It wasn’t the fight that Joel Julio was looking for. It wasn’t the fight that Main Events or even ESPN had in mind when they scheduled it. Originally Julio was to fight Antwone Smith, who withdrew due to an elbow injury. Julio was looking to showcase his talents on ESPN to prove that he should be given a shot at the top of the Welterweight division. He was there once. Looking at his record, you see one knockout after another. Then in 2006 he lost to Carlos Quintana in a WBA eliminator fight. Afterward, he moved up a division and never had quite the same success. So now he is back at Welterweight. Smith and ESPN were to help cement his reputation, but instead he met Anges Adjaho.

Adjaho did not give Julio any problems. The problem was that Adjaho barely gave Julio a fight. Julio was clearly in control of the first eight rounds. Julio was the first to throw and land a punch. He spent the first round backing Adjaho around the ring. Adjaho found his back against the ropes time and time again in those early rounds. He would use his jab, but his jab was having little effect on Julio. Julio landed a few combinations, but they didn’t seem to have much effect on Adjaho. The second round looked a lot like the first. Adjaho still moving backward, and Julio still stalking him.

Although the third round started much like the two previous, there was a moment that looked as though Adjaho was going to try to turn things around. After spending the beginning of the round closed up on the ropes, Adjaho started throwing combinations. Julio started backing up. Maybe Julio was stunned from Adjaho’s power, or maybe he was just stunned because Adjaho was throwing more than a jab, but it had an effect on Julio. However, it was short lived, less than thirty seconds. The round ended once again with Julio backing Adjaho around the ring. Adjaho tried using his hook in the fourth round, but he had trouble landing it. Julio was taking his attack to the head and body in an effort to end this fight early.

In rounds five and six, Adjaho tried a new strategy. He would drop his hands and challenge Julio to hit him. The problem with this was that Julio was already hitting him. Adjaho still was not giving Julio any kind of fight. The rounds were all starting to blend together. Adjaho would throw his jab as he backed around the ring, and Julio would just keep coming forward. If Julio would catch Adjaho on the ropes, Adjaho would simply close up.

Then something happened in round nine. Adjaho seemed to realize that he was in a fight, and maybe he thought he had a puncher’s chance. He started throwing more than his jab. He started to follow up his jab with his right. And it had an effect. Although he had lost every round on the scorecards up to that point, Julie Lederman and Shafeeq Rashada scored the ninth round for Adjaho. He started out the tenth round much the same. Debra Barnes scored the tenth round for Adjaho.

So what did the fight prove for Julio? It’s really hard to say if it proved anything. It’s hard to fight a man who refuses to fight. It’s up to Julio and Main Events to get a tough opponent for Julio. Then it is up to Julio to prove that he deserves to be at the top of the Welterweight division.
 

Sadam Ali did not have it quite as easy as Joel Julio. Although the scorecards don’t reflect it, John Revish gave Ali a fight. Half way into round one, Ali landed his first hard shot against Revish. Revish did not back down. He kept coming forward and challenging Ali. Revish then landed. But it was Ali who staggered Revish at the end of the first round. It looked as though it was going to be a typical Ali fight by the second round. By typical, I mean that Ali was going to end it early. Ali knocked Revish down in the second. Revish got back up and was right back in the fight. Both were trading in the center of the ring. But by the end of the round, Ali was backing Revish around the ring.

Revish started the third round fighting smart. He would come in and land a few shots and then move out of Ali’s reach. Revish was having some success with this strategy. However, Ali is a quick fighter. He was able to catch Revish on the ropes. Revish fought his way out. Ali once again caught him on the ropes. Revish kept throwing punches, slowing down the usually quicker Ali. The fourth round was more of a back and forth round. Ali would be backing Revish around the ring; then Revish would turn up his attack and back Ali up. Ali never looked in trouble in the round; Revish, however, did.

Even what seem like the most predictable fights can be unpredictable. As the fifth round started and the two fighters came to the center of the ring, the lights went out. Both fighters were instructed to return to their corners where they waited. And waited. About fourteen to fifteen minutes later the fight resumed.

When the fight resumed, it was almost as though they were starting the fight all over again. The beginning of the round, the two seemed as though they were simply warming up. Then Ali started coming at Revish throwing his trademark hooks. Revish threw a combination right back at Ali. Revish came at Ali, landing a hard shot that would have taken down a lesser opponent. Ali, unfazed, threw a combination at Revish as the round was coming to an end. As Ali came out in the sixth round, he gave his fans, filling the first several rows of the arena, a look that seemed to say, this is the round. But it was another back and forth round. The two started out trading shots in the middle of the ring. Ali was then backing Revish up. Toward the middle of the round, Revish lost his mouthpiece. This seemed to give Revish a boost as the action continued. Revish looked like the more aggressive fighter. But the round ended with Ali clearly in control.

The seventh round belonged to Ali. Revish was not able to disrupt his attacks, and Ali was clearly in control of the entire round. It looked as though the fight was going to end this way. As the eighth round started, Ali was again controlling the action. Then Revish landed a punch, staggering Ali. Ali quickly held on to Revish. Revish began to put more pressure on Ali. Revish was now the one chasing Ali down. By the end of the round, Ali and Revish were trading shots, both looking as though they were looking for that KO. Ali won the unanimous decision. The only round Revish won was the eighth, which he won on all three judges’ scorecards.

In the first fight of the night, Lightweight Tyrone Luckey knocked out Sidell Blocker. Blocker was down three times in the second round. The third time was a right to the chin that ended the fight at 1:51 in the second round.

Light Heavyweight Joel Castillo TKO’d Jesse Orta. For the first two rounds, Orta was giving Castillo a fight, but by the third he appeared to be mentally out of the fight. At 2:33 in the fourth round, referee Earl Morton stopped the action. Orta did not seem dazed or confused, let alone out on his feet. He just wasn’t fighting.

In the surprise fight of the night, local favorite and Welterweight Vinny O’Brien lost a hard fought fight to Rafael Montalvo. Both Montalvo and O’Brien went down in the second round. O’Brien went down again in the fourth. O’Brien looking shaky on his feet caused referee Earl Morton to call a halt to the action at 2:09 in the fourth round.

Light Heavyweight Angel Concepcion won by unanimous decision over Teneal Goyco. Although Goyco was able to knock Concepcion down in the first, Concepcion came back to win the fight.