Battle at the Boat 77
June 19, 2010
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Brian Halquist at the
Emerald Queen
Casino
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Early in the fight Angel Hernandez
looked more like the undefeated fighter in facing Hector
Serrano in the ten round main event Saturday night. In the
first round, Hernandez out punched Serrano and continually
applied pressure to make Serrano step away from trouble. At
the end of the first round, seemingly just to remind
Hernandez that he was still facing a credible opponent,
Serrano stepped forward and delivered a solid left that
caught Hernandez flush, though it did not alter the course
of the round.
Hernandez applied the same
pressure and punch strategy in the second round. He kept
walking Serrano around the ring and moved to stick his jab
inside Serrano's defense. In this round, rather than keep
his back to the ropes, Serrano moved to the center of the
ring. there he was more effective and he began to land
punches inside, scoring to the body.
Serrano hit his stride in the
third round. He turned on Hernandez and outworked him.
Serrano used a quick and accurate jab to get in close to
Hernandez, and from there he was able to slip down to land
punches to the body.
Serrano shifted in to a higher
gear in the fourth round. He moved Hernandez across the
ring, put his back to the ropes, and at 1:45 of the round
landed a shot just below the ribcage that a moment later
buckled Hernandez. Hernandez stood while the referee
counted, but the damage had been done. Serrano jumped
Hernandez as soon as he reached the center of the ring,
punched him back in to the corner and landed three
consecutive shots to the body. As Hernandez was slipping to
the mat, the referee stepped in to stop the
bout.
Serrano would remain unbeaten,
scoring the TKO at 2:22 of the fourth round. Hernandez
suffered his third consecutive loss.
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Hernandez scored in the early
rounds
Serrano finished the fight with body
shots
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Snyder reached, Wright avoided
trouble
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Walter Wright had not been in the ring for more than two
years. The inactivity showed for most of the six rounds as
he faced Joshua Snyder, an east coast fighter that though he
had lost his previous two bouts, had scored a win over Aaron
Pryor Jr who was unbeaten at the time.
Most of the fight was marked more by the lack of
sustained activity than by exciting action. Wright showed
that he still had the ability to slip away from a punch, but
he did little to press the fight until the third round.
Though Snyder threw a few jabs, and tried to lure Wright in
close, the few punches he landed did little damage. When
Wright did land a shot, it was heavier than those Snyder
threw.
In the fifth round Snyder outworked and out threw
Wright. Snyder was effective in keeping Wright on the move,
and in the midst of the movement, Snyder was able to land a
few punches. Wright spent most of that round running.
At the midpoint of the sixth round Wright caught Snyder
with a right that rocked Snyder. He jumped back, grabbed his
head and looked at his glove for blood. there was no blood,
but Snyder's left eye had begun to swell. Wright took
advantage of the opportunity to jump on the wounded Snyder.
Snyder received a bit of a break when a Wright punch to the
chin sent Snyder's mouthpiece across the ring. The referee
stopped the bout to replace the mouthpiece, but the damage
had been done.
Wright would score the unanimous decision victory.
Scores were 60-53; 60-54; and 59-55.
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Miguel Garcia and Guillermo Delgadillo entertained the
crowd through four rounds of action. This was in interesting
fight because though the final scores indicate the fight was
not that close, it truly was. The first and fourth rounds
could have been scored for either fighter.
Two judges gave Garcia the nod in the opening round, all
three gave the closing round to Delgadillo. The middle
rounds belonged to Delgadillo because he was more successful
in letting his hands fly, something both fighters had
trouble doing in the first and last round.
Throughout the fight Delgadillo was better defensively.
though Garcia pressed him, Delgadillo slipped out of trouble
and in the middle rounds countered quite effectively.
After four rounds, two judges scored the fight 39-37,
the third judge scored it 40-36 all for Delgadillo.
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Thompson's jab was an effective weapon agains
the bigger Lobatos
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A few weeks ago, Vincent Thompson was told to go out and
fight, brawl, just punch away at the guy in front of him.
That strategy was to prove less effective against a heavier
Enrique Lobatos. Each time Thompson tried to turn the fight
in to a brawl, the two men ended up leaning on each other
and pushing each other across the ring.
There was a bit too much wresting in this bout, and the
heavier Lobatos was undoubtedly going to have an advantage
in that type of fight. To adjust, Thompson worked to
maintain distance between himself and Lobatos. From that
distance he could throw his jab, something he did
effectively though not quite often enough. Off of the jab,
Thompson was able to throw his right, and he found a big
target in Lobatos midsection. Again, Thompson did not
sustain such an attack through the fight.
There was little doubt that Thompson fought well enough
to win, or perhaps it was that Lobatos did nothing to keep
from losing, but all three judges scored the fight 40-36. In
his last two fights Thompson has shown moments when he can
be a brawler, and that he can box. When those skills come
together, he will be even better.
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In the opening round Manuel Ortega and Evgeny Gradovich
were headhunters. Neither man looked to break the other's
body, and the way the round progressed, it did not appear
that either of them would have to rely on body work. As the
round neared the end point Gradovich began to assert
himself, mostly because he showed that he could land an
effective counter punch.
Gradovich outboxed Ortega in the middle rounds. He
scored when he was able to pin Ortega against the ropes and
land combinations. Ortega displayed some toughness in
staying in the fight even after taking some heavy shots to
the chin.
Ortega came out aggressively in the fourth round,
perhaps he knew that in order to win he would have to score
a knockout. Gradovich played the game a bit, letting Ortega
step in close and throw, and then Gradovich would counter.
Gradovich continued to score with his right hand, something
for which Ortega had no answer.
All three judges scored the fight 40-36. Gradovich
snagged the unanimous decision win to remain unbeaten.
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Gradovich outboxed Ortega on the
inside
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The right hand of Russ did a lot of
damage
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Lamar Russ had little trouble with Brandon Wyatt in a
four round fight. In the first round Russ was quicker and
more accurate, and he probably was wondering why Wyatt was
still hanging around.
Russ continued to throw more punches and score with most
of them in the second round, and Wyatt still stood in front
and took punches. To his credit, Wyatt did attempt to mount
a bit of offense, but he was unable to get inside against
the taller Russ.
Just past midway of the third round Russ backed Wyatt
against the ropes and landed three hard right hands to
Wyatt's body. Russ did not drop Wyatt, but Wyatt had no
answer either. Having seen enough, and thinking of their
fighter, Wyatt's corner man stepped up on the apron to ask
that the fight be stopped.
Russ would score the TKO win at 1:52 of the third
round.
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Ben Metts was looking to turn a corner in his fight
career. Not one to shy away from tough fighters, Metts has
seen his last few fights finish in favor of his opponent.
Aaron Schupp, in his first outing, used his long reach to
defeat Brady Haugen.
The script for this fight would be familiar for both
men. Schupp started slow and then kept Metts at the end of
his jab. Metts jumped out of the gate, fired his jab at
Schupp's chin, and when the fight got close, he worked to
keep his hands moving.
The biggest difference in the fight was that though
Metts slipped away from serious trouble, he was still tagged
a bit too often. Schupp tried to unleash the occasional
uppercut, and though he did not land it flush, he succeeded
in keeping Metts from sliding in too tight.
At the end of four rounds two judges scored the fight
40-36; the third judge scored the bout 39-37, all in favor
of still unbeaten Aaron Schupp.
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Metts was able to score early with the
jab
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The third right in the second round ended the
fight
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Sergey Kovalev really made pretty short work of Harley
Kilfian. And Kovalev did most of the damage using only his
right hand. He did not need much else. Three times in the
first round Kovalev landed the right hand and three times
Kilfian went to the mat.
In the second round Kovalev continued what was
successful in the first round, using the right, and three
times it landed, and three times Kilfian dropped. Having
seen enough, the referee stepped in to stop the fight after
the third knockdown in the second round.
Kovalev, with the TKO at 1:24 of the second round
notched his eighth win, all of them by way of the KO.
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