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.