By: Jeff Townsend, Boxing writer
Bayareasportsdrive.com
5-08-09
The American Metal & Iron Fight Night at the Tank boxing series at the
HP Pavilion in San Jose, California kicked off the 2009 season with a
new format entitled “The Next Chapter”. This new format consisted of
seven bouts, all of them only scheduled for four rounds. The emphasis
was on a night of boxing action, with no focus on one particular
fighter. There were no prospects on the card, no up-and-comers, just
guys stepping into the ring to provide entertainment for the crowd.
Four round fights are for boxers who have had very
little professional experience and that included all of the fighters on
this fight card. Out of the 14 fighters on the card, five had never
fought professionally before and most of the other fighters only had a
few professional fights.
Usually, a particular fighter is promoted as being
the main event but “The Next Chapter” focused on a team format. One
team was called the Blue Team, which was sort-of like the home team
since it featured primarily fighters from the Bay Area. The opposing
team, the Red Team, was essentially the away team since their fighters
were, for the most part, from areas other than the Bay Area.
Incidentally, the Blue Team won the overall
competition since their fighters won four of the bouts while the Red
Team only won one fight. This was great for the fighters since each
Blue Team member received a $300 bonus but it was clear the crowd really
did not care which team won. Boxing is an individual sport and it is
very difficult to arbitrarily group up fighters on different teams.
In the last fight of the night and what might
normally be considered to be the main event, Alex Paracha (3-0, 2 KOs)
of San Francisco, CA won a majority decision over Adrian Tait (2-1-1, 1
KO) of Quartzhill, CA in a four round junior welterweight match-up.
Paracha came out aggressively in the first two rounds, trying to land
one big punch. It was clear he was trying to land a big right hand to
knock out Tait but he was not making any effort any set up his punches.
Tait started using his jab a little more in the second round which made
Paracha look very awkward. The third and fourth rounds consisted of a
lot of missed punches which usually ended up causing a clinch to end the
action.
Clint Coronel (0-0-1) of San Jose, California and
Ruben Rivera (1-0-1) of Los Angeles, California fought to a draw in a
four round junior middleweight bout. Rivera had a considerable height
and reach advantage on the shorter Coronel but was not able to be
consistent with keeping Coronel on the outside and utilizing his
advantage for a win.
In the most action-packed fight of the night,
Melissa McMorrow (2-0-1) of San Jose, California and Jolene Blackshear
(4-2-1, 2 KOs) of San Diego, California fought to a draw in a four round
light flyweight bout. Blackshear knocked down McMorrow three times in
the second round which provided a lot of excitement. In the course of
one of the knockdowns, Blackshear hit McMorrow while she had one knee on
the canvas. This caused the referee to deduct one point from Blackshear
and gave McMorrow the chance to salvage a draw.
Heavyweight Andrae Cathron (2-1-1) of Hollywood,
California won a four round unanimous decision over Jay Horton (4-3) of
Pomona, California by knocking down Horton two times in the first round,
causing all three judges to score the fight 40-34 for Cathron.
Welterweight Ricky Duenas (2-1, 1 KO) of Los
Angeles, California knocked down Efrain Rivera (1-1) of San Jose,
California three times, forcing Rivera’s corner to waive off the fight
near the end of the second round. Duenas wins via second round TKO.
Miguel Lopez (1-0) of Oakland, California scored a
TKO over David ‘Ali’ Contreras (0-2) of San Jose, California in the
second round of their four round junior middleweight bout.
In the opening bout of the night, Moris Rodriquez
(1-0) of Chico, California won a four round split decision over Eduardo
Herrera (0-1) of Bakersfield, California.
Attendance was 2,924 for this first installment
for 2009 of American Metal & Iron Fight Night at the Tank. This was a
very surprising number since there were no prospects or ‘main event
fighters’ on the card.
Email Jeff with questions or comments at
jtownsend@bayareasportsdrive.com
