By Joseph Herron: On the eve of what is being billed as “The Event”, boxing was on center stage in Grapevine, TX at the beautiful Gaylord Texan Hotel & Resort. The co-main event featured the best of both worlds: Flyweights and Heavyweights. Sam Peter participated in an IBF title eliminator bout with the young and crafty Nagy Aguilera. Both men came into the ring wanting to make a statement for Heavyweight supremacy. Aguilera, who was coming off of a spectacular knockout victory over former Heavyweight title holder Oleg Maskaev, looked very motivated during his walk towards the ring.
Unfortunately for the young Dominican, who currently hails from Newburgh, New York, the Nigerian Nightmare was the only fighter making a convincing argument for a title bout. Sam Peter looked dominant, knocking out Nagy Aguilera in the second round. The Nigerian fighter, who fights out of Las Vegas, Nevada, looked very impressive in his short, but action filled fight, bombing out the younger and less experienced New York fighter. Nagy Aguilera suffered his third loss of 18 bouts, and Sam Peter improved to 34 wins and 3 losses with 27 knock-outs.
It will be interesting to see if Peter gets an immediate title shot against the IBF and universally recognized Champ Wladimir Klitschko, or will he be forced to fight unbeaten mandatory opponent Alexander “Sasha” Povetkin. Povetkin previously had to cancel a scheduled bout with Wladimir Klitschko after suffering an injury while training for the title bout. When asked who he preferred to fight, the Nigerian fighter stated, “I will fight whoever is ready for me.”
The final fight of the televised portion of the fight card featured Filipino fighter Richie Mepranum, who was simply too quick for the unbeaten Hernan “Tyson” Marquez, in what proved to be the best fight of the evening. Both fighters showed up and delivered non-stop action for ten rounds in a breath-taking slugfest. Mepranum looked very sharp and consistently turned and battered the undefeated Mexican fighter. Marquez showed great heart and toughness in the middle rounds and proved to be a worthy opponent. But in the end, the Mexican fighter’s efforts just weren’t enough to overcome the skilled Filipino fighter losing a unanimous decision. Marquez suffered his first loss and moved to 25-1 with 18 knockouts. Richie Mepranum improved to 16-2-1 with 3 knockouts.
The quickest knockout of the evening came from the hands of undefeated Houston, TX fighter Omar Henry who destroyed Francisco Reza in just 33 seconds into the first round. “Oh Henry” improves to 8-0 with 7 knockouts and looks to shake-up the jr. middleweight division.
Other notable fights on the undercard included a non-televised bout featuring the always impressive Anthony Peterson, who was just too strong for Puerto Rican journeyman Juan Ramon Cruz. He relentlessly battered and knocked out Cruz, improving his record to 30-0 with 20 knockouts. Peterson looks to be in line for a title shot later this year and would be a tough outing for any of the current title holders at 135.
Heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr knocked out local fighter James Hall in the second round and advanced his record to 3-0 with 3 knockouts. Also in action, gifted six foot, 135 pound fighter Jose Benavidez, knocked out tough American Bobby Hill, improving his resume to 3 wins and 0 losses with 3 knockouts. Both fighters are currently being trained by Freddie Roach out of wild card gym in Hollywood, CA.
Boxers and fans who were present seemed pleased with this boxing “appetizer” on Friday night. Fighters who were on hand to see the great action at the Texas Ballroom were Jose Luis Castillo, Big Lou Savarese, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, and Lamont Peterson just to name a few. Hopefully the “Main Course” on Saturday night will prove to be just as eventful.