Brinkley TKOs Griffin!

Mark Ortega

In a main event featuring two former boxing reality stars, “Contender” star Jesse Brinkley emerged victorious via eleventh round knockout over Otis Griffin, the winner of “The Next Great Champ”, earning him the vacant WBC USNBC Super Middleweight Championship in the process.

Brinkley [ 30-5-0 ] controlled the fight from the opening bell, pressuring Griffin all night against the ropes. The overhand right was the punch that landed all night for Brinkley, but it was the left hook which put Griffin down in the tenth and ultimately finished him in the eleventh. Griffin [ 18-3-2 ] had trouble all night landing anything of meaning, and never had Brinkley in any sort of real trouble. Brinkley was able to bully Griffin against the ropes and control the tempo of the fight and won nearly every round before dropping Griffin at the end of the tenth round. A bombardment of punches to start the eleventh prompted the referee to wave the bout off, much to Griffin ’s decline. Griffin is expected to continue fighting as a light heavyweight, as he had a lot of trouble making super middleweight and was noticeably drained heading into the fight. When asked what his future holds, Brinkley stated, “I am looking for that world championship. I am hoping to have a couple more fights before challenging for a world title on HBO.” In the co-feature, a rematch between Glenn Donaire and Jose Albuquerque won the fans over in what is surely one of the best fights of 2008. Unfortunately, only the fans in attendance were able to view this as the card was not televised. Donaire [ 17-3-1 ] won a unanimous decision, avenging a draw with Albuquerque [ 8-3-2 ] from 2006 in his first fight in a little over fourteen months following his knockout loss to Vic Darchinyan. Both fighters went toe-to-toe for much of the fight, leading to a few headbutts and elbows thrown by Albuquerque , which were deemed unintentional. Both fighters were cut, with Albuquerque being busted open pretty badly. The scores were 79-73, 77-75, 77-75. Donaire and his team are hoping to setup a fight with IBF champion Ulises Solis sometime in the future.

In the card’s only upset, Oakland , California ’s Tony Hirsch knocked out Reno ’s Derek Hinkey in the final round of a scheduled four-round contest. Hirsch landed the overhand right at will, due mainly to the fact that Hinkey did very little to defend himself. Hirsch [ 4-1-0 ] has only one loss on his record, stemming from a TKO loss in which the fight was stopped prematurely when Hirsch was against the ropes. Hinkey [ 4-1-0 ] drops his first professional fight, and many, including Hirsch and his team, wonder if the scorecards would have favoured the hometown fighter if the fight reached a decision. “I knew I had to knock him out to win,” said Hirsch after the fight. “I thought they might steal it from me.” When asked what is in the future for Hirsch, his manager Repo Ric declared loudly that they are targeting Sacramento prospect Brandon Gonzales and would like to fight him within the next year. It is also possible that Hirsch could appear on San Jose ’s March 20th show at The Tank in which Andre Ward will be headlining.

Emily Klinefelter won in her professional debut, earning a four-round unanimous decision over the game Elizabeth Cervantes. Klinefelter punished Cervantes for much of the exciting bout, with Cervantes landing a few good exchanges over the course of the four two-minute rounds. An amateur national champion, Klinefelter’s future is a bright one, and she proved she can take as much punishment as she can dish in her first victory as a professional.

The first fight of the night was a good scrap between lightweights as Michael Peralta of Carson City won an entertaining four-round majority decision over Oscar Marin of Las Vegas . The first few rounds were close, but Marin’s conditioning caught up with him and he tired over the last few rounds, allowing Peralta to pull a win out. Scores were 40-36, 40-36, and 38-38.

The card was promoted by “Let’s Get it On Promotions” and was held at the beautiful Silver Legacy Resort & Casino. Promoter Terry Lane is looking to host another show sometime in May, and could very likely use Brinkley as the headliner in defence of his newly won crown. Read more!

Norris upsets Simms, local fighters shine in support.

Mark Ortega

Damian Norris scored a shocking upset over Michael Simms in a ten-round battle of heavyweights Thursday night at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Sacramento, California.

Norris [11-5-0] was awarded a split decision victory having won 98-92 and 96-94 on two scorecards while Simms won 97-93 on one judge’s card. Many people were left wondering how Norris won the fight when he had not landed very many clean punches over the course of the ten rounds. Simms [19-8-1] did himself no favor by staying against the ropes and letting Norris throw combinations, even if the punches did not land cleanly. Simms landed the much cleaner shots throughout the fight, including a huge right hand that had Norris hurt in the fifth round. Simms was hoping a win in this fight would be the beginning of a descent to the cruiserweight ranks, especially after he came into the fight in pretty good shape following a more than ten month layoff.

On the undercard, Ernesto Castaneda won a six-round unanimous decision over Christian Cruz in a battle of local super middleweights. Castaneda outworked Cruz from the beginning, and found an opening with the right hand throughout the fight. Cruz [12-9-1] was rusty in his first fight back following a loss to rising prospect Jean Pascal back in June of last year. Castaneda [10-7-1], one of four fighting brothers, won by the scores of 60-54, 59-55, and 59-54.

Local middleweight Brandon Gonzales needed only twenty-two seconds to notch his third professional victory as he easily dispatched Flavio Cardoza with a huge left hook. Cardoza [1-2-0] came into the fight six pounds overweight, but Gonzales agreed to fight anyways and it worked in his favor. Gonzales [3-0] is scheduled to fight in two weeks on the undercard of Otis Griffin-Jesse Brinkley in Reno on February 22nd.

Lightweight Stan Martyniouk, also a Sacramento based fighter, scored his second professional win by winning a unanimous decision over Jesus Hernandez. Martyniouk [2-0] had Hernandez down in both the second and third rounds, with both knockdowns coming towards the end of rounds in which Hernandez [2-2] was competitive in. The scores weren’t disclosed. Martyniouk looked impressive after narrowly winning his professional debut back in October.

The Red Lion Hotel has announced that they will be holding another boxing show April 24th, which is likely to be promoted by Uppercut Promotions, who ran Thursday night’s card.

In attendance were a slew of local fighters, including junior welterweight contender Juan Lazcano and “The Next Great Champ” winner Otis Griffin. Lazcano is looking to return to the ring in May, while Griffin is in the middle of preparing for his fight in Reno, Nevada on February 22nd with Jesse Brinkley.
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