By George Phillips
The Arco Arena in Sacramento, California saw "Contender: Season One" champion Sergio Mora, pick up a big win that may land him a potential title shot in his next bout.
In the main event, Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora slithered his way closer to victory with an impressive 10 round UD victory over IBA Continental Middleweight Champion Eric Regan. With this victory, Mora improves to 19-0 and Regan drops to 26-3. Mora ignored the hometown cheers for Regan. The 1st round saw Regan being the aggressor over Mora catching Mora with some hard shots. Regan using his tall and lean body to try and cause Mora to jump in.
Mora jumped in and hurt Regan with a barrage of punches to steal the round on the judge’s scorecards and silence the hometown crowd. The 2nd round of the main event of ESPN2’s Friday night fights was all Mora as he has slowed down the pace of the much taller Regan.
Mora hit Regan with a lead left hand and Mora is tactfully advancing closer to Regan’s body landing effective shots then slithering out of harms way just as fast. Mora inviting Regan to go toe to toe at the end of the 2nd.
The 3rd saw Regan landing some shots to Mora and attempting to stay on the outside and jab Mora. Regan in trouble with 1:30 left of the 3rd. Mora taking advantage of being in close and not getting smothered. Mora using the crossover changing from orthodox style to southpaw. Mora settling down and keeping Regan out of range.
The 4th began with Regan seeking to put together an offensive behind his jab. Regan failing to keep Mora on the outside. Mora turned to southpaw to slow down Regan’s pace. Mora taunting Regan to tow the line. Mora warned for late punches. The 5th saw Mora jumping in with the left hook and landed a short left on the inside. Mora landed his best combination of the night in close and quickly switched to southpaw. Mora rocked Regan with 40 seconds left in the round and continued to score points until the bell to end the 5th round.
The 6th round saw Mora rallying with a flurry of punches to continue to take Regan off his fight plan. The 7th was a more back-n-forth round with Regan showing some signs of life. The 8th round saw Mora rock Regan with a hard right hand as Regan moved forward to attack Mora. Mora is cutting off Regan’s height advantage.
Mora landing a hard right uppercut on the inside and Regan is having difficulty keeping Mora on his outside. Regan holding on the inside and Mora is changing again to southpaw confusing Regan. Mora began round 9 in unchartered waters as this is the first time in his career he as gone past 8 rounds.
Mora continues to work inside and forces Regan to give up his height advantage. Regan rocked but rallied late in the 9th.. The 10th and final round began with both fighters squaring off in the center of the ring. Mora continued to keep up the pressure and Regan is trying to pull the fight out of the fire. Regan needing a knockout to win the fight. Regan being aggressive but Mora continued to counter his attacks. Mora dancing around the ring to keep Regan at bay. Regan looking to trade with Mora but is tied up. Mora hitting Regan with a barrage of punches at the bell.
In other action, Alfonso Gomez improves to 15-3-2 as he won an 8th round TKO over Carson Jones. Jones dropped to 13-2-1. Gomez attacked early using cutting off the ring and attempting to paint a target on Jones’ susceptible body. Gomez landed back to back uppercut/body shots to end the first round.
Gomez landed some hard shots to the body in round 2, but Jones was the more active fighter. Gomez landing much more punches in the third almost doubling his total punched from the first two rounds. Gomez cutting off the ring effectively in round 4 as Jones attempt to avoid his line of fire. Gomez landed a hard right followed with a flush uppercut. Jones lost his legs with close to a minute left but just a quickly returns fire.
Jones turned southpaw at the tail end of round 4 in a failed attempt to confuse Gomez. Gomez continued on the attack to begin round 5. Jones utilizing his legs more in the 5th. Gomez caught with a hard right with a minute left in the round but manages to stay up and finish the round. The 6th began with a crowd chant of Gomez! Jones is feeling the pressure of Gomez. Gomez backed Jones into the corner with a hard body shot.
Jones successfully punched his way out of trouble, but Gomez was in total control of the round. Gomez slowed down to start round 7 but landed three unanswered right hands to end the round. The 8th and final round began with Jones being overly aggressive but not having much effect on Gomez. Jones went down but was ruled a slip.
At the midway point of the round Gomez caught his second wind and attempted to place a stamp on his performance. Gomez rocked Jones and finished the job. Referee Jack Reese saw enough and stopped the contest at 2:28 of the 8th round.
The crowd applauded his performance but disagreed with the quick stoppage of the fight.