By Cliff Rold
Far from the bright lights of the Joel Casamayor’s, Manny Pacquiao’s and Israel Vasquez’s, unheralded Lightweights Jose Reyes (22-4, 8 KO) and Ivan Valle (27-6-1, 22 KO) on Friday night did their best imitation of the wars those men have won in a wild March. In a thrilling six knockdown, four round war, the 29 year Puerto Rican Reyes, of Vineland, New Jersey would pick up a satisfying knockout win that gave everyone their money’s worth. The card was televised live on the Spanish-language network Telemundo.
With more than enough drama to pack one of Telemundo’s novelas, the first round was a crowd-pleasing roller coaster. At the halfway point, the usually light punching Reyes caught Valle with a quick, blind left hook that spilled his foe onto the seat of his pants. Less than a minute later, a similar left hook would drop again, and seriously hurt, Valle along the ropes. The enthusiastic crowd at the Kissimmee Civic Center in Kissimmee, Florida rose to their feet expecting the end.
They instead saw a reversal of fortune. A striking right hand from the 28-year old Valle sent Reyes sprawling towards the floor in a daze. He rose on unsteady legs as Valle waded in for the finish, relieved to hear the bell that signaled the end of a wild first round.
The violence did not cease in the second. Fought at a frenetic pace, each man alternately punched and clutched, looking for room to land another crushing blow. With twenty seconds to go in the frame, it was Valle who would find the mark with a sharp counter right that toppled Reyes onto his right side. Rising quickly in the count, time was again on Reyes’s side as the bell would ring shortly after the referee signaled a return to combat.
Valle would exit the third round the same as he did the second, with a knockdown advantage on the score cards. With slightly more than a minute to go, Valle trapped Reyes in the corner and landed what appeared a low blow on the right thigh of Reyes. Reyes went to his knees signaling a foul but the referee began the mandatory eight count. Using clinches and movement, Reyes collected himself, landing a hard left hook shortly before the bell and again making it to his stool.
Reyes, perhaps sensing an advantage at the end of the third, would begin the fourth aggressively, right away landing a flush left hook that snapped Valle’s head around, stunning him and forcing the native of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico to initiate his own clinch. It would be to no avail. Mere seconds later, Reyes would leap in with a flattening lead left hook. Staring up at the lights and a hovering referee, Valle would make no attempt to rise and in fact would wave both hands over his chest to indicate his surrender at :24 seconds of the frame.
Reyes picked up the WBO Latino Lightweight belt.
Other Televised Results
Featherweight Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. (10-0-1, 9 KO) kept his undefeated mark with an easy third round knockout of an outclassed Corey Goodwin (7-5, 4 KO). The 23-year old Vasquez, a native of Puerto Rico, is the son of former World Featherweight champion Wilfredo Vasquez Sr.
Once well regarded Heavyweight prospect Attila Levin (30-3, 24 KO) of Sweden made his first start since 2005, breaking a two-fight knockout losing streak with a devastating left uppercut knockout of the barely professional Willie Perryman (10-15, 7 KO).
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com