By Cliff Rold
MORE LIVE RESULTS TO COME...................
Local fans were loudly enthralled with 20-year old lightweight Lamont Roach Jr. (10-0, 3 KO), 131 ½, of Washington, DC. Roach scored a first-round knockdown and worked hard for an eight-round unanimous decision over 31-year old trial horse Jesus Lule (8-16-1, 1 KO), 133 ½, of Fort Myers, Florida. The referee was Billy Johnson.
It was short work in the super middleweight division, at least for the super middleweight in the ring. 22-year old D’Mitrius Ballard (12-0, 8 KO), 168 ¼, of Washington, DC, pleased hometown fans with three knockdowns in round two for a stoppage of an overweight Liovsy Mayedo (8-3, 6 KO), 175, of Las Tuna, Cuba. Ballard found copious soft spots around the gut of Mayedo, dropping him with vicious hooks to the body before the stoppage was called at 1:40 of round two. Ballard’s stoppage victory halted a trio of decision wins. The referee was Marshall Cunningham.
In Jr. welterweight action, 23-year old Zachary Ochoa (14-0, 6 KO), 140, of Brooklyn, New York, got in some rounds in an easy victory over an outclassed 30-year old Rosbel Montoya (16-7-1, 13 KO), 140 ½, of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Ochoa couldn’t really hurt Montoya but he was an elusive target able to land his jab and command the length of the affair. Scores came in at 59-55 and 60-54 twice. The defeat was Montoya’s fifth in a row after being stopped in each of his last four fights. Ochoa may be a fighter we get used to seeing go to the cards. The referee was Brent Bovell.
25-year old featherweight Kevin Rivers (13-1, 10 KO), 126, of Palmer Park, Maryland, pounded out a one-sided sixth-round stoppage of Angel Aispuro (6-4-2, 3 KO), 126 ½, of Sinaloa, Mexico. River, quicker and vastly more skilled, got some good work in while weathering only token return fire. A shot in the final round left Aispuro with a gory right ear, prompting the ringside doctor onto the apron for a look. Deemed unfit to continue, the bout was halted at 2:17 of round six. Rivers rebounds from his first professional defeat in his last bout, a six-round majority decision loss.
23-year old lightweight Damon Allen (9-0, 3 KO), 135 ¼, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, showed off speed and efficiency en route to an entertaining unanimous decision over 23-year old Daniel Perales (6-4-1, 4 KO), 135 ¼, of McAllen, Texas. Allen couldn’t miss as the fight progressed, torturing Perales with flush long rights, left hooks, and body blows. The Texan was game though, absorbing the beating and firing back, landing often enough to engage the slowly assembling crowd. Allen received an earned trio of 60-54 scores in the six-round contest.
In the opening bout of the evening, 28-year old light heavyweight Todd Unthank-May (9-0, 3 KO), 177 ¾, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, worked through some exciting early exchanges with 34-year old Alexander Johnson (16-4, 7 KO), 175 ½, to score a unanimous six-round decision. Unthank-May steadily took over the fight, walking down Johnson through the second half for a workmanlike finish. Scores came in at 59-55, 58-55, and 59-53 for Unthank-May.
The final two bouts of the evening were televised in the US on HBO as part of its “Boxing After Dark” series, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Top Rank, King Kong Boxing, and Warriors Boxing. Additional bouts were webcast on RingTV.com
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene and a member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
