By John G. Thompson: Juan Carlos Burgos 26-1 (19 KO’s) of Tijuana, Mexico made an impressive comeback statement against Frankie Archuleta 27-8-1 (14 KO’s) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, stopping him in just the second round. This was Burgos’ first fight since his first loss (a 12 round unanimous decision) to Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan for the vacant WBC Featherweight Title. The fourteen year veteran Archuleta has been inactive as of late with only six fights in the last five years. The event at the Million Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma was broadcast live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series.
Burgos completely controlled the action from the start, using his height and reach advantage to bang away from outside. In the second round Burgos caught Archuleta off balance and put him down with a right to the top of the head and a couple left hooks. Archuleta’s legs were shaky as the bout continued and Burgos landed a left hook and straight right combination which sent Archuleta down for a second time in the corner of the ring. As he got up, referee Gerald Ritter said to him, “You have to show me something!” Archuleta tried to fight back, but Burgos landed several more hard shots including an uppercut, after which Archuleta went back into the ropes and then down. Ritter immediately ruled it a knockdown and waved off the fight.
In the undercard, Maxim Vlasov 19-1 (10 KO’s) of Samara, Russia faced Isaac Chilemba 16-1-1 (8 KO’s) of South Africa. It looked on paper as though Vlasov would get himself an impressive win – Vlasov had won eight of his last nine bouts by knockout whereas Chilemba was coming off a draw and had fought exclusively in South Africa prior to this bout. However, the one loss on Chilemba’s record (a points loss) was avenged with a convincing points win.
The first few rounds were close, with Chilemba throwing more punches and Vlasov moving his head trying to make his opponent miss. As ringside commentator Teddy Atlas mentioned, he did not follow up his rolls with punches as often as he should have. The fight basically came down to Chilemba outworking Vlasov, until the first few seconds of the eighth round when Vlasov connected with a great straight right to the jaw which sent Chilemba to the canvas. Instead of holding, Chilemba tried to fight back connecting with a hook, but this allowed Vlasov to exchange, and after connecting with another right Chilemba went down again. This time when he got up Chilemba moved and attempted to smother Vlasov’s shots until the end of the round, when Chilemba actually landed a great hook.
Round ten was the first of Vlasov’s career, though Chilemba had fought twelve-rounders before. Regardless, they exchanged pretty much from start to finish, with Chilemba maybe taking those crucial last ten seconds. Chilemba put up his hands at the end of the fight and Vlasov looked dejected. I scored the bout with a wide margin despite the two knockdowns, owing to Chilemba’s sweep of rounds two through seven, and his coming back in round nine, possibly even taking the close tenth round. One judge scored the bout 95-94, and the other two as I had it 96-92 all for Isaac Chilemba.
Also televised, Simpiwe Vetyeka 22-1 (13 KO’s) of South Africa easily defeated Robert Carlos Leyva 27-13-1 (21 KO’s) of Mexico. Coincidentally, like Juan Carlos Burgos, Vetyeka’s one loss came to Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan. Vetyeka went to the body to back up his opponent, landing upstairs whenever Layva dropped his defense to block the body. In round three, in firm control of the fight, Veteyka landed a ferocious left to the liver and Leyva went down. Leyva rolled around in pain beneath the ropes, unable to beat the count.