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Jonny Mansour & Juju Ballo Put On A Show
In Front Of Fox Theatre Boxing Record Crowd
Undefeated lightweight sensation and San Diego-based rising
prospect Jonny Mansour thrilled the more than 3,200 fans in
attendance at Fox Theatre - a boxing event record at the
historic theatre - with a sensational knockout of Ernest
Bustos Saturday in the co-main event on Wynn Records
Network. Comerica Bank is the exclusive presenting partner
of the Fox Theatre.
With the crowd chanting “Jonny” as he was walked to the ring
by Detroit rap star 42 Dugg, former amateur standout Mansour
(8-0, 3 KOs) put on a clinic, flooring Bustos (6-3, 2 KOs),
three times en route to a second round KO (1:47).
In the waning seconds of the first, the 26-year-old floored
Bustos with a flush left hook to the chin, with the Texas
native slow to get up and barely beating the count. San
Diego’s Mansour kept the pressure in the second, dropping
Bustos again with a clean body shot midway through the
round. Once again Bustos was slow to get up, and moments
later Mansour landed a right-left combo followed by a
picture perfect right to body, dropping his opponent for the
third and final time as the referee waved off the fight.
"I want to thank all my fans,” Mansour said. “I put in so
much work every single fight. My fight camps take a lot of
dedication. This fight goes out to all my people in Detroit.
I promised my mother that one day I would be a world
champion, and tonight I am one step closer to that promise.
I might have to move to Detroit. I will be back.
"That was an 11 out of 10 performance tonight. Yesterday he
tried to say I wasn't 'about that life,' but I’ve been
putting in work since I was eight years old—I don't need to
run my mouth because my hands speak for themselves. I wanted
the knockout, and when I told him to get back up, he didn't
want any more of it.”
This was the second consecutive packed house for Salita
Promotions in the month of August after a sensational crowd
supported the GWOAT Claressa Shields on Aug. 15 at State
Farm Arena in Atlanta. The more than 3,000 paid attendees at
Fox Theatre for the Salita Promotions and Ballo and
Mansour’s G2G Promotions event, in association with Wynn
Records, were treated to a thrilling night of boxing at the
nearly 100-year-old historic theatre.
“It’s been a great month for us, along with Wynn Records,
here in Detroit with G2G Promotions, Jonny and JuJu, and in
Atlanta with Claressa,” said Dmitriy Salita, President of
Salita Promotions. “We were able to put on two shows for
capacity audiences in less than two weeks in two great
American cities. We’ve been working to build Detroit back
into a major hub for world class boxing and tonight we
proved that it is truly back.”
World-ranked heavyweight contender Brandon Moore outworked
former world title challenger Byrant Jennings en route to a
unanimous decision victory, scored 99-91, 98-92 twice.
Moore (20-1, 10 KOs) was by far the more active fighter from
the opening bell, jabbing to keep his 41-year-old opponent
at bay. Jennings appeared to be sitting and waiting to land
the big one that never came, as Moore continued to fight
from the outside and lean on his reach and size advantage to
frustrate Jennings. An accidental headbutt opened a gushing
cut under Moore’s left eye in the sixth, followed by another
one in the 10th and final round above the same eye.
Throughout the bout, Jennings was game but struggled to pull
the trigger, as Moore pocketed rounds and Jennings appeared
to struggle to keep up with the output of his much younger
opponent.
Undefeated blue chip super featherweight prospect and former
amateur standout JuJu Ballo won a dominating shutout
unanimous decision over Julian Gomez-Clemons in front of his
Chaldean faithful at Fox Theatre. The convincing win was
scored 60-54 by all three judges.
San Diego’s Ballo controlled the distance from the opening
bell, fighting at range and coming inside to pick apart
Gomez-Clemons despite a significant size and reach
disadvantage. Ballo (4-0) did his best work from the
outside, landing sharp jabs and power hooks, tiring his
opponent with his superior movement and footwork. The
23-year-old improved as the fight went on, landing his
sharpest punch of the fight in the final round - a left hook
to Gomez-Clemons’ (2-2, 2 KOs) head that had the crowd erupt
to their feet.
After the bell, Ballo’s father Jack, lifted his son in a
triumphant victory walk around the ring as thousands of fans
cheered “JuJu.”
“First of all, I want to thank God,” Ballo said. “Second of
all, how’re all my Habibi's doing tonight? I feel great; I’m
4-0, and I wanted to go for the knockout. The knockout
didn’t come my way this time, but man, I felt great. I
showcased my skills in front of a great Detroit audience."
“I’m putting the 126-lb division on notice. This isn’t even
my best yet. This goes out to all my Chaldeans in the house.
I proved once again why you can't sleep on my skills—that
was a solid 8.5 performance against a really tough
competitor. I wanted to get the knockout, but he wasn’t a
pushover. I controlled the range, barely got touched all
night, and got some great learning rounds in while taking
care of business.”
Undefeated Flint heavyweight Sardius Simmons (10-0, 6 KOs)
scored a highlight-reel second-round TKO of Detrailous
Webster (9-6, 5 KOs). Webster hurt Simmons badly in the
second, sending him stumbling back into the ropes. Simmons
didn’t let off the gas, landing a flush right hook that sent
Webster tumbling back into the ropes of the neutral corner.
With blood gushing from his nose, the referee immediately
stopped the bout at 1:55.
Michigan favorite and SuperBad Boxing Gym fighter Jasmine
Hampton (3-0, 2 KOs) won an eight-round unanimous decision
over Gloria Munguilla (8-4), scored 78-74, 80-72, 78-74.
Local favorite Hussam Al Mashadi (16-1, 12 KOs) narrowly
edged a game Seantorious Martin (12-2, 7 KOs) via
eight-round unanimous decision in a back-and-forth fight,
scored 78-74, 79-73, 77-75.
In a matchup of undefeated bantamweight prospects in the
opening bout on Wynn Records Network, Richard Fernandez
(5-0-1, 3 KOs) and Joshua Moreno (4-0-1, 3 KOs) fought to a
split-draw in six round an action-packed fight, scored 56-68
for Moreno, 58-56 for Fernandez and 57-57.
In the final non-televised bout, local favorite and
undefeated super lightweight prospect Lance Smith (8-0, 5
KOs) won a near-shutout unanimous decision over Marlin Sims
(9-5, 4 KOs) scored 60-54, 60-54, 59-55.
Undefeated super lightweight prospect Savannah Tini (8-0, 2
KOs) won a shutout eight-round unanimous decision victory
over veteran Calista Silgado (22-21-4, 16 KOs), score 80-72
on all three judges scorecards.
In the opening bout of the evening, G2G Promotions
undefeated lightweight prospect Sai Maldonado (3-0, 2 KOs)
went the distance for the first time in his career in a
four-round unanimous decision over Dmytrko Kruhalskyi (0-1)
scored 40-36, 39-37 twice.
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