The Mohegan Sun’s Rising Stars Boxing Series teamed up with HBO Latino for another exciting night of boxing at the Uncas Ballroom at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino. The stacked undercard of international and local prospects was the perfect lead-in to the exciting televised event on HBO Latino.
In the first fight of the evening, Kazakhstan middleweight Meiirim “The Sultan” Nursultanov (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Javier Olvera (1-1, 1 KO) of Mexico in the second round. This was Nursultantov’s first appearance in the Mohegan Sun’s Rising Stars Boxing Series.
The next fight featured former kickboxer Enriko Gogokhia (4-0, 2 KOs) of Georgia (country) against Bryan Goldsby (4-3) of Macon Georgia. Gogokhia appeared on the Rising Stars’ premiere back in November 2016. Goldsby quit on the stool after only two rounds with Gogokhia.
Junior middleweights Madiyar Ashkeyev of Kazakhstan (8-0, 4 KOs) and Brooklyn native Shawn Cameron (10-3, 5 KOs) were set to square off for eight rounds of action. Ashkeyev suffered a cut over his right eye in the first round. The injury did not affect his precision. He continued to connect his vicious combination attacks on Cameron. Shawn managed to hang in against the always-tough Ashkeyev until 1:06 of the seventh in a gutty and gritty performance but the referee called a halt to the action.
The only fight on the undercard to go the distance was the eight-round heavyweight battle between local sensation Cassius Chaney (10-0, 5 KOs) and Detroit, MI native Juan Goode (8-5, 6 KOs). All three judges scored the bout 59-55 in the lopsided unanimous decision for Chaney. After the fight, Chaney said, “Goode was a tough opponent. He has never been knocked out. I was hoping to be the first.”
The HBO Latino telecast began with the ten-round middleweight contest between St. Louis’ own Vaughn Alexander (8-0, 5 KOs) and Andres Calixto (14-4, 9 KOs) of Mexico. This was the first ten-round fight for Alexander, who accepted the additional rounds on just a few days’ notice when the original co-feature fell out due to illness. The fight was exciting from bell-to-bell. The referee deducted a point from Calixto in the tenth round for holding and hitting. It was Andres’ third offense. Vaughn secured the unanimous decision victory with the judges scoring the contest 100-89 and 99-90 (2).
After the fight, Alexander said, “It was a great experience for me. My first time going 10 rounds. I went in with a clear mind. I got the job done. Going back to the gym, I know what to expect now.”
The main event featured a brawl between Sullivan Barrera (19-1, 14 KOs) and Paul “Pay Per View” Parker (8-2, 4 KOs). The fight started off with both fighters trading shots and feeling each other out. Then Parker took five minutes to recover from a head butt and Barrera immediately knocked him down at the start of the next round. Parker managed to get back up and Barrera suffered a head butt shortly after. Barrera took just a moment to recover then came out with a vengeance and knocked down Parker. Within seconds of Parker getting up from the knockdown, the referee stopped the fight and Parker’s night was done at 2:08 of the fifth round.
An elated Sullivan said about his performance, “I feel great. Paul Parker is a great boxer but the only time he hurt me was with the head butt. I guess what happened with the head butt and everything, finally in the fifth round I was able to hit him as I wanted and everything went exactly the way I wanted it to. I am ready for the next level!”
