“Four Warned,” a full fight report from Carson, California
By: Nick Bellafatto Reporting Ringside
Tarver keeps title in lackluster draw
It’s safe to say that after a long night of boxing at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, the main event for the IBO cruiserweight title between 5-time world champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (29-6-1, 20 KO’s) of Tampa, Florida and the young Nigerian pugilist Lateef “Power” Kayode (18-0-1, 14 KO’s) fighting out of Freddy Roach’ Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California was a flop.
In a fight that perhaps nobody deserved to win, fittingly the end result would be a split decision draw with a 115-113 score going to each man, while the remaining tally would be 114 all. With the “Magic Man” literally giving away the first half of the fight by posing in front of a less than polished opponent who’s skills were primitive in comparison, Antonio at this juncture had to either score a knockdown to pull ahead, or finish the Nigerian fighter off with a fight ending kayo.
Neither of those scenarios would come to fruition, although Tarver would put his punches together enough in the latter half of the fight to land some telling blows whereby he would garner sufficient rounds to come away with the draw. In the process, Tarver keeps his minor title while it seems he made no progress whatsoever towards his ultimate goal of getting unified heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko in the ring.
Tarver’ response to such a lackluster performance, “a year off before you get back in the mix, it’s just too long, especially on a 43 year old body. They had to jump start me in there. I don’t know what it was. But when he [Kayode] felt my power, he didn’t want to stay there.”
On the other side of the coin, Team Kayode felt they were comfortably ahead whereas Lateef would make post fight comments he would later come to regret and subsequently apologize for. “Everybody knows I won this fight. I’m better than him. He won because he works for Showtime. Let’s go to HBO or to my country to fight again.”
And whether they fight again in a rematch to settle their score, I’m not so sure fight fans would be very much interested to say the least. What is for sure is that Showtime Championship Boxing will be hesitant, if not flat out disinterested in airing such a less than inspiring event.
Quillin decisions veteran fighter Winky” Wright
With the former undisputed junior middleweight champion of the world Ronald “Winky” Wright (51-6-1, 25 KO’s) of St. Petersburg, Florida on the shelf for more than three years, his attempt at a successful comeback would be thwarted by the up and coming and still undefeated Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (27-0, 20 KO’s) fighting out of the Bronx, New York via Grand Rapids, Michigan.
A sentimental favorite amongst many in the crowd who at times would chant “Winky,” Winky,” Ronald Wright with perhaps the largest looking gloves of any prizefighter would prove difficult to hit early on. The same could likewise be said of “Kid Chocolate.” However, it was abundantly clear that Quillin was the quicker fisted fighter who when he put his punches together, they would break through the guard of his opponent to eventually find their destination.
Not only did Quillin put Wright on his behind with a sharp right hand in the fifth round, but he would rock his opponent once more in the ninth frame with a whistling uppercut that shook the very foundation of the veteran, nearly dropping “Winky” yet again. Sensing Wright was ready to go at this juncture, Peter went on a tear to land several more hard shots, the best punches of the fight, only to have the bell prevent him from perhaps gaining the stoppage.
And although Wright was in the bout for the first few rounds to outland his opponent in the jab department over the long haul, by far the more telling blows were landed by the perennial contender, who by fights end would have the advantage in the power punch department with a total of 113 connects compared to that of Wright who only could muster 39 power shots landed.
All in all, similar to that of Tarver who was out of the loop for nearly a year, Wright coming back after three years just didn’t have it. “He won no doubt at all. My timing was off. I think I need to be at 154 if I fight again,” said the humble yet dejected Wright.
As for his opinion as regards fighting the biggest name recognition fighter he has yet faced, Peter Quillin put it this way, “he came straight to fight, he pressed the action. When somebody get’s hit with a big shot like I hit him with and gets back up off the canvass, you have to give that person a lot of credit, and that’s what I do I give “Winky” a lot of credit.”
Summing up his performance post fight as he looks to one day face the likes of middleweight king Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez himself, Quillin would continue, “I said in the beginning that if I was to beat “Winky” Wright, then I just have to be a better offensive fighter, a better boxer than him, and I think I proved that tonight.”
Trout retains WBA title with unanimous decision victory over Rodriguez
The often avoided yet little known Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) of Las Cruces, New Mexico in getting some much needed exposure would step up to appear on Showtime Championship Boxing for the very first time, garnering a unanimous decision victory over a very credible opponent on one Delvin Rodriguez (26-6-3, 14 KO’s) of Danbury, Connecticut. The final scorecards would read 120-108, 118-110, and 117-111 whereby which Trout retains his WBA junior middleweight title to fight another day.
And in this bout where solidly landed blows were a rare commodity with each man proving to be just as elusive as the other, it would be the defending champ Trout slightly out-landing the challenging Rodriguez in by far the majority of rounds to keep his title and undefeated record intact.
With Rodriguez conservative almost to a fault in trying to solve his opponent from the first bell on, not only would he be wary in his approach, but he would rarely attempt to finish off at the body with what missed combinations he did throw. For if he had, he may have been able to stabilize the slippery champion who would escape one way or the other any time Rodriguez attempted to get close enough to do damage.
And although neither man was hurt during this twelve round confrontation that wasn’t the most fan friendly of bouts, Austin would land the more telling shots that would separate him as the clear victor. Finishing strong, the champion would close the show to have his best round in the twelfth and final round where he landed the most power shots of either fighter in any round.
Once again not the most thrilling of fights, Trout in a chess match of sorts would carve out the victory to maintain his status and give credence to the fact that he is a force to be reckoned with. “I give myself a 6 ½ or 7. I don’t think this was my best performance but I did what I had to do to get the W,” stated the champion before he exiting the ring.
And with Golden Boy Promotions maneuvering to eventually create match ups between the top junior middleweights in the world, CEO Richard Schaefer would inform Trout that he is at this current juncture the top candidate to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on September 15th due to James Kirkland pulling out on the heels of the tragic motorcycle accident that has left former world champion and initial Alvarez opponent Paul Williams likely paralyzed from the waist down. Stating his prayers are with Williams, facing Alvarez suits Austin Trout just fine.
Leo Santa Cruz too much for Vusi Malinga in best bout of the night
With Abner Mares recently vacating his IBF bantamweight title to campaign at the 122 pound weight limit, Vusi Malinga (20-4, 12 KO’s) of Ekurhulen, South Africa would face off with Leo Santa Cruz (20-0-1, 11 KO’s) of nearby Rosemead, California to determine a new champion. Cutting to the chase, in the best bout of the evening that featured non stop action, by far the large majority of that action would be tilted in favor of Santa Cruz. And in dropping a one sided unanimous decision to Leo by final tallies of 120-108, and 119-109 twice, it’s reasonable to say that Malinga didn’t fare well at all.
Intent on landing his uppercut from the outset, Vusi would endeavor to and remain close all night long. This would play right into the hands of the Mexican fighter who would land text book combinations, with the most vicious of shots landed to the body on a repeated basis. For all the good defense displayed on the part of both boxers, Malinga didn’t make any adjustment to take away the body blows until much later in the fight, by which time they had already taken their toll on the visiting fighter.
As a result, a visibly much slower Malinga was quite ineffectual, as Santa Cruz was able see punches coming and adjust accordingly, all the while simultaneously creating the openings by which he would repeatedly land precision shots to earn an eventual landslide victory. To make matters worse for the South African, Malinga made little attempt box from a distance, all but obliging the California fighter by going toe to toe so that his opponent didn’t have go far to find the target. In that way Vusi Malinga would contribute to his own demise while Leo Santa Cruz would make the best of the situation to become the new IBF bantamweight champion of the world.
Bika cashes in at the expense of light hitting Davis
Entering the ring as the WBC’ number 4 ranked fighter in the world as well as the NABF super middleweight champion, Dyah Davis of Coconut Creek, Florida (21-3-1, 9 KO’s) would lose one, if not both of those distinctions to the hard punching former world title challenger fighting out of Sydney Australia via Cameroon, Sakio Bika (30-5-2, 20 KO’s). Bika, of “Contender Series” notoriety, would stop his opponent at the 1:40 mark of the tenth and final round courtesy of a plethora of power shots starting with a big right hand.
Also capturing the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title to boot, Devon Alexander trainer of note Kevin Cunningham would work the African fighter’s corner, as Bika from the very first bell would prove to be the much harder puncher. Taking it to the less busy lighter hitting Davis round after round to land punishing right and left hand swings, Dyah, who would demonstrate no less than a solid chin for the most part, would finally succumb to the same right hand Bika had repeatedly landed throughout the fight.
Unleashing a barrage to the body to start the final round in a contest which would see Bika in total control as the more imposing fighter, Sakio would open up Davis for a right hand wallop which staggered his opponent across the ring. With the Cameroon native in hot pursuit, Davis would seek refuge along the ropes where Bika would attempt to unload. However, sensing Davis was in no condition to finish the fight, the referee would step in between to preempt further punishment from being inflicted on the defenseless fighter.
Undercard results
To start the evening’s action off in an event being billed as “Four Warned,” a scheduled four round junior middleweight bout between Beau Hamilton (0-2) of Montague, California and Juan Reynoso of Tampa, Florida was on tap. From the very first bell Reynoso would separate himself as the more technically sound fighter, administering punishment to both body and head the entire way. In the process, Hamilton would be reduced to a punching bag, crudely winging punches that resembled that of a green amateur. The end result would be a unanimous decision verdict for Reynoso by scores of 40-36 twice, and 39-37, as the Floridian makes good in his pro debut to go 1-0.
In junior welterweight action between Omar Figueroa (17-0-1, 14 KO’s) of Weslaco, Texas and Tyler Ziolkowski (14-16, 8 KO’s) of St. Joseph, Missouri, the action would be sparse yet even in the first minute. However, as the timekeeper’s clock struck two minutes, so too would Figueroa strike with a thudding body shot to the liver of Ziolkowski, putting the Missouri resident down and out. The time was 2:00 of the very first round in a scheduled six rounder as Figueroa keeps his undefeated record intact.
Undefeated Ugandan Sharif “The Lion” Bogere (23-0, 15 KO’s) fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada would go at it with Downey, California’ Manuel Leyva (21-6, 12 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round junior welterweight bout. Bogere looked to be the sharper puncher to commence the action, dropping Leyva in the very first frame, though the knockdown was perhaps due more to poor balance rather than anything else.
Opening up the second round, “The Lion” would sting his opponent with a big left hand, appearing as though he had shifted to the southpaw stance. The end result was that the California based fighter would taste the canvass for a second time, after which Sharif would pounce upon his prey non stop. The ensuing onslaught would prompt the referee to call a halt at the 0:38 mark of round 2. Bogere looked quite impressive as he ups his record to 23 wins without a loss.
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