Falcao Failed To Keep His Promise, Bazinyan & Butler Keep Theirs - Pound4Pound.com

Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Falcao Failed To Keep His Promise,
Bazinyan & Butler Keep Theirs

By Daniel Cloutier

LAS VEGAS = The middleweight Brazilian Yamaguchi Falcao promised to his fans to keep his perfect record in the ring of the Hard Rock Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Did he keep his promise? No!

Christopher Pearson (17-2-0), a fighter from Dayton, Ohio, dethroned Falcoa as WBC middleweight Latino’s champion, in beating him by unanimous decision in 10 rounds. The judges scored the bout 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94 for Pearson, who became the first fighter to inflict a defeat too Falcao (16-1-0).
Falcao was very efficient offensively in the first round with his solid punches to the head and the body.

The Brazilian maintained his intense attacks in the second and third rounds. The fourth and fifth rounds were close, each boxer having efficient moments.

Pearson got his best moments offensively in the sixth round. He connected several power shots. Pearson maintained his intense charges in the seventh and eight rounds.

In the ninth round, Falcao attacked intensively in the first half of the round, but Pearson replied with intense charges in the second half of the round.

In the 10th round, Pearson put his opponent seriously in trouble in attacking furiously.

“It was a very intense bout, but I really think I dominated the action in the second half,” said Pearson. “It is a very important win for me, for my future in boxing. I can say I won a battle of strategies against Falcao.”

Falcao replied: “I am sorry, but I don’t accept this result. I really believe I dominated more rounds than Pearson. It’s a cruel first defeat in pro boxing.”

COMPLETE DOMINATION FOR BAZINYAN

Ranked fourth contender by the WBO in the super middleweight division (168 pounds), the Montrealer Erik Bazinyan kept his NABA and NABO North American championships. He stayed undefeated in pro boxing in beating the Mexican Alan Campa by unanimous decision in 10 rounds. The judges scored the fight 99-90, 99-90 and 97-92 for the Montrealer.

Bazinyan (23-0-0) dominated the first round with his jabs and power shots to the head and the body. Bazinyan got several intense attacks in the second round and Campa (17-5-0) replied with good counterattacks.

In the fourth round, Bazinyan was dominating with intense charges that Campa got problems to block.

In the fifth and sixth rounds, Bazinyan gave a very hard time to his opponent in attacking.

After a pretty close seventh round, Bazinyan lost a point in the eighth round for a low blow, but he finished the round with a great attack. And Bazinyan connected several good shots in the nine round.

“I know I was deserving the win,” said Bazinyan after the bout. “I connected a lot of more punches than my opponent, specially with the power shots and jabs. I hope that this win will help me to improve my situation in the WBO ratings. Like I said, I really hope to dispute a world championship fight next year. And to increase my chances to dispute a world championship fight, you know as me that it’s crucial to move up in the WBO ratings.”

If the situation was easy for Bazinyan, it was a lot of more complicated for the Montrealer middleweight Steven Butler. Butler (27-1-1) kept his WBC 160 pounds International championship in beating the Ukrainian Vitali Kopylenko (28-2-0) par majority decision of the judges. Two judges picked Butler as winner (96-93 and 96-93) and the third judge scored the fight 95-94 for Kopylenko.

Butler was more aggressive than his rival in the first round. He imposed his jabs and power shots.

Kopylenko was productive in the second round. He connected more punches than Butler. The third and fourth rounds were close, each fighter having his good moments offensively.

Butler dominated lightly the fifth round. He was intense, but his rival also got his good moments.

A good sixth round for Butler, who connected several power shots. The seventh round was another close round, but Butler connected the best power shots in the last minute.

Kopylenko provoked a knockdown in the eight round with a great body shot. A clear domination for the Ukrainian in this round.

But Butler came back in force in the nine round with a good performance offensively. And in the 10th and last round, the Montrealer attacked energycally from the beginning to the end. But obviously, the two fighters were exhausted at the end of the bout.

“I am not surprised at all to be in the winning’s corner,” said Butler. “The fight was rough, intense, but no doubt in my mind, I dominated more rounds than Kopylenko. I was the aggressor in most of the rounds. It was the biggest challenge of my pro boxing career, and I am so happy to finish the evening in the winning circle. I am positive I will improve my position in the WBO ratings with this win.

Butler is ranked fifth contender by the WHO in the middleweight division.

The Mexicain middleweight (160 pounds) Alexis Salazar increased his pro record to 21-3-0 with a victory by unanimous decision in eight rounds over his countryman Abraham Cordero (13-4-2).

More aggressive with a longer reach than his rival, Salazar was controlling the action in each round. Salazar tortured litterally his opponent in the fifth round in attacking constantly. The three judges scored the bout 80-72, 80-72 and 79-73 for Salazar.

In the opening bout of the evening, the super welterweight (154 pounds) Richard Acevedo, from Garden City, Kansas, improved his pro record to 5-0-0 in beating the Mexican Mario Sosa (3-2-0 by KO in the first round.

Acevedo provoked two knockdowns in a span of one minute in this first round, and after the second knockdown, the referee declared Sosa KO. It was clear that all the Acevedo’s punches were hurting Sosa.