Boxing

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.

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