FALLON, NV (August 30, 2009) Super middleweight contender Joey Gilbert got back in the win column on Saturday night with an outstanding performance against Pomona, California’s Ivan Stovall, earning a fifth round stoppage in front of a crowd of over 2,000 Northern Nevada fight fans at the Churchill County Fairgrounds in Fallon. Controlling the action from the opening bell, Gilbert was able to drop Stovall in the fourth, before referee Vic Drakulich called a halt to the action at the 1:05 mark of the fifth round of the scheduled eight rounder..
“I felt great in there, just focused on what I do best. The fans here in Fallon were very supportive and it was terrific to get back in the win column” said Gilbert who improved to 18-2-0 (14KO’s), while Stovall moved to 10-5-0 (7KO’s).
This was Gilbert’s first bout since his decision loss to Reno cross town rival Jesse Brinkley on February 14th at the Reno Events Center .
About his future plans, Gilbert said, “I’ll sit down this week and talk to my promoter Chet Koerner and see where we go from here. I’d like to stay busy and work my way back into the world rankings.”
Said Koerner, President of TKO BOXING Promotions, “I was very impressed by Joey’s performance tonight. From the opening bell he was the aggressor and he stayed right in the pocket. We’re going to work together to keep him busy in the coming months.”
Promoted by Reno ’s “Let’s Get It On” Promotions, the Gilbert/Stovall bout was the main event at “RURAL RUMBLE/FALLON FIGHTS 2009” which featured two other boxing matches as well as mixed martial arts bouts.
In the two opening boxing matches, heavyweight Tyler Hinkey, 5-1-2 (4KO’s) and Yohan Banks, 2-3-3 (1KO) battled to a four round draw as well as did lightweights Johnny Mancilla, 0-0-2 and Theron DeLorme, 1-0-1.
CUJO, RIVERA, WILSON ALL SCORE IMPRESSIVE VICTORIES!
Bedford, VA’s Scott “Cujo” Sigmon (7-1, 3KO’s) scored a third-round TKO over Nicholas Schleich of Columbus, Nebraska (7-3, 3KO’s) at The Lynchburg City Armory in Lynchburg, VA. Sigmon began the bout by going right at Schleich and working the body of his 6’4″ foe. “That body was a big target and I knew I had to take away his jab” said Sigmon. “After a few hard rounds downstairs I picked up the pace upstairs and went for the knockout.” Sigmon dropped Schleich midway through the third round with a hard overhand right. The determined Schleich was trying to get to his feet when referee Chris Wollenson waived off the bout.
Charlottesville, VA’s “WARTIME” George Rivera (11-4, 4KO’s) also won by third-round TKO over Jesse Williams of Youngstown, OH. Rivera dropped the southpaw Williams three times in the second round all with straight right hands. Referee Wollenson allowed the bout to continue into the third round where another straight right hand by Rivera dropped Williams and finally convinced the referee to stop the bout.
Fairfax, VA’s “WHITE LIGHTNING” Todd Wilson (6-0, 1KO) remained undefeated with a four-round unanimous decision over Lynchburg’s Maurice Chalmers. In a battle of two classy southpaws, the smaller Wilson whose foe Chalmers outweighed him by nearly ten pounds, did just enough to win every round of the four round bout.
Former USBA Cruiserweight champion Emmanuel Nwodo of Baltimore, MD scored a first-round TKO over veteran Lenzie Morgan of Youngstown, OH. The hard punching Nwodo dropped the durable Morgan three times in the first round. Nwodo’s vicious overhand right prompted one former pugilist sitting ringside to say, “I would certainly hate to get hit by that guy!”
Roanoke, VA junior welterweight David “D-Hop” Hopkins (3-0, 1KO) won by four-round unanimous decision over Antwon “Supreme” Barrett of Portsmouth, VA. Hopkins outworked and outhustled the taller Barrett to win every round of the contest.
Rounding out the bout, Brazilian super middleweight Issac Rodrigues (18-0, 16KO’s) won a very close and highly competitive eight-round unanimous decision over veteran Marcos Primera of Asheboro, NC.
The card was promoted by Major League Boxing.