Alycia Baumgardner vs Christina Linardatou 2 Fight Report from King P

It was great to be in Detroit for the first time. Detroit is a city rich with tradition. Especially when it comes to Boxing. That’s what I was there for on Saturday night: Boxing at the Masonic Temple to watch Undisputed 130 champion Alycia “The Bomb” Baumgardner defend her titles against Christina Linadartou.

The first fight on the untelevised portion was Joshua Pagan taking on Gabriel Smith. Fight didn’t last long, as Pagan made quick work of Smith within the opening minute of Round 1. Next fight was Joseph Hicks taking on Ramses Agaton. Hicks looked sharp. A bit of rough inside holding, but he fought through it and hit Agaton with hard hooks and uppercuts. Stunned him at the end of the first. Fighting got progressively rough, and a lot of hooks landed from Hicks. There was also quite a bit of taunting from both fighters. At the end of the third, Agaton intentionally laid on the ropes, daring Hicks to tag him. In the fourth, the fight was stopped momentarily to tie Hicks shoes. While getting his laces tied, Hicks winked at Agaton. Then they continued to taunt each other, even at the end of the round. Referee had to separate the two. At the beginning of the sixth and final round, Hicks tried to touch gloves and Agaton pushed his glove away. At the final bell, Hicks stuck his tongue out. Outside of all the taunting, it was a rough fight in which Hicks controlled the pace and landed all the meaningful shots. He was given a 60-54 score by all three judges, making it a wide unanimous decision.

Next fight was Cameron Pankey taking on Misael Reyes. Pankey looked sharp, he was tagging Reyes all fight especially with the left hook which he couldn’t seem to miss with. Credit Reyes for his chin because he’s been absorbing some hard shots. But in the end, he had nothing for Cameron Pankey, who took the decision by 60-54 shutout on all cards. Next fight was Jemarco Holloway vs Angelo Snow. Both Holloway and Snow started off slow in the first, then picked up the pace in the second. Holloway landed some nice uppercuts. Holloway then had some nice work in the third round. Snow was leaking from the nose. Holloway put together his punches well in the fourth, and the ref waved it off. TKO victory for Holloway

After the televised portion of the card began. It kicked off with JaRico O’Quinn taking on Carlos Mujica. Both fighters started off doing nice work in Round 1. Good exchanges between both guys. They were fighting on even terms, but Mujica was applying pressure and O’Quinn was having difficulties keeping up with the higher pace. He managed to tag Mujica and keep up with the pressure though as the fight progressed. At the end, Quinn was announced the winner by unanimous decision (100-90, 97-93, 96-94). Next fight was heavyweight Jermaine Franklin vs Isaac Munoz. Franklin was fighting in his home state (He’s from Saginaw, not too far from Detroit) and so there was quite a bit of cheering for him. Munoz’s best trait was his durability, because he was getting hit with everything but the kitchen sink. Franklin was putting the pressure on him and landing at will. Target practice for him. I was surprised Munoz was still standing after 10 rounds of getting hit with everything Franklin threw. Franklin picked up the easy UD (100-91 2x, 99-91).

Next up was the co-main: the long anticipated debut of the Cuban Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz. His debut was a ten round fight against veteran Juan Carlos Burgos, who just came off a defeat at the hands of Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis. It was going to be interesting to see how Cruz performed in comparison. Cruz did not disappoint with his performance. He showed great hand speed, footwork, combination punching, reflexes, and defensive slickness. He was able to fight on the outside and inside, tagging Burgos at all angles. Cruz even showed adversity, as he was low blowed a couple of times but was able to push through. The most impressive part was how good his stamina was. This kid has spent his whole career to dare fighting three rounders yet looked completely fresh going into the late rounds. The only thing he did not show was power. Although I expected this to be the case, as Cruz had a slapping style in the amateurs. His trainer Bozy Ennis will seek to correct that, but it will take some time going forward. Cruz did at least turn over his right hand a bit, plus Burgos is a guy who has never been stopped before. And he’s faced the likes of Mikey Garcia, Rocky Martinez, Devin Haney, and Keyshawn Davis. Therefore, I will not hold it against Andy that he did not stop Burgos. We will see in future fights if Andy has some power or not. Overall, Cruz showed his tremendous talent and won an easy UD (100-90 2x, 98-92).

Now it was time for the main event. Undisputed champion Alycia Baumgardner takes on Christina Linadartou. Linadartou was greeted with many loud boos, though it did not bother her as she danced her way to the ring. Alycia was walked out to the ring by popular Detroit rapper Sada Baby and was greeted with a loud number of cheers. Alycia started off the fight slow, being very patient and methodical. She picked her spots and tried to counter Linadartou when she came in. By the fourth round, Baumgardner started picking up the pace and landed a barrage of combinations. In the fifth round she put together a nice sequence of body work. She could have gotten a stoppage in that round if there was an extra minute. But alas, this is what we deal with when it comes to women’s boxing. I won’t beat a dead horse here though. By the seventh round, Linadartou was still putting up a valiant effort. But it was clear she was slowing down a bit. Meanwhile Baumgardner was killing her with left hooks to the head and body. Alycia continued to push the pace, and easily outclassed Christina late in the fight. The fight went the full ten, and Alycia was declared the winner, by UD (99-91, 98-92x). It was vindication for Alycia, who suffered the first and only loss of her career to Linadartou. She was excited to get her “lick back” and close that chapter. Baumgardner wants all the big fights. The names she mentioned: Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, and Chantelle Cameron. All great fights for her. We look forward to seeing what’s in store for AB next. But she capped off an incredibly fun, exciting, and lively night of boxing in Detroit. It was an event worth

Prograis vs Zorrilla Fight Report

Before I get into talking about the Prograis vs Zorrilla card, I got to talk about New Orleans for a little. I had only been to New Orleans before on a layover, so it was my first time out in the city. King P and I enjoyed all the food and sights it had to offer. The food especially because we were saying to ourselves, if we lived here, we would be obese. Bourbon St, Canal St, Frenchmen St, etc. were great sources of entertainment. The things that we saw and experienced on that street. I only wished we stayed a couple more days more.

Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom

Now onto the boxing experience. This was the first time 2 Ring Gang members were in the house covering the event. The weigh in was an interesting event and we got a glimpse on how many family members and friends that Regis Prograis had. Prograis had the pure patience of a champion to take pictures with anyone. The next day King P and I had to exhibit the same level of patience once we arrived at Smoothie King. The process for getting our credentials and finding the media entrance was a trying process to say the least. The before the bell segment opened with Criztec Bazaldus winning a spirited four round decision over Elroy Fruto. The second fight with Aaron Aponte and Xavier Madrid was a dogfight to say the least. A costly point deduction for Aponte resulted in him losing a split decision. 76-75 x2 for Madrid and 78-73 for Aponte. The third and last fight on the before the bell segment is a special attraction fight between Ginny Fuchs and Indeya Rodriguez. Another hard scrap in which the scrappy Indeya gives Ginny plenty to think about. At the end of eight rounds, Ginny Fuchs won the UD with scores of 80-72 x 2 and 79-73 over Indeya Rodriguez.

Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom

In the opening fight of the main card, Jeremy Hill stopped Mark “Too Sharp” Davis in four rounds. At the weigh in both guys were animated and predicting knockouts. Well one of them got their prediction right. A right hook over the left hand from Hill caught Davis on the temple. A follow up combination deposited him on the canvas. Davis got up on groggy legs and the ref decided to wave it off. The crowd erupted as Hill celebrated and then knelt in prayer. Next fight is the increasingly popular Ramla Ali facing the tough Julissa Guzman. Guzman was landing the heavier shots, but Ali is the one that drew first blood. After a knockdown in round five, Guzman ended things in round eight with a brutal left hook. To her credit, Ali got up before the count but clearly was in no condition to continue. From there the quality of the card took an unexpecting decline in terms of entertainment.

Credit: Bad Left Hook

The co-main between Shakram Giyasov and Harold Calderon started off a chess match. Then it dissolved into a negative affair of posturing and showboating of which neither pleased the crowd. Twelve rounds of non-action with Giyasov getting the unimpressive decision over Calderon among boos in the crowd. The fight was sleep inducing and disappointing because both fighters had the power to make the fight interesting. If it weren’t like such a maze to get to the refreshment stand, I would have gotten a Redbull. King P and I were thinking that that fight was an aberration. We were wrong!!!  The main event everybody has been waiting for with Regis Prograis and Danielito Zorrilla. Liam Paro was Prograis In the first round it looked like Prograis got dropped but ref called it a slip. On replay it looked clear that it was. That was a KD, a blown call and Prograis got shook up. In round three, Prograis did return the KD. The only impressive moment of the fight to me. The rest of the fight was characterized by wild swings by Prograis and getting on the bike by Zorrilla. If Zorrilla had a plan, the plan should have been activated. You must take the belt from the champion. Zorrilla did clearly win the final two rounds of the fight. The judges gave the fight to Prograis by a split decision 118-109 and 117-110 for Prograis with 114-113 for Zorrilla. What a wide range of scores!!! King P and I felt like the scores were close. The fight to me was 115-112. It was closer than to 114-113 for sure. Zorrilla though had no right to be pouting in the ring like he did. He came to spoil and will spoil his future chances to be put on TV. Prograis was clearly disgusted and apologetic about the fight and performance. CompuBox announced they set the record for the least number of punches landed in a twelve round fight. 4-5 punches landed less than Casimero vs Rigondeaux, which is one of the worst fights I ever watched. Hopefully Prograis can rebound and make the rest of the fights on his deal worth it. Always Ring Gang Radio will be there to cover it and be in the mix.