By Alexey Sukachev
Two years since his last ring appearance, Panama's best Guillermo Jones (37-3-2, 29 KOs) came back to the squared circle to put his WBA cruiserweight title at risk, and it turned out he had barely lost any steam during his semi-retirement.
Jones, fighting in front of a partisan crowd at Arena Roberto Duran in his home land of Panama City, Panama, showed some signs of ring rust but gradually shook them off and imposed his will on the WBA #1 and WBA mandatory challenger Valery Brudov (38-3, 27 KOs) of Pskov, Russia, to finally stop him on cuts at 2:16 of the eleventh round and to retain his title.
It was a jabbing contest from both sides at the very beginning. Brudov, the smaller of the two, tried to stay outside of Jones’ long fire range and to score mainly with jabs to his head. Jones used his forefront hand to measure Brudov and to connect with hard stoppers.
Brudov rarely gave Jones a taste of his right hand, while the Panamanian was simply too rusty and too lazy to take initial rounds. After six rounds BoxingScene had it 58-57 for the defending champion, and at that moment the contest was up for grabs.
However, Jones gradually worked his way into a fight in its second part.
Jones began to pressure Brudov and connect with harder and cleaner counterpunches as the Russian came in. Brudov hardly used any power punches, relying fully on his jab which turned out to be a huge mistake. Jones, on the other hand, threw various combinations including uppercuts and doubled hooks. Brudov wasn't hurt by any of them but he was spending more and more time on retreat.
Another problem for the Russian was a bad cut over his left eye, which appeared midst into this collision and worsened drastically in rounds nine and ten.
In round eleven, referee Luis Pabon halted action to get an advice of a ringside physician. Brudov was allowed to let go but after another series of punches, which he could barely see, the referee waved the bout off. Brudov, though unhurt, didn't protest this decision.
BoxingScene had it 97-94 - for Guillermo Jones at the time of stoppage.
EARLIER ACTION:
Middleweight contender Nilson Julio Tapia (14-2-1, 10 KO) scored a 10-round unanimous decision over tough Argentinean Jorge Sebastian Heiland (16-2, 8 KO).
Heiland, who was coming off a controversial loss to WBC interim titlist Sebastian Zbik, pressed the action throughout an entire fight. Tapia worked in spurts, trying to create some space and to avoid Heiland's presence on the inside. Heiland suffered a bad gash around his right eye in the midst of the contest, which was a major factor in next rounds.
The fight itself was close but the Argentinean found some inner reserves to give Tapia much trouble in the last couple of rounds. It looked like this success would help him to clinch a close decision loss at least but all three judges ruled otherwise, scoring the fight 99-92 and 99-91 (twice) in favor of Tapia.
Heavyweight contender Timur Ibragimov (30-2, 16KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Luis Andres Pineda (29-9-1) in a bout for the NABA heavyweight title. The scores were 97-92, 98-92 and 98-91.
Brad Solomon (14-0, 6KOs) stopped Pablo Vazquez (19-2) in the fifth round of their scheduled ten round bout for the WBA international welterweight title. Vazquez was dropped twice in the fifth before the fight was stopped.
WBC #1, WBA #5 and IBF #14 ranked cruiserweight Fransisco "Wizard" Palacios (20-0, 13 KOs) continued his series of early knockouts with the two-round destruction of badly faded American Donnell Wiggins (24-13-4, 14 KOs). Wiggins was down once in the first and once in the second round before a salvation came at 1:36.
Former two-time WBA super flyweight champion Alexander Munoz (35-3, 27 KOs) from Venezuela barely got the better of local journeyman Leopoldo Arrocha (10-14-2, 6 KOs) with a majority decision over eight rounds. Scores were 77-75 (twice) and 76-76 - for WBA #7 and IBF #10 ranked Venezuelan, who now competes at bantamweight limit.
Former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and now WBA #14 Hasim Rahman (49-8-2, 40 KOs), 37, successfully continued his comeback with the first-round kayo of fellow compatriot Marcus McGee (22-18, 11 KOs).
In a ten-round brawl for Javier Castro's WBA international lightweight title, local favorite Ameth "Cloroformo" Diaz (28-10, 19 KOs) was a better man in starting rounds but gradually faded in the second part of the fight under continuous bombardment by the Mexican fighter. Both fighters gave their all in later rounds producing unstoppable action. Both fighters were down several times but referee Steve Smoger correctly ruled them slips rather than legitimate knockdowns. After ten rounds of battle, all three judges saw it unanimously for Ameth Diaz: 98-93, 97-94 and 97-93. Previously ranked WBC #5 and WBA #14 Castro drops down to 24-3, with 19 KOs.
In a final of the first season of the Panamanian version of "Contender", so-called "El Guerrero", Ricaurte Torrero (7-0, 4 KOs) outpointed Manuel Vides (7-1, 3 KOs) unanimously over six rounds to become its first champion. Both fighters engaged into a wild street-like fight firing wild punches from various angles and showing little class in doing so. Torrero dropped his taller opponent once in the second and once in the fifth round with wide right hooks to further punctuate his slight advantage in starting rounds. Vides had his mometns in the midst of the fight but it was ultimately not enought ot bring him a victory. Scores wer 59-53 (twice) and 59-54 - for Ricaurte Torrero. Bscene saw it 58-54 - for the occasional winner.
In a final WBA elminator for a super bantamweight female title and also in a fight for vacant WBA Fedefem belt, local girl Shantel Martinez (11-4, 4 KOs) stopped Venezuelan Ogleidis Suarez (12-2-1, 5 KOs) in five rounds. Time was 1:48. That was a rematch of a fight, dated back to July 2009, which was won by Martinez on split decision.