ShoBox Results: Tapia, Rakhmanov, Gavril, and Hunter Emerge Victorious
By: William Holmes
Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada was the host site for tonight’s ShoBox card as Showtime televised four bouts on their broadcast.
Photo Credit: Stephani Trapp/Showtime
The opening bout of the night was between Sanjarbek Rakhmanov (4-0) and Alfonso Olvera (7-2) in the welterweight division.
Rakhmanov was able to tag Olvera with his left hook several times in the first round and was close to landing the hard shot to send him to the mat. Olvera was able to stay light on his feet, but Rakhmanov was able to bang some hard shots to the body and head.
Olvera had a good second round as his activity picked up, but his punches lacked any punch to really hurt his opponent. Rakhmanov took control of the third round but landing harder shots, but still took a decent number of punches from the soft hitting Olvera.
Olvera caught Rakhmanov by surprise in the fourth round and forced him to tie up at one point, but he was unable to send Rakhmanov to the mat. Rakhmanov’s punches were wide in the fifth round, but when he did land his punches were landing with more power.
Neither boxer looked to be in clear control by the final round, but Rakhmanov likely won it based on his aggression and hard punches.
The final scores were 58-56 for Rakhmanov, 58-56 for Olvera, and 57-57, making it a split draw.
The next bout of the night was between Ronald Gavril (15-1) and Juan Novoa (26-6-1) in the super middleweight division.
Gabril, a Romanoan, had Novoa hurt in the first round with a jab right cross combination. Novoa was hurt and leaning against the ropes, but he was able to stay standing and survive the round. Gavril continued to control the action in the second and third rounds, and was easily blocking the punches of Novoa while landing clean counter shots of his own.
Gavril scored a knockdown in the fourth round with a good shot to the body that forced Novoa to take a knee. He was able to get back to his feet but was almost immediately cracked with a right hand that forced the referee to stop the fight.
Ronald Gavril wins by TKO at 2:08 of the sixth round.
The co-main event of the night was between U.S. Olympian Michael Hunter (11-0) and Isiah Thomas (15-0) in the cruiserweight division.
Hunter had the edge in amateur experience and that was evident throughout the night.
Thomas did not look to be in good shape and he was hurt in the first round from a strong right hand. Thomas avoided exchanging with Hunter after the right hand, and was not able to offer much of an offense.
Hunter controlled the action in the second and third round and simply outboxed Thomas. Thomas wasn’t able to land any significant shots in the fourth and fifth rounds, but Hunter was doing more than his opponent but never really threatened with a knockdown.
This bout was really devoid of any significant action, and each round parroted the round before. Hunter used his superior boxing ability to win nearly every round and was never in danger, but was also never really close to stopping the fight.
The final scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91 for Michael Hunter.
The main event of the night was between Andrew Tabiti (12-0) and Keith Tapia (17-0) in the cruiserweight division.
Tabiti received a lot of praise from Floyd Mayweather Sr. last year and he has a high knockout ratio.
However, there was a lot of holding in the first two rounds and Tapia looked sloppy at times when he threw his hands. Tabiti looked like the more polished fighter and was able to land the cleaner punches. Tapia’s left hand was his best punch in the first two rounds.
Unfortunately the action did not improve much in the third or fourth rounds, but Tabiti had the better jab and he was able to score with combination when he let his hands go.
A clash of heads occurred in the opening minute of the fifth round that forced a brief stoppage to the bout. Tabiti’s best punch of the round was a clean counter right uppercut to Tapia’s chin.
Tapia may have hurt Tabiti in the sixth round from a straight right hand, but he suffered a cut under his right eye after a head butt. Their feet got entangled at the end of the round and Tapia slipped to the mat.
The seventh round featured some of the best action of the night as both guys were able to land good straight right hands, but Tabiti had the sharper and better jab.
There was a brief stoppage in the eighth round to fix the tape around the gloves of Tapia. Tabiti connected with several right hands on Tapia and he was beginning to establish firm control of the fight. Tabiti scored a knockdown in the final ten seconds of the round with a quick over the top right hand.
Tapia caught Tabiti by surprise in the opening minute of the ninth round with a lead left hook, but Tabiti out boxed and outmaneuvered Tapia for the remainder of the round.
Tapia needed a knockout in the final round to win the fight, but that stoppage did not come.
The final scores were 99-90, 97-92, and 97-92 for Andrew Tabiti.