For sustained two-way action and sheer excitement, it will be difficult to top what transpired Friday on ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME. In a scheduled 10-round main event, once-beaten Tony Grano (16-1-1, 13 KOs) of Hartford, Conn., won a slugfest, rallying to knock out previously undefeated Travis Kauffman (18-1, 15 KOs) of Reading, Penn., at 2:56 of the fourth round. The telecast’s opening bout at Chumash Casino Resort was also an all-action thriller, Chris Avalos (12-0, 10 KOs) of Lancaster, Calif., overcoming a bad case of the flu and a determined Giovanni Caro (12-9-3, 11 KOs) of Mexico City to remain unbeaten with a fourth-round knockout at 2:15.
Two fights, four boxers giving their all in almost eight complete rounds of give-and-take punching. There was hardly a dull moment during a doubleheader presented by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC. It was ShoBox at its best. Grano prevailed, but only after barely avoiding getting knocked out himself. Early in the fourth round, he was definitely stung by Kauffman and appeared ready to possibly go..
But Grano created two breaks to buy some time – once for nailing Kauffman south of the border and again, moments, later, after spitting out his mouthpiece.
Those few extra seconds of rest may have been the difference as he came back to hurt Kauffman with a huge right hand. At the end he had delivered something like 30 punches, many of which that landed and Kauffman went down for the first time in his career. Moments later, it was over.
“I said I was going to take this guy into deep waters and do whatever it took to win and that’s exactly what happened,’’ Grano said. “Kauffman was tough and had more experience than me, but he underestimated me and I had the bigger heart.
“I really want to thank SHOWTIME for this opportunity and I hope they bring me back again.
Kauffman, who had won his last eight starts by knockout, can only think what might have been.
“I definitely thought I had him but I let him get away,’’ he said. “Grano was ready to quit. He was looking for a way to quit. That’s why he hit me low and spit out his mouthpiece. But I let him off the hook. For sure, I want a rematch.’’
Avalos, who’d been sick for about 10 days and was bedridden for a brief time late last week, had his fair share of anxious moments against the hard-hitting Caro. Afterward, he seemed more relieved than happy.
“I give the guy credit. This was definitely one of my toughest fights,’’ said Avalos after knocking Caro cold in the scheduled eight-round encounter. “But I was kind of sick and nowhere near 100 percent. I stuck to my game plan, though, which was to box and brawl a little. I’m glad this one is over. Now, I can go home, get some rest, get well and get back into the gym.’’
Al Bernstein, Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver call the ShoBox action from ringside. The executive producer of ShoBox is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.
Friday’s bouts will re-air as follows:
DAY CHANNEL
Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 11 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME 2
The telecast also will be available On Demand beginning Tuesday, Sept. 22, and running through Oct. 18.
Upcoming on SHOWTIME: Next Friday, Sept. 25, STRIKEFORCE Challengers will air live at 11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast from SpiritBank Event Center in Tulsa, Okla. In the main event, American military hero Tim Kennedy (10-2) of Fayetteville, N.C., will face unbeaten Zak Cummings (10-0) of Springfield, Mo. in a middleweight (185 pounds) scrap. In other televised fights, K-1 legend and six-time world kickboxing champion, Ray “Sugarfoot” Sefo (1-0) of Las Vegas takes on Alabama-born Kevin “The Shaman” Jordan (11-7) in a heavyweight match, budding superstar and two-time All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri, Tyron “T-Wood’’ Woodley (5-0) of St. Louis, will face his sternest test to date when he meets former Tito Ortiz protégé, Zach “The Lisbon Outlaw’’ Light (4-8) of Huntington Beach, Calif., in a welterweight (170 pounds) fight and two-time United States Olympic wrestling team member and NCAA Division I national championship runner up Daniel Cormier will make his MMA debut against Gary Frazier (0-0) of Shawnee, Okla.
ShoBox returns on Friday, Oct. 2 (11 p.m. ET/PT). In a solid super middleweight matchup at the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Okla., Allan Green (28-1, 20 KOs) takes on Victor Oganov (28-2, 28 KOs) in the 10-round main event. In the co-feature, Antwone Smith (16-1, 8 KOs) meets Henry Crawford (22-0-1, 9 KOs) in a 10-round welterweight bout.
The Super Six World Boxing Classic premieres on SHOWTIME on Saturday, Oct. 17, as WBC super middleweight titleholder Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) faces Andre Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs) live from the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England and Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs) meets Jermain Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) on tape-delay from O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany.
On Saturday, Oct. 31, Joseph “King Kong’’ Agbeko (27-1, 22 KOs) will defend his IBF bantamweight belt against Yonnhy Perez (19-0, 14 KOs) on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.
On Saturday, Nov. 21, the Super Six World Boxing Classic continues with WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler defending against 2004 Olympic gold medalist, undefeated Andre Ward.
In a terrific battle of unbeatens in the main event on Dec. 12 on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, defending champion Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KOs) will face Lamont Peterson (27-0, 13 KOs) for the WBO junior welterweight championship.
For more information on “ShoBox: The New Generation” and all SHOWTIME Sports telecasts, including complete INSIDE THE NFL, Strikeforce and boxing video, photos and more, please go to http://sports.sho.com/