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BATTLE IN THE BALLROOM ENDS THE YEAR WITH ANOTHER SELLOUT AND GREAT NIGHT OF FIGHTS!
by Kevin Breen
December 17, 2006
The night began when Antonio Tapia (2-0) of Los Angeles returned to Irvine to battle Miguel "Cobra" Garcia of Los Angeles. Making his professional debut, Garcia (0-1) wasted little time rocking the durable Tapia and being the aggressor. His all or nothing style scored points with the judges and crowd early on, however it would be his downfall in the end.
 Garcia would score early...
Tapia adjusted, dug in, and boxed his less experienced foe. Tapia took the counterpunching opportunities before him to throw combinations and progressively land his own severe blows. Tapia's sturdy chin and high work rate carried him to the victory.
The last time Lawson Baker (2-1) of San Diego entered the Battle in the Ballroom ring, he was a heavy underdog against a much bigger and stronger opponent. Yet somehow Baker easily knocked his foe out in impressive fashion.
Let's just say that this time he wasn't as impressive. And this time he was fighting the seasoned Cornell "No Joke" Davis (4-6) of Lancaster. Early on it was Baker trying to keep the fight on the outside and Davis trying to push himself inside.
Baker throwing from the outside - a plan he should have stayed with.
Davis getting inside.
As the fight went on and the action see-sawed, it was Davis' stamina and tenacity to get inside which enabled him to gain momentum in the later rounds and begin to turn the tide. Christmas seemed to come in early for Baker as the judges scored it a draw.
Let's get it on!
The featured ladies fight pitted the streaking Tammy Franks (2-1-1) of San Antonio against the undefeated Lissette Medel (2-0) of Maywood. This brawl was evenly contested from beginning to end. Each girl wouldn't let up and it produced a great show for the capacity crowd in attendance. In the end it was Franks winning again in a close one.
In the semi-main event crowd favorite Billy Bailey (4-1) of Bakersfield squared off against Thomas Haines (3-3) of Vallejo. Billy looked as confident as ever taking the challenging Haines on. While Haines rumbled his way forward, Bailey - know as a brawler - paced himself nicely throwing fewer, but sharper shots.
Bailey threw shorter and sharper punches.
Bailey getting inside.
Although both competitors were worthy, it was Bailey who dictated the course of action throughout the fight and especially the end, earning himself the decision.
Mighty Mike Returns to Battle in the Ballroom with a Victory
Mighty Mike Anchondo was the featured fighter in the main event of the night. A young Anchondo began his career on the path to world championship super-featherweight fame (WBO only) engaging in many crowd-pleasing fights at the Marriott in Irvine. On this night he returned and the crowd was ready for another.
Anchondo (26-1-19) of La Puente took on Armando Cordoba (23-30) of Miami in a 138 eight round non-title match. Mighty looked like he hadn't lost any quickness, but his timing and killer instinct were lacking. His sense of urgency changed quite drastically after an accidental head butt opened a gash of streaming blood on the right side of Mighty's eye. Mighty picked up the pace and used his occasional flurries of offense as his best defense.
It must be noted that his cutman did a marvelous job to contain the nasty cut and allow the fight to continue. Cordoba unexplainably never capitalized on the cut and hardly attempted to make any sustained attacks to score. Cordoba played defense in the later rounds and Mighty did just enough to get him the clear decision.
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