By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña

Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada two of boxing top undefeated fighters put it all on the line inside of  The Cosmopolitan as Frank Martin and Michel “La Zara Ali” Rivera each looked to get the opportunity to fight for the WBA World Lightweight Title. Martin and Rivera both used excellent timing and ring generalship in the 1st round to feel each other out. As the second round began the pressure and speed of Martin began to fluster Rivera, and by the 3rd Rivera had made his adjustments, adapted and used his reach and boxing abilities to begin to neutralize the speed of Martin. The next rounds however the crispness, power, speed and relentless pressure of Martin had taken a toll on Rivera. Then in 7Th round Rivera was caught with a vicious two punch combination sending to the him canvas. Martin continued the onslaught of damage and after twelve one sided rounds of action Martin walked away with a big unanimous decision as the judges had the cards 120-107, 118-109 and 117-110. After the fight Martin stated This is just what I do. I felt good tonight. There were some things that I saw in there that I didn’t capitalize on, but we went in there and got the job done.“In the corner Derrick was telling me to stay on the outside, watch out for the right hand and work the game plan. I was using my legs and I could have done it a lot more. It worked for us tonight, but there’s a lot of room for improvement and we’re going to keep working. We believe in ‘Man Down’. He got caught slipping and he went down. I just believe in myself and I believe in our team. We know what we’re doing and we’re working consistently. We believed in it and believed that we’re ready for any of the top fighters, so let us get them. We’re ready to eat. It’s a blessing and they keep me going. I’m always watching Errol when he’s sparring and I’m always asking questions and looking to get better. Seeing champions on top like them, I’m getting nothing but game from them. We want all of them. Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, we’re ready. Let’s make it happen.”

 

In the Co-Main event of the evening the hard hitting Jose Uzcategui (32-5, 27 KOs) entered the ring for a IBF World Title Elimination fight with the undefeated Vladimir Shishkin (14-0, 8 KOs) from Stepnoe, Russia. The thirty six fight veteran, Uzcategui came out from the jump applying pressure early and often on the Russian. In the second round Shishkin would begin to find his timing as a very electric fight began to unfold inside of the Cosmopolitan. Uzcategui and Shishkin would go back and forth through the middle rounds landing combinations and tremendous power punches on face of each other at will. By t he late rounds Shishkin looked to be the fresher of the two and seemed to be pulling away on the scorecards in a very competitive match. When the final bell rang after twelve hard fought brutal rounds, it was Vladimir Shishkin who would come away with the unanimous decision victory as the judges scored the fight 115-113 and 117-111(x2) “ I came to America, and I’ve been living here for the last few years, to reach my goal and become world champion. This is a big step in that direction. It was a big chance for me and I took advantage of it. I felt in control throughout the fight. I’m on a higher level now, so the fights are going to be tougher. He pushed me hard. It was something new for me. “I want all the big names at 168 pounds. Canelo is the champion right now and I’ll be ready to give him all he can handle.”

Vladimir Shishkin gets a unanimous decision victory over Jose Uzcategui

To kick off the Showtime Boxing card, Vincent Astrolabio (18-3, 13 KOs) from General Santos City in the Philippines went toe to toe with Nikolai Potapov (23-3-1, 11 KOs) from Podolsk, Russia in a 12 round IBF World Bantamweight Title Eliminator and the WBO Intercontinental Championship. From the opening bell both fighters threw punches with bad intentions written all over them. Early in the first round Astrolabio connected with a sweeping right hook flooring Potapov but referee Robert Hoyle waived off the knockdown. Just seconds later however Astrolabio connected again with a big left hand dropping Potapov again but this time it counted. The 2nd round was much of the same as Astrolabio controlled the distance and the pace and eventually placed a perfect right hand on the face of Potapov opening a cut over his left eye. In the 5th Astrolabio continued his dominance landing a plethora of punches to the head and body of Potapov before dropping him for the second time of bout with a huge counter left. Potapov would beat the count but Astrolabio would finish the fight in exciting fashion, and keep his promise to his idol Manny Pacquiao, knocking out Potapov at the 1:12 mark of the 6th Round 

“I’m very happy with the victory. This was my first time in the U.S. and I’m thankful to Manny Pacquiao and my whole team for this opportunity. I felt very strong against my opponent. Just like I did against Guillermo Rigondeaux, and that gave me confidence for this fight. “I will fight whoever I’m able to, but my dream is to become world champion. I want to fight for the belts. “I’m so thankful that I had this and that ‘ I was able to give everyone a knockout. This is the biggest moment of my career and I’m going to keep pushing to fight the best.”

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Also on the card in a special 10 round Super Lightweight attraction, Omar Juarez (13-1, 5 KOs) of Brownsville, Texas entered the ring with the hopes of getting one step closer to a world title fight when he took on Austin Dulay (15-3, 11 KOs) of Nashville, Tennessee. In hotly contested battle Juarez and Dulay came out firing on all cylinders. Early in the bout Juarez landed the cleaner more effective punches but that was negated by a deduction of two points in the second round, as Juarez struck Dulay twice with low blows sending Dulay to the canvas in clear pain. Although clearly dominate Juarez was again deducted a point in the 4th round for another low blow. Throughout the rest of the fight Juarez would continue to control the pace and clearly began to focus on the face of Dulay, as another deduction may have cost him the bout do to a disqualification. After 10 complete round the judges returned with the scores of 96-91 (x2) and 94-93. After the bout Juarez stated “It is what it is it was a rugged fight it’s boxing. I focused on the body and a few shots went low, but it is what it is”  

Other bouts included 

Bakhram Murtazaliev, Grozny, Russia (21-0, 15 KOs) vs Roberto Valenzuela Jr., Agua Prieta, Mexico (20-4, 19 KOs) 8 rounds Super Welterweights

Results: Murtazliev wins a Unanimous Decision winning 80-72 on all three judges scorecards.

Ray Robinson, Cincinnati, Ohio (1-0) vs Victor Saravia, Los Angeles, California (1-4, 1 KO) 4 rounds Super Bantamweight 

Results: Ray Robinson wins by Unanimous Decision 

Kenneth Sims Jr., Chicago, Illinois (19-2-1, 7 KOs) vs Rock Myrthil, Los Angeles, California (17-2, 13 KOs) 8 Rounds Welterweight 

Results: Sims Jr. comes away with a 5th round TKO 

Joahnys Argilagos, Camaguey, Cuba (8-1, 4 KOs) vs Mario Hernandez, Santa Ana, California ( 10-3-1, 3 KOs) 4 rounds Bantamweight

Results: Argilagos wins by Unanimous Decision 

Elijah Garcia, Phoenix , Arizona (12-0, 10 KOs) vs Cruse Stewart, Maple Grove, Minnesota (8-1, 6 KOs) 8 rounds Middleweights

Results: Garcia comes away with a devastating 2nd round knockout

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