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Petrov Defeats Diaz On ESPN
By William Trillo
Photos: Marlene Marquez
Lightweights Petr Petrov (36-4-2, 17 KO’s) and Gamaliel Diaz
(39-12-3, 17 KO’s) took center stage on ESPN’s Main Event
Friday night in a bout that won't be winning any Marques of
Queensbury Awards anytime soon. The bout became a foulest
for a good part of the 10 round affair with most of the
blame sitting squarely on the shoulders of Diaz who seemed
to know and use every dirty trick in the book.
Petrov went down early in round one from flash knockdown but
that was really all the “legal” damage he suffered.
Petrov worked hard throughout the next 9 rounds. Between
shoves, low blows and head butts from Diaz Petr found a way
to score to both the body and the head as he put on a good
boxing performance.
Petrov put Diaz down in round seven with a good combination
and then Diaz poured salt into his own wound moments later
as he was penalized another point for a low blow. That’s two
points down in one round. Not a good way to win a fight.
Petrov stayed focused over the last rounds while Diaz did so
much complaining that the ref finally pulled him to the
corner and told him to shut up or be disqualified.
After ten rounds of action the scorecards told the story as
Petrov won a unanimous decision. Final scores read 98-89 and
97-90 twice.
After the fight Petrov told reporters this was not an easy
fight but he knew his opponent would be a difficult one with
lots of pushing and dirty tactics. Petrov said those tactics
are what caused the first round knockdown and he was
surprised the ref called it an official knockdown. He also
stated he would like to fight for a world title soon, either
in his next fight or the one after that.
Welterweight Taras Shelestyuk (12-0, 8 KO’s) was cut and
taken to the full 8 round limit but he easily defeated Juan
Rodriguez Jr (12-2, 5 KO’s) by a clear cut unanimous
decision.
Shelestyuk was in complete control throughout the fight as
he kept Rodriguez off balance with a good jab and decent
body work.
The Ukranian did well for himself on the ESPN semi-main
event and we should see more from him soon. Final scores
read 78-74 and 79-73 twice.
Jr. Welterweight Emmanuel Robles (13-0-1, 3 KO’s) remained
undefeated as he took a unanimous decision over Wilberth
Lopez (5-5, 1 KO) in a scrappy six round bout.
The southpaw Robles was landing a looping left hand at will
but the tough Lopez never seemed fazed.
Always the aggressor throughout the fight Robles, who did
turn up with a cut over his left eye in round five, stayed
on course to take the decision. Final scores read 58-56 and
59-55 twice.
Super welterweight Isaac Freeman (1-1, 1 KO) tasted defeat
for the first time as Darius Ervin made his pro debut a
successful one with a four round majority decision victory.
Final scores read 38-38, 39-37 and 40-36 giving Ervin the
nod.
Junior Lightweight Michael Norato shined in his pro debut as
he dropped Sopaun Rin (1-2-1) at the end of round one with a
left hook and then used the same punch to finish the job at
the 2:14 mark of round two.
Super bantamweights Humberto Rubalcava (1-0,1 KO) and
Christian Lorenzo (2-3, 1 KO) closed the night with a bang
for the fans that stayed to the end. After a sizzling first
round the two fighters went mano a mano for the first 12
seconds of round two before Rubalcava caught Lorenzo with a
power shot that had the ref waive the fight off before
Lorenzo hit the deck.
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