By: William Holmes, Ringside
Top Rank Boxing promoted a card from the Hard Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring a main event of Kelly Pavlik against Scott Sigmon in the super middleweight division. This is certainly a big weekend in boxing for Las Vegas, as Manny Pacquiao is set to square off with Timothy Bradley tomorrow night.
Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank
The first bout of the night was between Kevin Davila (1-0) and Saul Rodriguez (3-0) in the super featherweight division. Davila and Rodriguez competed in an action filled bout that featured quick and hard exchanges. Rodriguez however got the better of Davila with solid body shots that opened up attacks upstairs for him. In the end Rodriguez won with scores of 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37.
The second bout of the night was between Gerardo Robles (17-10) and Roger Gonzalez (27-5) in the lightweight division. Robles blitzed Gonazelz from the beginning, and was able to knock him down with a straight right hand early on in the first round. Robles knocked Gonzalez down again in the second round, but Gonzalez was not badly hurt. Gonzelaz came on strong in the third and fourth rounds, and hurt Robles with a right hook in the fourth round and blasted him with combinations by the corner. The later rounds were close, and Robles seemed content on hoping his early knockdowns would lead him to a victory. At the end of the bout he was right as the scores were 75-75, 76-74, and 76-74 for Gerado Robles.
The first swing bout of the night was between Tommy Turner (2-1) and Rudy Puga (2-0) in the super middleweight division, and Puga wasted very little time in dropping Turner with a beautiful body head combination that ended with a straight right hand that dropped Turner. Turner had blood streaming out of his nose at the end of the first round. Puga dropped Turner twice in the second round with left hooks to the body. The fight was finally waived off when Puga again dropped Turner, this time with a short uppercut. Rudy Puga remained undefeated with a TKO victory at 2:19 of round 2.
Former Notre Dame collegiate football player Mike Lee (8-0) took on Eliseo Durazo (3-2) in the light heavyweight division in the first televised bout of the night. Mike Lee looked to be in incredible shape, his opponent…not so much. Lee had a large contingent of fans in the audience, and he easily won the fight as Durazo never really threatened Lee with an offensive attack. Durazo was an opponent that Lee should have stopped, he didn’t, and Lee was not impressive. The official scores were 59-54, 59-54, and 59-54 for Mike Lee.
Jesse Magdaleno (9-0) fought Carlos Valcarcel (12-4-4) in the Super Bantamweight division, and he had a very quick night. The southpaw dropped Valcarcel by the corner with a straight left hand in the first round, and pounced on him as soon as he got up to force the referee stoppage. Jesse Magdaleno wins by TKO at 2:25 of the first round.
The main event was between Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik (36-2) and Scott Sigmon (22-3) in the super middleweight division. Pavlik looked to be a good foot taller than Sigmon, and was clearly the better boxer in the ring. Sigmon came out to the theme of Ghostbusters, but the only thing that was busted was the nose of Sigmon. Pavlik battered Sigmon with 1-2 combinations early on in the fight, and badly bloodied his face. The referee called a halt to the bout at the conclusion of round 7. Kelly Pavlik won by TKO and continues his comeback.