Ringside Report:
Ouma vs Hernandez
By Don Deane
Foxwoods casino played host to ESPN2 Friday Night Fights,
which was presented by Peltz Boxing. The main event
was a huge IBF eliminator between Kassim Ouma and Angel
Hernandez. The co-main was crowd favorite Gary Balletto
taking on journyman Frank Houghtaling.
Kassim Ouma vs Angel Hernandez- 12 Round 154lb Main
Event- IBF eliminator
This was a real close tough fight. Angel Hernandez
started at a very brisk pace and went to work backing
Ouma into the ropes in round one. He worked non stop
and left Ouma with little chance to counter. Hernandez
kept the pace up in the second round and landed some
stiff rights. He also did something I love by getting
space on the inside. He was using his forearm to push
himself out onto his back foot and gain space. That
enabled him to spring off that back foot and land that
heavy right hand on the ropes. Ouma again spent too
much time with his back on the ropes. The middle rounds
proved to be a whole new fight with a winded Hernandez
falling to the ropes in the third and allowing Ouma
to get in steady work. Ouma kept that strong work through
rounds four and five where he started to outbox the
fading Hernandez. At the end of round five Hernandez
was able to trap Ouma in the corner and score a few
heavy rights. Round six was more of the Ouma showcase
as he displayed some slick defensive posturing on the
ropes and solidified his mark as the better conditioned
fighter. Hernandez played to the crowd a bit and threw
some tough punches that hinted at a comeback. In round
seven Hernandez made good on that as he got tough again
as he got busy on the ropes and the corner. He was once
again able to back up Ouma. Round eight was one of the
better rounds of the fight with both fighters landing
good shots and making a determined bid for the points.
The last four rounds showed both fighters begin to slow
down as Ouma only showed up for the ninth. Hernandez
continued to show hustle as Ouma faded down the stretch
and got lax. It almost looked like Hernandez felt he
needed the rounds and Ouma felt that he had the fight
in the bag. The score cards tended to agree with that
assessment as the cards read 115-113 twice for Ouma
and 115-113 for Hernandez. Eastside had it 115-113 for
Hernandez. With the win, Ouma becomes number 1 contender
in the IBF and moves to 17-1-2 and Hernandez falls to
25-4.
Gary Balletto vs Frank Houghtaling- 10 Round 140lb
Co-Main
This was an exciting fight for its short duration.
Balletto came out gunning as usual and landed the trademark
heavy right hand during round one. He was very aggressive
and had Houghtaling off balance early. Houghtaling came
back strong in round two by going to the body and out-hustling
the Balletto. In round three, Houghtaling made his bid
for the fight as he continued to work hard and put leather
on Balletto's body. Balletto was staggered in the middle
of the round but was able to regain his bearings. Balletto
came back fierce and went at Houghtaling aggressively
just like the first round. In round 4 Balletto landed
a big time right hand to start the round and never stopped
chasing Houghtaling. Houghtaling fell to the ropes and
Balletto decked him with a heavy right hand that ended
things. Balletto improved to 28-1-2 with his 25th KO.
Houghtaling dropped to 17-9-5.
Undercard Results
Thanks to Gary Balletto ending things early, the crowd
was treated to a great fight between Daniel Edouard
and Romero Johnson. This fight had everything including
hard, direct shots, good boxing, aggressive slugging
and so on. In the end, Edouard walked away with a 60-54
(twice) 57-57 win. Edouard improves to 11-0 and Johnson
falls to 6-1. Great fight for both.
The first fight of the night saw Richard Starnino TKO
Bobby McAndrews after the third round. McAndrews took
a smacking during the three stanzas and opted not to
go to the well one more tim. Starnino improves to 4-0
and gets KO number 1. McAndrews is now 2-3-1.
Local prospect Mike Oliver improved to 6-0 with his
4th KO as he ended things for Hassan Wassawa in the
5th round. Wassawa was down 3 times in the fight and
falls to 2-1-2.
Featherweight prospect Angel Torres improved to 13-2
with his unsportsmanlike and filthy 5th KO win. The
victim of this assault was Gabriel Krizan, who falls
to 7-4. There was only one punch thrown in the fight
as Torres sucker punched Krizan with a left hook as
Krizan reached out to touch gloves. In Torres' defense,
the key rule of fighting is "defend yourself at
all times", but it is not out of reason for a guy
to expect a touch of gloves. Krizan was taken away on
a stretcher and I wish him the best. I hope Torres enjoys
his victory and sleeps well knowing he put a man in
the hospital with a cheap punch.
0 comments |