TUA VS BARRETT ENDS IN DRAW
Press
Release: July 18, 2010
On Saturday night, before a packed house at
the Tropicana showroom in the Tropicana Casino and Resort, Joe
DeGuardia's Star Boxing presented an action packed eight bout card. The
event, shown live on PPV, featured knockouts, upsets, and just all
around great fights.
The show was headlined by David Tua
defending his WBO Asian Pacific and WBO Oriental titles against
long-time top rated contender Monte "Two Gunz" Barrett. Prior to the
fight, Joe DeGuardia, CEO and President of Star Boxing, stated what an
exciting fight it would be, and he was right on point.
Barrett, who announced prior to the fight
that win lose or draw this would be his last bout, was a huge underdog
coming in against the heavy-handed Tua and in the beginning it looked as
though Tua's power would simply be too much for him to handle.
Tua came out strong, landing heavy shots,
and putting his notorious left hook on display in the early rounds. To
Barrett's credit he took the shots well, as he looked to circle and box
from the outside.
As the rounds progressed Barrett began
landing more combinations from the outside, while Tua worked his way
inside looking to score with his huge hooks and over hand rights.
As the championships rounds began, the
crowd seemed to sense that something special was in store.
Down on the scorecards, Barrett began
sitting down on his punches in the 10th, landing some heavy right hands
on the face of Tua. A huge overhand right from Barrett wobbled Tua near
the end of the round.
The 11th saw Tua come back strong, as
Barrett seemed to be saving himself for the final round.
In the 12th Tua came out looking for the
knockout and looked to be on his way. Midway through the round Tua threw
Barrett to the canvas. The foul was blatant and the referee took a point
away from Tua. When the action resumed Barrett unleashed a vicious
barrage of punches with his back against the ropes, that dropped Tua for
the first time in his entire career. Tua beat the count, and for the
final 30 seconds of the round the two went to war, bringing the crowd
into a standing frenzy.
TUA (L) WITH JOE DEGUARDIA AND MONTE
BARRETT
Before the scores were announced both
fighters embraced at the center of the ring, as the crowd cheered them
on loudly, showing their appreciation for the great fight.
One judge saw Tua ahead by a score of
115-111, but he was overturned by the two other judges who saw the fight
dead even at 113-113. The 10-7 round for Barrett in the 12th, enabled
him to pull out the draw.
In the co-feature bout of the evening, Star
Boxing's up and coming welterweight, Raymond "Tito" Serrano improved his
record to a perfect 13-0 by winning an eight round decision over tough
as nails Ayi Bruce.
In a very entertaining bout, Serrano used
his superior boxing ability and piston like jab to outwork the hard
charging Ghana native Bruce for the majority of the fight. Bruce began
to tire in the later rounds and looked for one big shot to swing the
fight in his favor, but it never came. Serrano was the much busier and
more accurate of the two, and earned the well-deserved decision.
With the win Serrano improved to 13-0,
6KO's while Bruce dropped to 6-3, 4KO's.
UNDERCARD
In the opening TV bout of the night,
two-time French Olympian, Khedafi Djelkhir scored a wild and devastating
first round knockout over Jorge Cordero.
Djelkhir came out in the first and almost
immediately sent Cordero to the canvas. When the fight resumed Djelkhir
went right in for the kill, leaving himself wide open for a counter left
hook that dropped him hard. He was able to beat the count but was on
very shaky legs and it looked as though Cordero might score the upset.
As the round was nearing the close, Djelkhir unleashed a huge right hand
that sent Cordero down and out. Official time of the stoppage was 2:27
of the first round.
With the win, Djelkhir improves to 7-0,
6KO's, while Cordero drops to 4-3, 2KO's.
In a major upset Carlos Vinan stopped
European lightweight champion Anthony Mezaache in the 8th and final
round of their action-packed lightweight showdown.
There was good two-way action for the
entire fight, as Mezaache boxed from the outside as the rugged Cordero
looked to bring the fight into a brawl.
In the 8th Cordero shot out of his corner
like a cannon and jumped all over Mezaache, sending him to the canvas
with a barrage of punches. Mezaache was able to beat the count but was
in bad shape. After a follow up barrage that had Mezaache in trouble
again, his corner threw in the towel, saving their fighter from further
punishment.
With the upset win, Vinan improves to
10-8-4, 2KO's while Mezaache drops to 18-6-3, 4KO's.
OTHER RESULTS:
Bayan Jargal D8 James Hope
Mike Perez TKO1 Jorge Ruiz
Jason Escalera TKO3 Amador Acevedo
Sean Monaghan KO1 Dennis Penelton |