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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Lemieux Beats Reyes By
Unanimous Decision;
Matthysse & Diaz
Jr. Also Win; Plus Other Off-TV Results
By Daniel Cloutier
Photos: Tom Hogan - Hoganphotos/Golden Boy
LAS VEGAS — The Montrealer middleweight David Lemieux, who
really wants to face the best fighters of 160 pounds in the
world, improved his situation Saturday evening in the ring
of T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Lemieux improved his record
to 38-3-0 before the main event, in beating the Mexican
Carlos Reyes (35-5-0) by unanimous decision in 10 rounds.
Lemieux connected 145 punches in that bout, against 115 for
the rival. Ranked second contender by the WBO, fourth by the
WBC and the IBF and fifth by the WBA, Lemieux attacked
intensively in the first two rounds, but the half of his
shots were not accurate.
Reyes got a severe curt over the right eye in the second
round.
Lemieux was intense and more accurate in the third round,
and Reyes was bleeding a lot at the end of the round.
In the fourth round, Lemieux connected Reyes with a solid
right hand on the jaw… and the Mexican lost his mouthpiece.
In the fifth, Reyes got his best moments offensively.
However, Lemieux took back the control of the action in the
two following rounds, in connecting good power shots.
Victim of several solid attacks, Reyes was bleeding terribly
at the end of the seventh round.
Reyes found the way to come back with another good offensive
round in the eight.
After a close nine round, Lemieux hurt Reyes again in the
last and 10th round, but the Mexican has been able to resist
to the end.
The judges scored the bout 99-90, 99-90 and 89-91 for the
Montrealer.
“Reyes is a tough fighter,” said Lemieux after the bout. “He
is deserving all my respect. I did not get the performance I
was hoping, because I hurt my right hand at tyne beginning
of the fight».
Reyes said: «Lemieux is a great fighter, it’s not for
nothing that he is ranked in the world. I did everything
possible to knock him out in the last rounds. I threw a lot
of punches, but I did not reach my goal.
MATTHYSSE IMPRESSIVE
At his first presence in the ring in two years, the
Argentinian welterweight Lucas Matthysse was very
impressive. He beat Emmanuel Taylor, a fighter from
Cleverly, Maryland, by TKO, and won the vacant 147 pounds
WBO international championship and the WBC Inter-Continental
championship
More aggressive than his rival, Matthysse hurt Taylor at the
end of the first round with a solid right hand on the jaw.
In the last minute of the second round, Matthysse attacked
intensively and the opponent looked worried.
In the third round, Taylor went on the canvas on a solid
right hand on the chin. And Matthysse hurt him few more
times in the last minute of the round.
However, Matthysse finished the third round with a cut over
the right eye.
Taylor got a pretty good fourth round offensively, but
Matthysse hurt him again the last seconds of the round.
Matthysse provoked another knockdown in the fifth round, and
Taylor looked confused when he got back on his legs. The
referee stopped the fight at that moment.
“The win is a great motivation for me after two years of
inactivity,” said Matthysse. “I dominated clearly the bout,
and I was feel in great in the ring. I am ready for my next
fight.”
Taylor was frustrated after the bout. “I don’t understand
why the referee declared me TKO,” said Taylor. “I was ready
to continue to fight.”
DIAZ WINS UNANIMOUS DECISION
In the first bout televised by HBO, the undefeated
Californians Joseph Diaz Jr and Manuel Avila were fighting
in a NABF and NABO North American featherweight
championships, et both promised to their fans to get out of
the ring with a perfect record.
Who was right? Diaz!
A fighter from South El Monte, Diaz won this fight by
unanimous decision in 10 rounds. The judges scored the bout
100-90, 99-91 and 99-91.
After four rounds, the fight was extremely close between a
Diaz fast and accurate, and an Avila good puncher.
However, Avila got a cut over the left eye in the fifth
round, and Diaz took the control of the action from this
point. He dominated clearly the action in the last six
rounds.
Diaz connected 127 times, against 75 for the opponent.
“My plan was to fight smarter than him, and I did,” said
Diaz after the fight. “After few rounds, I connected a lot
of jabs and body shots. I am looking now for a world
championship bout.”
Avila was very disappointed after the fight. “No doubt, my
timing was not there,” said Avila. I am not happy at all by
my performance.”
GARCIA UNDEFEATED
The lightweight Ryan Garcia, from Victorville, California,
increased his record to 9-0-0 with a win by TKO over Tyrone
Luckey (8-7-3), from Long Beach, New Jersey.
Garcia sent his opponent on the canvas in the second round
with a solid left hook to the head. Luckey got back on his
legs, but Garcia charged again, maintained his intense
attacks, and the referee intervened to stop the bout. Garcia
was too good for his opponent.
The Mexican super welterweight Raul Curiel made successful
pro debut in beating his countryman Jesus Sanchez (1-2-2) by
unanimous decision in four rounds.
Sanchez gave a solid opposition to Curiel in each round.
The Californian super bantamweight Ronny Rios scored his
28th win in pro boxing (28-1-0) with a win by TKO in the
fourth round against the Mexican Daniel Noriega (28-11-1).
Noriega, who has been victim of the knockdown in the second
round, when Rios connected him with a solid right hand on
the chin, was seriously in trouble in the fourth round. The
referee intervened to stop the bout after 2.22 minutes of
action in this fourth round.
In the only female fight, the 2016 Olympian Marlen Esparza,
from Houston, Texas, obtained her second win in pro boxing
(2-0-0) with a victory by unanimous decision in four rounds
against Samantha Salazar (2-4-1). Esparza fought technically
in the first two rounds, but more aggressively in the last
two rounds.
In the opening bout of this boxing show, the Mexican
lightweight Joseph Aguirre improved his perfect record to
17-0-0 in beating his countryman Angel Aispuro (8-5-2) by
unanimous decision in six rounds.
Clearly better technically, Aguirre dominated the action
from the beginning of the end of the fight. On all the
judges cards, Aguirre won six rounds to nothing.
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