By Jake Donovan
 
When this ESPN2 Friday Night Fights card was first put together, the evening’s intended headliner was a junior middleweight bout between Richard Gutierrez and Jesus “El Martillo” Gonzalez. Breidis Prescott’s lightweight scrap with Humberto Toledo was listed as an eight-round co-feature.

With Gonzalez reporting earlier in the week that he wouldn’t be able to make the contracted weight for his fight, Gutierrez opted to have the bout scrapped rather than accept a pay increase in favor of giving away extra poundage. As a result, Prescott-Toledo was upgraded to the main event, and increased from eight rounds to ten.

What a difference two rounds became, as Prescott wound up winning the bout by 10th round disqualification after Toledo was tossed for biting – yes biting – his opponent.

The bout and show aired live from the University Center Arena in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Prescott came out throwing from the opening bell, beautifully picking his spots against an onrushing Toledo. A left hook about a minute into the fight had Toledo on unsteady legs, but Prescott remained cool, settling for body shots before revisiting his attack upstairs. That would come toward round’s end, when a right hand snapped back the head of Toledo, with left hooks also landing regularly.

Despite the dominant opening round, Prescott had to contend with a cut between the bridge of his nose and his left eye heading into the second round. Though the blood was a non-factor, Toledo still managed a far better account of himself in the round, with both fighters enjoying right hand success.

Toledo tried to keep pace with Prescott, but found himself in brief trouble late in the third. A more evenly fought fourth-round ended with Toledo drawing a stern warning from referee Telis Assimenos for roughhousing tactics.

As the fight wore on, it became evident that Toledo wasn’t going away quietly. Prescott adjusted accordingly, showing that he can box as well as punch. The jab became the primary weapon in the second half of the fight, with Prescott throwing it with authority anytime Toledo threatened to get within punching range.

The fight was flirting with monotony until the left hook found its way back into Prescott’s repertoire. A series of hooks finally broke Toledo to where he was forced to hold the top rope in order to prevent from falling to the canvas. The action was correctly ruled a knockdown, the only one of the fight, though Toledo scored an unofficial takedown in the ninth after throwing Prescott to the canvas.

Insult was added to injury in the eighth for Toledo. Already to the point of no returns on the scorecard, the Ecuadorian was docked a point late in the round for excessive holding behind the head.

The infraction didn’t break Toledo’s spirit any. He kept charging forward in the final two rounds, though with similar results to every other round – throwing tons; landing very little. Prescott wisely played defense whenever Toledo let his hands go, sliding just far enough out of punching range to cause his opponent to catch nothing but air.

With no other way to go except for broke, Toledo unloaded with every trick in the book. One was way beyond the rules, literally sinking his teeth into Prescott’s neck about a minute into the final round. The referee thought it was just a clinch, and separated the two fighters. Prescott screamed and pointed to his shoulder, at which point Assimenos called time to discipline Toledo.

Two points were deducted, which gave Toledo three total on fouls, resulting in a disqualification.

The official time was 1:02 of round ten.

Prescott moves to 21-0 (18KO) with the win as he continues to climb up the lightweight rankings. The bout was his first since scoring his career-best win, a 54-second two-knockdown thrashing of Amir Khan last September in a stunner that earned Top Knockout and Upset honors in many circles.

Toledo continues his trend of win-one-lose-one, falling to 33-6-2 (20KO) with the loss. He’s received several televised opportunities in recent years, though always as the opponent. Even with that in mind, his disgraceful behavior in this fight will have promoters thinking twice before using him again anytime soon.

It was exactly 52 weeks ago when Yuriorkis Gamboa last fought in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The bout was aired live on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, and never made it out of the first round as he blitzed Johnnie Edwards in just over 90 seconds.

History repeated itself Friday night, as Gamboa needed just 35 seconds to dispatch hopelessly overmatched Walter Estrada in their televised co-feature.

Estrada proved to be a little too brave for his own good, electing to stand and trade with Gamboa from the opening bell. The game plan was to target the body, with Estrada did well – only to leave himself wide open for the finishing blow. Gamboa let loose with a well-placed left to the body, followed by a perfect right hand upstairs that put Estrada down for the ten-count.

Gamboa now moves to 14-0 (12KO). The win was already his second of 2009, having scored a 10th round stoppage of Roger Gonzalez  last month in this year’s season opener on Friday Night Fights.

Estrada falls to 35-9 (24KO) with the loss, now dropping four of his last five.

Former two-time amateur champion Erislandy Lara opened the telecast with a bout that lasted twice as long as Gamboa’s – needing an entire 69 seconds and two knockdowns to dispatch previously unbeaten Keith Gross (3-1, 1KO).

A left hand dropped Gross early in the fight, with Lara (now 4-0, 3KO) never letting up from that point onward. The finishing blow was a left uppercut that dropped Gross for a second time, at which point the referee urged the fallen fighter to stay down in halting the bout.

With way too much time to kill, 37-year old Ramon Garbey saw action in a four-round televised swing bout. The fleshy heavyweight (is there any other kind these days?) struggled in spots but eventually surged past determined journeyman Mike Sheppard (11-9-1, 6KO).

Things moved slow in the opening round, with the only action to speak of being a low blow that forced Sheppard to double over at the bell. After losing the second, Sheppard picked up the pace in the third, remaining in Garbey’s face for much of the round. Garbey adjusted well, eventually finding a home for a right hand that resulted in the first of three official knockdowns.

Sheppard would hit the canvas twice more in the final round, but never stopped throwing. The final knockdown came at the bell, but he beat the count in being afforded the opportunity to hear the official cards. It was academic, with all three judges seeing it 40-33 for Garbey, now 19-4 (13KO). The bout was the first for the Cuban in more than two years.
 
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .