Ringside Report: Pemberton vs Sheika

By Don Deane

26.07 - This week's installment of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights was presented by Jimmy Birchfield's CES promotions and held at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, USA. The card was headlined by the NABF 168lb title bout between Scott Pemberton and Omar Sheika. The co-main was Gary Balletto taking on Luis Lizarraga in a Lightweight tussle.

Scott Pemberton vs Omar Sheika- 12 Round NABF Super Middleweight Title Bout

This was a very close, tough fight and one of the best I have seen this year. Both of these guys have a ton of heart and displayed that toughness tonight. The fight started off a bit slow with Pemberton coming out working his jab in the first as each fighter tried to get a feel for the other. Pemberton attempted to establish his control as the aggressor and Sheika showed he was willing to circle and counter. Sheika landed a nice flurry during the round. Round two saw more of the same as Pemberton came out with the basic one or two jabs followed by a straight, stiff right to score. Near the end of the round, the rhythmic Pemberton got caught with a sharp right-left counter by Sheika and went to the canvas. Sheika jumped on the momentum swing in rounds three and four and continued to circle and counter with the hard combos. Pemberton kept it tough by being aggressive and landing nice hooks to the body and a big left to the head in round four. Pemberton came back strong through the middle rounds as the body work started to take its toll on Sheika. Round five saw Sheika get a little relaxed and comfortable circling. Pemberton was able to chase and score without much return fire. Rounds six and seven were categorized by more Pemberton body punching and big left hooks. Sheika stayed in his conservative defensive roll and was still able to score with counter punches. He was starting to throw one punch at a time instead of the combos that were working for him earlier. Sheika seemed to be the quicker puncher. Rounds eight and nine saw Pemberton attempt to force Sheika into a fight as he got aggressive and set a quick pace. The fight began to become a clinch fest at this point, and Pemberton routinely used the "jab and grab" style of Massachusetts compatriot John Ruiz, "n'ah mean". Into the championship rounds we go after a lackluster tenth and Sheika finally started to show his effective countering from earlier in the bout. He landed some nice flurries in round eleven. Pemberton was rocked late in round eleven and Sheika just didn't have enough time to put him away with multiple right hands in the few remaining seconds. In Round twelve both fighters came out fatigued but ready to go and earned a standing ovation with a superb closing stanza of an excellent fight. Sheika jumped on Pemberton right after the bell and was treated to a few retaliatory flurries. The back and forth continued until the final bell sounded. After it was all tallied, Pemberton retained his belt with a split decision win. He took a pair of 114-113 cards, and one card was 116-111 for Sheika. Eastside had it 114-113 for Sheika and certainly didn't disagree with the two cards for Pemberton. The 116-111 card owner needs to consider new career options. Pemberton improves to 26-3-1 and Sheika slides to 23-5.

Gary Balletto vs Luis Lizarraga- 10 round Lightweight Co-Main Event

This fight was a ridiculous mismatch and a complete blow out for ten rounds. It once again left me wondering when Balletto's handlers will put him in with anything other than a tackling dummy. I mean the biggest name on his resume is Michael Clark and in that fight he was beaten soundly. He is a good young, tough fighter who will always have at least a puncher's chance with anybody he steps in with. So like Joey Birchfield says at the beginning of each fight "and now to the principals." In round one Balletto came out intent to make this a short night. He was very aggressive and loaded up on that right hand early. Lizarraga is slick enough to notice the telegraphed right and avoided it on most occasions. Round two showed us more of the same and this was turning into a glorified sparring session for Balletto. Balletto ceased with the headhunting and went downstairs a little in round three. It is nice to see Balletto getting a little more patient in the ring and letting the openings come to him instead of trying to force it. He looks a little better, and a little more polished each time I see him. Now to Lizarraga's credit, he was able to land a jab to the body and a quick left hook upstairs after. To my knowledge, those may have been the only clean punches he landed the whole fight. Lizarraga was hurt in round four by a heavy hook and then was assaulted by three straight jabs and battered by the subsequent straight right. In rounds five and six, Balletto scored with both hands and continued the chase around the ring. Balletto fired off a crisp left-right-left combo followed by two inside uppercuts that was able to wake me just in time to keep the beer from spilling on my lap in round seven. And then in round eight Lizarraga landed his third punch of the fight, a left hook to the head. Round nine was a resting round for both, Balletto rested his hands, Lizarraga rested his face. And finally in round ten, Balletto went for the kill but was unable to knock out the block-headed Lizarraga. That guy can take one hell of a punch. The final cards read 99-91, 100-90 and 98-93 for Balletto. Eastside had it 100-90. Now however that one judge found two rounds to give to Lizarraga is beyond me. Maybe he won that one round where he landed two punches and the other where he landed one. Who knows, but Balletto improves to 29-1-2 and becomes the first man to beat all 29 Celebrity Boxing sparring partners. Lizarraga falls to a hapless 31-28-4 and should consider job counseling along with the aforementioned judge.

On to the Undercard

We got our first look at CES's newest fighter, Antonio Ramirez in a lightweight 6 rounder. He easily outclassed durable Marty Robbins over the distance and won by scores of 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55. Ramirez improved to 20-6-6 and Robbins fell to 12-16-1. Ramirez looks a lot better than his record indicates and four of his losses were against world class competition.

In a four round Light Heavyweight bout, local prospect Joey Spina improved to 8-0 with his 6th KO when Johnny Taylor, now 4-2, failed to come out for the third round of the bout. Interesting side note, Taylor had a female trainer. First time I have ever seen that. Feel free to comment because I am leaving that one alone.

Another local boy, Middleweight Joe Gardner drew with Andres Larrinaga in a pretty heated, sloppy, tempered four rounder. The cards read 37-37 twice and 38-36 for Larrinaga. Gardner stays pat at 3-0-1, and Larrinaga is now 3-8-2.

In the opener, BoBo Starnino, a local junior middleweight, improved to 5-0 with a unanimous 40-35, 40-35, 39-36 win over Vernon Meeks, who dropped to 3-15-1. Beautiful CES matchmaking, most fighters with losing records I have seen in one night I think.

It was an entertaining night filled with fun fights and plenty of scenery (i.e. women, for you non-hint getters out there). I always love going to Foxwoods for fights, even though they messed my pass up and stuck me in nose bleed with the Neanderthals whose boxing vernacular goes no farther than "kill him!!!". So until next time, be safe and enjoy.