Los Angeles, California (Main Event Recap)
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Vic Darchinyan TD-5 Yonnhy Perez: Totally dominant performance from Darchinyan, who just plain bullied and beat the hell out of Perez, who wanted out as soon as an accidental headbutt opened a gusher in the fifth round. More details in the full recap linked above.
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DaVarryl Williamson TKO-7 Michael Marrone: Heavyweight also-rans at this stage, but DaVarryl was once a contender, and at 42 put the "Touch of Sleep" on 25-year-old Marrone with a series of crushing right hands in the seventh round. Williamson is now 27-6 (23 KO), while Marrone slips to 19-3 (14 KO).
- Miguel Diaz UD-4 Alejandro Solorio ... Art Hovhannesyan TKO-5 Jose Alfredo Lugo ... Juan Reyes UD-4 Azat Hovhannesyan ... Omar Figueroa TKO-2 John Figueroa ... Vito Gasparyan TKO-5 Trenton Titsworth (you might remember Titsworth as "the guy docked two points for kissing Jessie Vargas").
Thackerville, Oklahoma
- Francisco Leal SD-10 Robert Marroquin: Leal won on scores of 99-92, 93-97 and 96-94 over Top Rank prospect Marroquin in what was a hell of a fight according to the commentators, and the last four rounds that I saw were in fact pretty damn action-packed. At the end of it, Marroquin (19-1, 14 KO) was busted open and pretty nastily swollen up, while Leal (15-5-3, 9 KO) looked fine for 10 rounds of a hard fight. I'd like to say this isn't a bad loss for Marroquin, and sure the 21-year-old can come back fine from this hiccup, but Leal is really not a guy better than his record. Marroquin also had some struggles in his last fight against Gilberto Sanchez Leon and might need some more light seasoning.
- Matt Korobov UD-6 Marcos Primera: OK, let's start being honest. Korobov (15-0, 9 KO) is 28 years old. He needs to start fighting better opposition than Primera (20-25-2, 13 KO), who has long served as a prospect tester, but Korobov is beyond that already. We've seen him beat better tests. At what point is Top Rank going to pull the trigger on this guy and get him a legitimate step-up fight? Is there something they're worried about and only saying through matchmaking?
- Tom Zbikowski KO-1 Blake Warner: This was another nothing win for Zbikowski (4-0, 3 KO), as Warner (1-3, 1 KO) turned pro in 2003, fought a second time in 2005, and then fought once last year coming into this fight. Zbikowski is not beating low-level boxers, he's beating non-boxers. It deserves to be treated for exactly what it is. It's like boxing fantasy camp for "Tommy Z." I'm not saying he is a bad guy, or that he is to "blame" for any of this, but it's just so hard for me to not call out this whole thing, since most of the media seems so intent on fluffing it up as much as possible. Let's be realistic here.
Atlantic City, New Jersey
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Garrett Wilson UD-12 Omar Sheika: A year ago, Sheika (30-11, 21 KO) knocked out Wilson (10-5-1, 4 KO) in the fourth round. This time the USBA saw fit to throw up a vacant cruiserweight belt, with a 185-pound catchweight limit, and Wilson blew out the veteran on scores of 119-108 and 118-109 (twice). Sheika is 34 years old, and about 44 in ring years. He's a tough guy, but it's long over.