A Night Of Combat In Las Vegas

 

By Oliver Smith Friday night at the Thomas and Mack center in Las Vegas, was a night of mixed fighting action. First part was boxing and the second part MMA which saw Kim Couture (wife of legendary fighter Randy) making her professional debut. 10,000 fans came to see how the drama would unfold.   Here’s how the night turned out:   Kevin Burnett (13-1-1, 8 KOs) Vs. Horace Grant (12-0, 7 KOs) turned out to be one of the fights of the night as Burnett dominated throughout only to be almost KO’d just as the final bell sounded. From nowhere Grant smashed Burnett with a right that had the man from Florida flat on his back and controversially beating referee Joe Cortez’ count. Burnett was given a unanimous decision by all three judges 78-73, 79-72, 79-72, much to the disappointment of the Thomas and Mack arena.

 

Heavyweight Greg Kielsa (6-0, 3 KOs) defeated Alvaro Morales (2-2-4) by scores of 40-36 on all judges cards.

 

Final boxing match up of the evening saw Friday ‘’The 13^th’’ Ahunanya (24-5-3, 13 KOs) take on undefeated Alonzo ‘’Big Zo’’ Butler (26-1-1, 19 KOs). Friday has been in devastating form recently which has seen him go undefeated in four fights. However, Friday can be a bit unpredictable and you never know which fighter is going to turn up, but against Butler he continued his impressive streak. He dominated for most of the fight, especially in round 4 when he knocked down Butler with a strong right which cut his eye. After that Friday concentrated on Butlers left eye which swelled up and finally closed in the 7^th round. Ahunanya picked his moments well and landed some hard, quick punches. The fight went the full 8 rounds with the judges scoring a unanimous decision all in favor of Friday with scores of 95-94, 96-93, and 95-94.

 

The ESPN crew packed up their equipment and no sooner than they had left, the MMA fighters took over the show.

 

Most of the fans at the T-Mack stadium were there to see Kim Couture make her pro debut. She was up against Kim Rose who was also making her professional debut.

 

As the bell sounded Rose rushed over and hit Couture with a devastating punch that almost took her head off. Couture fell to the ground and Rose began to swing wildly as Couture tried to defend herself. Couture managed to pick herself up and recover. However, the rest of the fight fell into a repetitive pattern as Rose would come out strong at the beginning of each round and take advantage of Couture’s inability to defend herself at the stand up game. Rose dished out some serious punishment and at the end of round 2 it seemed as though Randy was going to throw the towel in but he decided to let his sweetheart fight on for one more round. She survived the final round but it was apparent to everyone in the crowd that she had taken a battering and this was evidenced by her bloodied face.

 

Judges scored a unanimous decision all in favor of Rose who impressed with her bulldog spirit.

 

Last fight of the evening was John ‘’The Natural’’ Alessio vs. Pete ‘’Secret Weapon’’ Spratt. Spratt started this one strong and looked dangerous with some high kicks that connected with Alessios' head, however the tide soon changed and Alessio started to take control. He finally got his moment when halfway through the 3^rd round Alessio jumped on Spratt’s back and began to chock him out, Spratt struggled and tried to avoid having to tap out but he fell to the floor and submitted taking Alessios’ record to 23-11-0.

 

The night went well and was the first of its kind. Could this be the benchmark of fights to come? Could a UFC / Boxing card be around the corner? Watch this space….