By Rich Lopez
Shobox: The New Generation started the New Year off in Sloan, Iowa to showcase upcoming prospects. Shobox is celebrating their 19th year and last night’s show was its 250th episode. Even though the weather was treacherous in Sloan, Iowa, fans still came out for the fights to witness the future in boxing.
The main event was between two undefeated fighters. Vladimir Shishkin (10-0, 6 KO’s) of Russia, made his second appearance on Shobox and it was a successful one. He defeated Ulises Sierra (15-1-2, 9 KO’s) of San Diego, California by a ten round unanimous decision in the super middleweight division. As the fight began, Shishkin started out fast and he put the pressure on Sierra. He threw punches to the head and body of Sierra. Sierra was also having some success by landing good counter shots but the Russian was outworking Sierra. Shishkin continued this in round two while Sierra was still having his moments with some good counter right hands. Round three was more of the same with Shishkin landing combinations and he was the busier of the two fighters. Sierra was only landing one shot at a time.
Sierra did pick up the pace in round four and he had his best round. He outworked Shishkin and displayed good defense by blocking his shots. Sierra started round five well with good combinations to the head of Shishkin, but it was short lived. Shishkin finished the round strong and backed up Sierra. As round six got underway, Sierra was looking more tired. Shishkin was mixing straight punches to the head and body of Sierra. In rounds seven and eight, Shishkin continued the attack backing up and breaking Sierra down. Sierra landed punches in spots but could not keep up the pace of Shishkin. Shishkin threw power shots in round nine and was landing hard right hands to the head of Sierra. It looked like Sierra was ready to go as he was taking a lot of damage. In the last round, Shishkin went for the knockout but Sierra hung in tough and went to distance. The final scores were 100-90, 99-91 (twice) all for Shishkin.
Shishkin dominated the fight and Sierra had his moments. The difference was Shishkin had a better work rate. Expect to see Shishkin again on Shobox as he steps up the competition.
The biggest moment of the telecast was in the co-feature. Hard hitting super lightweight Shohjahon “Descendant of Tamerlane”Ergashev (18-0, 16 KO’s) of Uzbekistan, showed why he may be the future of the division. He destroyed Adrian “Diamante”Estrella (29-5, 24 KO’s) of Mexico in the 1st round for his fourth appearance on Shobox. Even though Estrella is from the smaller weight classes, he brought in power and experience to test Ergashev. None of that mattered in this fight. As expected, Ergashev was full of energy once the bell rang for the 1st round. The southpaw was already looking to set up the knockout shot on Estrella. He already had Estrella backing up. All of sudden, Ergashev landed a powerful left hook to the liver of Estrella. Estrella immediately dropped on pain and could not get up. He was counted out. The knockout came at 1:32 of the 1st round.
What a statement by Ergashev and we have a new player in the super lightweight division which is wide open. It was expected for Ergashev to win this fight but the way he did it was impressive. Ergashev is entertaining and he goes for the knockout in every fight. Expect to see him back real soon as he continues to rise in the rankings
In the opening bout of the telecast, Jarico “The Great Lakes King” O’Quinn (13-0-1, 8 KO’s) of Detroit, Michigan was successful in his Shobox debut. He defeated Oscar “Chapito”Vasquez (15-3-1, 3 KO’s) of Reno, Nevada by an eight roundunanimous decision in the bantamweight division. O’Quinn got to a good start in the beginning of the 1st round, but Vasquez closed the gap. Vasquez was successful in the inside and landedgood right hands to the head of O’Quinn. In rounds two and three, both fighters were landing good punches on each other. The difference was O’Quinn was a little busier of the two fighters. The fighters were only throwing hooks, punches and no jabs. Vasquez had a good round four as he backed up O’Quinn and he landed some good right hands. O’Quinn got busier in round five and backed up Vasquez. In spots, Vasquez would land a right hand on O’Quinn but he lacked punching power. Vasquezstarted round six well, but O’Quinn picked up the pace and landed good combinations. In round seven, O’Quinn kept the fight in the middle of the ring and kept his combinations going. O’Quinn went for the knockout in the final round by throwing all power shots. He did land a right hand that stunned Vasquez. O’Quinn also landed a few hard body shots to finish the round. All the judges scored it the same at 79-73 for O’Quinn.
It was a one sided fight but a very entertaining one. O’Quinn showed his skills and speed while Vasquez showed his toughness. O’Quinn looked good overall and he would need to improve his defense but that will come with time.