By Jake Donovan
It was a steady, if not spectacular, debut under the Top Rank banner for undefeated lightweight contender Anthony Peterson, who jabbed and "bopped" his way to a unanimous decision over divisional trialhorse Fernando Trejo Thursday night at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The bout served as the main event, aired live on VERSUS network.
Older brother Lamont Peterson will make his Top Rank debut next weekend on Showtime, but younger brother Anthony made his presence felt – and voice heard – right from the opening bell. A steady jab found its way through Trejo's guard repeatedly through the first round, each shot accompanied by Peterson's trademark "bop" vocal alert whenever he throws a punch.
After all but taking the first round off, Trejo picked it up in the second round, though perhaps to the tune of ineffective aggression. His attack was enough to keep Peterson on the defensive for much of the round, to the chagrin of trainer Barry Hunter, who did his part to ensure his fighter remained calm and confident throughout.
Student heeded the advice of teacher, as Peterson all but took over the fight beginning in the third round. The jab was still the main weapon of choice, but Peterson also started landing left hooks with regularity as well, particularly to the body.
It was the same story in the fourth round, before the attack was turned up another notch in the fifth. Peterson was beginning to wear down Trejo, landing several left hooks and right hands upstairs. A noted spurt fighter, Trejo began to respond in the final thirty seconds, but still found himself outgunned whenever he let his hands go.
Peterson kept it steady in the sixth, getting through with a wide array of punches, but none particularly damaging. Trainer Barry Hunter sensed complacency setting in, and informed his charge to keep moving forward and pressing with the attack.
As always, Peterson carried out the lesson, backing up Trejo whenever on the offensive and standing his ground anytime the Mexican responded. A double left uppercut had Trejo doing a bobble-head impersonation, and a left hook, right cross combo had him backing up toward round's end.
The boo birds came out in the eighth round, perhaps sharing color commentator Wally Matthew's displeasure in the progression of the bout, or lack thereof. Peterson was pretty much pulling a clean sweep, but had yet to ramp it up a notch. He did his best to change that, letting his hands go throughout the round, but Trejo refused to go anywhere.
After a lackluster ninth, Peterson was forced to spend the one minute rest period standing in his corner rather than sitting on a stool. It didn't change the tempo of the fight any in the tenth; Peterson kept coming with the same ol', same ol' – as well as he should have; Trejo's as durable as they come, and young Anthony was basically pitching a shutout.
If they all can't be knockouts, there's not much more you can ask for then staying busy from bell to bell. Peterson was doing that much, throwing over 75 punches per round and landing at about a 33% clip.
Trejo attempted to make something happen in the 11th round, but Peterson wouldn't even give him that much, easily dipping and dodging anything the journeyman had to offer. Both fighters let their hands go in the final round, Peterson throwing over 100 punches.
Scorecards read 120-108 (2x) and 119-109 for Peterson, who improves to 27-0 (19KO) with the win, his second of 2008. It was reported during the broadcast that he injured his left hand early in the fight. Whether or not it further affects his ring activity remains to be seen.
Trejo drops his second straight, though this loss nothing like the fluke circumstances that surrounded his last fight, a 4th round injury stoppage against Bobby Pacquiao. He was thoroughly outclassed tonight, dropping to 30-14-4 (18KO) in perhaps the most lopsided loss of his 14 year career.
Undefeated junior middleweight Vanes "Nightmare" Martirosyan continues to blossom as a complete fighter under the tutelage of veteran trainer Ronnie Shields. His dominance on the prospect level was further exhibited in the televised co-feature, as the 2004 US Olympian overwhelmed former title challenger Angel Hernandez en route to a.
Things nearly ended before they had a chance to get going. Martirosyan jumped out to a quick start, bouncing on his toes while constantly sticking his jab and right hand in Hernandez' face. A right uppercut put El Toro on the deck less than a minute into the fight. Hernandez recovered, but took a beating during the rest of the round.
The second round was better for Hernandez only in that his seat didn't touch the canvas. It was still all Martirosyan, as was the third round… and the fourth… after a while it became obvious that the night was more about Martirosyan introducing new weapons to his repertoire than it was about competitive action.
After landing five punches or less in each of the first four rounds, Hernandez let his hands go – to a certain degree – in the fifth. His famed winging shots were launched with regularity, with a few even finding their way past Martirosyan's guard. It wasn't even close to being enough to win the round, but was one where he managed to land a whopping 11 punches.
Martirosyan continued to have his way in the sixth, picking apart Hernandez. Jabs, straight rights, left hooks, right uppercuts – whatever punched he desired, it eventually found its way past Angel's leaky guard.
A brief moment of drama came late in the round, shortly following some horseplay from Hernandez. A break in the action prompted Angel to lift his opponent off of the ground, before drawing a warning from referee Russell Mora. Martirosyan shrugged it off, but somewhere along the way suffered a cut, which the referee later ruled was the result of a punch.
It was all business for the transplanted Armenian in the seventh, picking apart Hernandez from the outside, while landing overhand rights over Hernandez' left hand. It was more of the same in the eighth and ninth, with Hernandez becoming less and less of a threat with each passing minute.
Prior to the final round, trainer Ronnie Shields informed his charge that Hernandez was way behind and is a veteran of the game. In other words, win the round but don't get caught with anything foolish. Martirosyan obliged, keeping it strictly textbook. Separate right uppercuts had Hernandez momentarily unsteady, but managed to take that and a fight-ending flurry and last the distance.
A blind man could've scored this one, but one wasn't available so Nevada settled for three of its own judges. All three managed to get it right, scoring it a clean sweep for Martirosyan, each turning in cards of 100-89.
With the win, Martirosyan improves to 20-0 (13KO). It's the third time in his past five fights that the Nightmare has been extended the distance, but he's yet to lose a round in just over three years as a pro.
Eight months after scoring a huge upset over previously unbeaten Louis Turner, Hernandez is brought crashing back down to reality. He falls to 28-7 (16KO) with the loss.
Undercard report by Mark DeSisto
The evening’s opening bout was a highly entertaining scrap in which Hawaiian native, Manny Perez, did just enough to earn a unanimous decision over tough Filipino Aaron Melgarejo. All three judges scored the 77-75, seeing Perez take five of the eight rounds.
Perez (12-4, 2 KOs) played the role of counterpuncher to the constant aggression of Melgarejo. Perez was forced to stand and trade, leading to many wild exchanges with both fighters showing good chins and giving the crowd more than they expected for an opening act.
Melgarejo fought valiantly in falling to 10-6-1 (3), forcing Perez to be at his sharpest through the entire bout to earn the victory.
Undefeated bantamweights Alex Mercado of Las Vegas and New York’s Khabir Suleymanov engaged in what amounted to a wild-swinging, six-round playground brawl with Suleymanov on the correct side of a 59-55, 58-56, 56-58 split decision.
Mercado’s first loss brought his record to 5-1 (4) while Suleymanov remains undefeated at 5-0 (2).
Promising super featherweight Miguel Angel Garcia remained undefeated (12-0, 10 KOs) with an impressive fourth-round TKO over Korea’s Jaesung Lee (9-2-1, 6 K0s). A right hand from the technically sound Garcia floored Lee hard to the canvas. Lee did well to beat the referee’s count and continue the fight but a follow up barrage of accurate punches from Garcia forced the referee to halt the bout at 1:14 of round four.
Garcia, who fights under the banner of Top Rank, the promoter of the Versus-televised card, is one for boxing fans to watch as he trains with father and son tandem, Eduardo and Robert Garcia of Oxnard, California, who have trained past and present world champions.
Las Vegan Diego Magdaleno’s southpaw style was too difficult for Houston’s Angel Rodriguez (2-2, 2 KOs) to solve, as Magdaleno scored a 40-36 unanimous decision in a four-round super featherweight bout. Las Vegan resident Magdaleno remains undefeated at 4-0 (2).
The show was presented by Top Rank.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com
