Some thought Sergio Martinez was robbed out of a victory just four months ago at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom in Boardwalk Hall when he fought Paul Williams. Well just a few yards away in the same building and a different opponent, Martinez got his just due as he won the undisputed Middleweight championship of the world by scoring a unanimous decision over Kelly Pavlik at historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
After a non-descript round one, Pavlik was cut from a possible butt around the left eye. That gave Martinez confidence as he began to drop his hands and land some slick combinations to take the second. Pavlik had a dcecent round three as he scored with some right hands. Round four saw Martinez gain alot of confidence as he began to showboat around as he landed some hard hooks and than he buckled Pavlik with a hard 1-2. In round five, Pavlik started getting through with solid rights over the top and the incited the pro-Pavlik crowd of chants of “Kelly Kelly Kelly”..
In round seven, Pavlik landed a little uppercut on the inside and combined with the feet of the two men getting tangled, Pavlik was awarded a knockdown. Pavlik punctuated the round with a hard right over the top. Martinez got back to boxing in round eight as he landed some nice small combinations to steal the round. The fight turned in round nine as Martinez battered Pavlik with hard quick combination’s with the champions face being reduced to a crimson mask as blood streamed down from both side of his face. It was much of the same in the tenth as Martinez landed some nice straight lefts that had the face of Pavlik looking like mince meat. Martinez started the twelth by moving in but landed some nice straight lefts and Pavlik looked the like the same fighter who lost to Bernard Hopkins in the very same ring nineteen months ago.
Martinez, 159 1/2 lbs of Madrid, Spain won by scores of 116-111; 115-111 and 115-112 (15rounds.com had it 115-113) to become a two-time champion and is now 45-2-2.
Pavlik, 159 1/2 lbs of Youngstown, OH is now 36-2.
Glen Tapia remained undefeated with a spirited four round unanimous decision over James Winchester in a Jr. Middleweight bout.
Tapia got the better of the action as he landed several barrages and had Winchester in trouble on a couple of occasions. Tapia dropped Winchester early in round two with a big right hand and almost ended the fight with one of those flurries that had Winchester bleeding from both the nose and mouth. Winchester tried to giad the young Tapia with some “smack talk” and the end of round tghree, but Tapia stayed composed and cruised home for the victory of 40-35 on all cards.
Tapia, 152 lbs of Passaic, NJ is now 6-0. Winchester, 153 1/2 lbs of Greensboro, NC is now 10-4.
Prized prospect Matt Korobov was less than impressive yet cruised to an eight round unanimous decision over Joshua Snyder in a Middleweight bout.
Korobox was slicker and landed the cleaner combinations but seemed ti run out of gas midway through the fight. Snyder was unable to capitalize with the exception of a few brief moments when he was able to trap Korobov against the ropes.
Korobov, 160 lbs of St. Petersburg, FL won by scores of 79-73; 79-73 and 78-74 to remain undefeated at 11-0. Snyder, 159 1/2 lbs of Berlin, MD is now 8-5-1.
Mike Jones remained undefeated as he battered Hector Munoz all over the ring and the bout was stopped in round five of their scheduled ten round Welterweight bout.
Jones ripped Munoz with hard shots to the head and body while using an effective jab to keep the gritty Munoz off og him. Munoz showed a terrific chin as he endured many vicious shots without ever going down.
The fine came when Jones landed some hard shots to the head that had Munoz rocked all over the ring and one huge right to the head that was preceded by four big power shots had referee Benji Esteves stop the bout at 2:03 of round five.
Jones, 146 lbs of Philadelphia will now look for a possible HBO debut on June 5th at Yankee Stadium with a record of 21-0 with seventten knockouts. Munoz, 146 lbs of Albuquerque, NM is now 18-3-1
Chris Hazimihalis dropped Ramon Ellis in round one and needed just eighty-eight seconds to score the first round knockout in their scheduled four round Lightweight bout.
hazimihalis dropped Ellis with a big right hand. Ellis got to his feet and when the action resumed Hazimilhalis swarmed Ellis and the fight was stopped.
Hazimihalis, 136 lbs of Youngstown, OH is now 2-0 with two knockouts. Ellis, 138 lbs of Philadelphia is 0-5
The son of the legend, Ronald Hearns annihilated Delray Raines inside of one round of a scheduled eight round Jr. Middleweight bout.
Hearns dropped Raines with a big right hand in the first minute of the bout. Hearns finished the deal off with a booming right that sent Raines down for the ten count at 1:47 of round one.
Hearns, 155 lbs of Southfield, MI is now 25-1 with nineteen knockouts. Raines, 157 lbs of Paris, AR is now 17-8-1.
In a mild upset, Vincent Arroyo stunned previously undefeated by scoring a knockout in the final round of their scheduled eight round Jr. Welterweight bout.
Bryan dominated the first seven round as he boxed very well using a nice right hand behind singe and double jabs. Bryan knocked out Arroyo’s mouthpiece on two ocassions as he got through with solid hooks.
Seemingly well ahead on the cards, Arroyo caught Bryan with a big left hoof that sent Bryan back towards the ropes. With Bryan squatting on the bottom rope and on his way down, Arroyo blasted Bryan with two hard shots and knocked him at 1:13 of the final round.
Arroyo, 142 lbs of Amherst, NY is now 10-1 with seven knockouts. Bryan, 142 lbs of Paterson, NJ suffers his first defeat and is now 13-1.
Former hot Heavyweight contender, Dominick Guinn stopped Terrell Nelson after round seven of a scheduled eight round bout.
Guinn Dropped Nelson in round one from a big over hand right. Guinn dominated the actionm for most of the fight with exceptions of brief offense from Nelson. In round seven, Guinn landed two huge right hands that drove him back and in trouble. Nelson failed to answer the bell and Guinn got the stoppage victory.
Guinn, 229 1/2 lbs of Houston, TX and is now 33-6-1 with twenty-two knockouts. Nelson, 252 lbs of Plainfield, NJ is now 8-10.
Photo by Claudia Bocanegra
