Ringside Report: Oliveira-Ortiz

By Don Deane

03.05 - The ESPN2 Friday Night Fight's card was live from Foxwood's Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut. The fight card was filled with some of CES Entertainment's top talent and they faced off with some game opposition. The show was headlined by Ray Oliveira against Elio Ortiz for the IBU Welterweight title. The co-main was a cruiserweight fight between Rich Lamontagne and Ernest Mateen.

Ray Oliveira vs Elio Ortiz- IBU welterweight championship

The defending champ Oliveira came out tough in round one landing a few hard body shots on Ortiz. He also worked behind the jab. Oliveira continued to jab in round two and found a place to stick the overhand right and a nice left hook-right hand combo early. From then on, the tough Ortiz began to be the aggressor and come forward. Oliveira fell into a counterpunching style and Ortiz was able to rough him up a bit. In round four, Oliveira was staggered but battled back in round five with some hard counters and a good jab. Rounds six through nine showed Ortiz pressing the issue and working off his own body shots and stiff jab. Ortiz was able to out hustle Oliveira, who is known for being a workhorse. Round 10 got interesting when Oliveira was docked a point for what seemed to be a low blow. He was docked the point without prior warning which I found a bit unusual. Oliveira came out roaring after the deduction and pressed the tiring Ortiz with his jab. Oliveira kept that pressure on during the championship rounds as Ortiz tiredly danced around the ring. Ortiz landed a few nice right hands during round twelve, but they were mostly thrown from the hip because of fatigue. In the end the judges saw it 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 for the new champ Ortiz. Eastside had it 114-113 for Ortiz. Elio Ortiz improves to 24-5 and Ray Oliveira falls to 44-9-2.

Rich Lamontagne vs Ernest Mateen- Cruiserweight 10 rounder

Massachusetts crowd favorite Richie Lamontagne came out to a raucous crowd and he and Ernest Mateen gave the crowd what they wanted to see for the first few rounds. Lamontagne staggered Mateen with a hard right in the first round and the two went toe to toe and threw some big punches. In round two, Mateen came back with some big rights of his own and stumbled Lamontagne into the ropes with a combo. Lamontagne held on and survived the round only to come out to more punishment in round three. Mateen outworked Lamontagne through this part of the fight and came forward trying to close the show. In round four Lamontagne fired back and decked Mateen with a stiff right. Mateen, completely wobbled, hung on for dear life and hit Lamontagne with a right hand off of a break. He was promptly relieved of a point for the poor sportsmanship and Lamontagne went back to work. The bad blood began to boil over in round five as Lamontagne beat Mateen to the punch and began to rough him up. After round five Mateen retired on his stool which shook things up in the ring. A free for all broke out with Mateen and one of Lamontagne's cornermen being the main participants. After the melee was broken up, Mateen was sent home to a chorus of boos. With the TKO win, Rich Lamontagne improves to 28-4-1 with 23KO's. Ernest Mateen falls to 27-10-3.

Undercard Results

The opening bout was a very tough scrap between local product Missy Fiorentino and Brenda Bell Drexel in a four round women's bout. The action was fast and blows were traded for all four rounds. Fiorentino is a little more polished than Drexel, but Drexel's record didn't do her justice. After an entertaining bout Fiorentino improved to 6-0 with a 40-36 win on all cards. Drexel fell to 5-18-2

Former NFL star Jevon Langford was back in action fighting more overmatched opposition. The next great club fighter improved to 6-0 with 6KO's after his fourth round knockout of Cory Gregory. Gregory drops to 2-2.Langford probably gets hit less in boxing than he did in football, but that could all change if he ever steps up his opposition.

Amateur star Josh Beeman cruised to a 40-36 win on all cards to get his second pro win in as many fights. He conquered Rahsaan Abdul Blackburn who falls to 5-18-1. Blackburn acquitted himself well but the amateur pedigree of Beeman was too much for him.

Another local amateur star and to prospect in the middleweight division Chad Dawson was on hand. He demolished the limited Earl Allen JR in three rounds. Chad showed a lot of speed and tough body shots as he deflated Allen quite early. Dawson improves to 12-0 with 8KO's. Allen Jr falls to 11-16-3.