Ismayl Sillakh Continues The Comeback Trail in Cali

By Francisco Salazar

While most of Southern California will like be paying attention to the action in Las Vegas on Saturday night, a fight card will take place featuring a world title contender and local talent.

Light heavyweight contender Ismayl Sillakh will fight Mitch Williams in a scheduled eight round bout at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

The bout will headline a scheduled 10-bout “Battle of the Rising Stars” card, presented by All Star Boxing Promotions card.

Sillakh (18-1, 15 KOs), is originally from Zaporozhye, Ukraine and now residing in Canoga Park, CA. He is coming off a second round knockout over Daniel Adotey Allotey at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello on February 23rd.

The Allotey fight was 10 months after Sillakh was stopped in the eighth round by Denis Grachev in Austin, TX.

Williams (7-2-1, 5 KOs), from Jackson, MI, is coming off a second round technical knockout over Henry Namauu two weeks ago in Tustin, CA. Williams is unbeaten in his last seven bouts in a row.

Ironically, Williams also fought on the same fight card in Austin that features Sillakh and Grachev. Williams won a four round unanimous decision over Rayford Johnson.

A trio of fighters from Oxnard will fight on the card. Javier Garcia (8-2-2, 7 KOs), the nephew of Robert Garcia, will fight Omar Avelar (2-5, 1 KO) in a scheduled six round junior welterweight bout.

Irving Garcia (9-1, 5 KOs) will fight Highland Park’s Osman Rivera (2-4) in a scheduled six round lightweight bout. Super welterweight Josue Garcia will fight Temecula’s Thomas Gray, who will be making his professional debut, in a scheduled four round bout.

A pair of unbeaten featherweights will square off in a scheduled six round bout in Humberto Zatarain (3-0-1) and Karihi Tehei (2-0, 2 KOs). Tehei is from Pepeete, French Polynesia.

Super lightweight Jaime Ocegueda (7-0-1, 5 KOs) will fight Rynell Griffin (6-13-2, 2 KOs) in a scheduled six round bout.

Rounding out the card will be welterweight Brian Jones (5-0, 3 KOs) fighting Jose Martell (2-6-1) in a scheduled four round bout. Heavyweights Charles Martin (5-0, 5 KOs) and Alvaro Morales (6-12-6) will square off in a scheduled four round bout.

Heavyweight Jonathan Hamm (4-1, 3 KOs) will fight Ethan Cox (2-7-1, 1 KO) in a scheduled four round bout, while featherweights Vladimir Gavrilov (1-0) and Justin Santistevan (0-1) do battle over four scheduled rounds.

Doors open at 6:30 PM, with the first bell scheduled for 7:00 PM. Tickets could be purchased at the door or by calling (323) 816-6200 or (323) 781-4871. The Westin Bonaventure is located at 404 South Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles.