without commentary.

Bout #1 Boxing

Super Featherweights Rynell Griffin (4-1-1) of Las Vegas and Richard Ellis Jr. (4-1) of Los Angeles started the afternoon on the right note with a great fight. For most of four rounds these guys went at it toe to toe, trading punches every round and exciting the crowd with every blow. Nobody went down but both landed some big shots round after round. The edge went to Griffin as he landed two and three punch combinations while Ellis relied on one punch at a time. When this crowd pleaser ended after four rounds it went to the scorecards where all three judges scored 39-37 for Rynell Griffin who gets a unanimous decision victory and advances to the finals.

Bout #3 Boxing

In the 142 pound class Ignacio Garcia (2-2) of Riverside, CA took on Yakub Shidaev (2-0) of Northridge, CA. Shidaev was considerably taller with a reach advantage while the shorter Garcia had a classical low stance leaning into his punches and working his way inside. Early on Garcia easily works his way inside and rocks Shidaev's head. Shidaev's corner evidently got to him between rounds because he got busier and started to box and use his reach advantage to jab and keep Garcia outside. The result was that after four rounds all three judges scored it 39-37 for Yakub Shidaev who advances with a unanimous decision.

Bout #5 Boxing

The final boxing match of the afternoon pitted Victor Medina (1-1) of Victorville, CA against Angel Osuna (2-1-1) of Cochella, CA. Both weighed in at 159 pounds. Osuna impressed me from the beginning by leaping the top rope on the way into the ring. Both came out looking for the early KO in the first and mostly whiffed. Then they settled down do some boxing where Osuna was more accurate. In the second Osuna simply outboxed Medina. Medina proved he could take a punch but didn't land many. Osuna let up in the third while Medina structured a more aggressive attack. Early in the fourth, Osuna landed a big blow to Medina's face that dropped him to the canvass in his corner, Medina struggled to his feet before the count but was too unsteady to continue and Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the match at 38 seconds of the round. Osuna wins by TKO and advances to the finals.

In the afternoon MMA fights:

David Smith of Las Vegas beat John Merkle of Los Angeles by TKO @.57 of the third.

Nick Reale of Lake Forest, CA beat Dominic Verdugo by Tap Out @2:11 of the second

Danny Davis and Robert Otani, both of Las Vegas fought to a draw Davis advances by ringside decision

The evening bouts are scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm. Tonight's crowd is a little better than the afternoon crowd, once again probably friends and family of the contestants and probably the guys who won earlier today so they con get a look at their opponent in the upcoming finals in October. Simply by the nature of this tournament we have a lot of closely contested matches between boxers with similar experience and records. This makes for a very competitive card and very few of the mismatches we are used to seeing in today's boxing. I have to give this promoter credit because he has drawings where fans can win cash if there's a KO, cheap tickets so anybody can afford to attend and he's paying these young boxers more money than they have ever earned in their early boxing careers. Along with former Champion Fernando Vargas who co-hosted the fights, he had the guts to mix boxing and MMA in one venue in alternating fights. Boxing fans learn a new appreciation for MMA and MMA fans learn a new appreciation for boxing. All attending are having a good time and enjoying a good show whatever their preference.

Bout #1 Boxing

The evenings opener is a Lightweight affair between Johnny Frazier (2-2-1) of Las Vegas and Alberto Soto (1-2) of Lancaster, CA. After a tentative start by both, these two mixed it up with toe to toe exchanges three times. Soto seemed to get the better of them with cleaner blows. The second appeared all Soto as he just wanted it more. If Frazier landed a blow he got two in return. The final two rounds were closer with Soto landing more punches but Frazier landing the bigger blows. After four it was determined that it was a draw on two of the judges cards, so according to contest rules they went an extra round. Frazier let it all go in this one and rocked Soto several times. Soto never went down but he got wobbled once too often and Referee Jay Nady stepped in and stopped the bout. Frazier gets a TKO at 2:39 of the fifth to advance in the tourney.

Bout #3 Boxing

In a Jr. Welterweight match, Deth Marcus Hall (2-2) of Las Vegas took on Jose Sanchez (2-0) of Santa Ana, CA. Both weighed in 141 pounds. This was a tough fight to score from my perspective as all of the rounds could have gone either way. Hall was the aggressor but Sanchez countered well. But the judges all saw it 40-36 for hall taking sides with a strong offense over a good defense. Hall advances on to the finals.

Bout # 5 Boxing

Junior Middleweights David Tabatadze (3-0) of Reseda, CA and Paul Mendez (2-0) of Bakersfield finished out tonight's boxing. Mendez is a head taller and has an obvious reach advantage, but Tabatadze seems to be able to work his way inside and land some nice body shots. Tabatadze isn't dominating but he is certainly doing enough to win the rounds from my perspective. Mendez makes one small burst at the end of the fourth but it seems too little, too late. Judges Hoyle and Moretti score it 40-36 for Tabatadze, while CJ Ross has it a draw at 38 apiece. Tabatadze wins by Majority Decision to advance.

In the evening's MMA bouts:

Sidemar Honorio of Huntington Beach, CA beat Tommy Vargas of Bakersfield by Split Decision

Dustin Phillips of Las Vegas dominated Chad Dietmeyer of Tucson, AZ with a Unanimous Decision

Jorge Lopez of Las Vegas decisions Jamie Fletcher of Fullerton, CA with a 30-27 X 3 victory