By: William Holmes
The Cooks County Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee was the host arena for a four bout ShoBox card, and it featured a main event between Ivan Redkach and Tony Luis in the lightweight division. ShoBox is known for showcasing highly regarded prospects and tonight was no different and it featured several undefeated boxers.
Maurice Hooker (12-0-1) and Abel Ramos (8-0) met first in the junior welterweight division. Tonight was the first time that both Hooker and Ramos were scheduled to fight in an eight round bout but they put on an entertaining and closely contested bout.
Hooker was slightly taller than Ramos and he used his reach and height to his advantage early on by keeping his jab in the face of Ramos. Ramos was unable to get in on the inside and was getting outboxed by Hooker.
By the third round Ramos had a small mouser under his left eye, but he came out more aggressive in the third and was able to rip some solid body shots into the body of Ramos. It was the first clear round that Ramos won.
Hooker went back to fighting from the outside in the fourth and fifth round and the mouse under Ramos’ eye was progressively getting worse. The sixth round was close again and Ramos did his best work when Hooker’s back was against the ropes. Hooker tired in the final two rounds and was losing snap in his punch, while Ramos was applying the pressure well and landed several hard hooks.
The final round was action packed and both fighters landed hard punches, but Ramos finished stronger. The final scores were 77-75 for Hooker, 76-76, and 76-76, a majority draw.
Some in the crowd were booing at the decision but it was a fair score.
Antoine Douglas (11-0) and Marquis Davis (8-0-2) met in the second bout of the evening in the middleweight division. The first bout was entertaining and tightly contested, this bout was a bloseout and never close.
Davis showed a lot of movement in the first round but it appeared to be more because of some built up nervous energy. Douglas had a large edge in amateur experience and it showed inside the ring. He quickly established that he had both the speed and power advantage. Douglas worked at a ferocious rate and was pounding on Davis for all eight rounds.
Douglas never let up in his pressure on Davis and at times it appeared a miracle that Davis didn’t go down. Douglas landed a total of 256 punches while Davis only landed 64.
It should have been a clean sweep in a dominating performance by Douglas, but the judges scored it 79-73, 80-72, and 80-72 for Antoine Douglas.
John Thompson (14-0) and Frank Galarza (11-0-2) met next in the junior middleweight division for the WBC Latino Junior Middleweight Championship. On paper it looked like Thompson was a large favorite. He was the defending champion and he had 100 more amateur fights than Galarza.
Thompson started off strong and was able to keep Galarza at bay with his crisp jab. He ended the first round with a whipping left hook at the end of a combination to the face of Galarza. Galarza however was unfazed and came out attacking in the second round.
Galarza stunned Thompson with right cross to the temple of Thompson and followed it up with a left hook that sent Thompson crashing to the mat face first. Thompson was unable to beat the count and Galarza scored a stunning upset knockout at 0:16 of the second round.
The main event was between Ivan Redkach (15-0-1) and Tony Luis (17-1) in the lightweight division for the USBA Lightweight championship. Redkach was the prohibitive favorite and had more amateur experience, he was also the taller fighter and with more power.
Redkach landed more power shots and was able to block most of Luis’ punches with his arms and guard. Redkach was able to land some body shots early on and both fighters touched the canvas in the first round that was ruled a slip by the referee. Redkach was able to score a questionable knockdown in the first round when he went through the ropes, but Luis wasn’t hurt.
The fight really turned into a brawl in the second round and Luis began effectively smother the punches of Redkach. Redkach however was still able to land and throw more power punches than Luis. When Luis was able to stay in the chest of Redkach he got the better of the exchanges, but when Redkach was able to stay on the outside he did well.
Both fighters were warned by the referee in the fifth round for clinching. In the sixth round Luis was hurt by a left hand right hook combination by Redkach but was able to stay on his feet. A clash of heads opened up a cut in the middle of Luis’ forehead in the sixth round.
Redkach was comfortable in an effective range in the seventh round and the last few rounds were tight and action packed. Both fighters landed hard shots and they could have been scored either way.
The final scores were 99-90, 97-92 and 97-93 for Ivan Redkach.
