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Saturday night at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, NJ unbeaten welterweight prospect Raymond ‘Tito’ Serrano of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, traveled through ten rounds of hell to decision veteran Angel ‘White Tiger’ Rios of Bronx, New York. The ten round main event promoted by Star Boxing was the televised boxing debut card of Azteca America’s new boxing series ‘Boxeo Azteca’, with a viewing audience of nine million people competing on the same night as the World Series.
Serrano, now 17-0 (8), got taken the ten round distance against Rios for the first time in his career. Rios, who took eight and a half years off from boxing between January 2003 and July 2011, is a well-trained dangerous trial horse with a good defense. He takes a good shot, and lands the occasional counterpunch to the head and body which can do extreme damage if the opponent is not in top condition.
The last eight fights of Rios have gone the distance, with five of his opponents having an incredible combined record of 66-0. The career of Rios went downhill in 2001 after losing a decision to future lightweight champion Nate Campbell. But the record of Rios, now 9-8 (6), is most deceiving, given the quality of opposition. Rio is a good fighter who missed the boat.
Against Serrano, Rios gave away any chance of a decision by fighting the first four rounds cautiously, allowing Serrano to using his superior left and right jabs to win the early rounds on points. Rios appeared to win the fifth, sixth and eighth rounds on aggressiveness and a mix of punches, especially some counters to the head of Serrano which scored.
Rios was unable to capitalize or follow up on his big shots when they did land. Serrano appeared to win the seventh, the ninth and the tenth rounds behind his left and right jabs, clinching the victory. Both fighters appeared in top condition, and neither fighter was hurt during the ten rounder.
Result: Raymond Serrano UD 10 Angel Rios, Welterweights
Scoring: 100-90, 99-91, 98-92 for Serrano
In a preliminary bout to the main event, faded welterweight contender Shamone Alvarez got stopped in the fifth round of an upset by 38 year old Pennsylvania spoiler Doel Carrasquillo. With the third straight loss, and his fifth loss in his last seven bouts, Alvarez may have hit the end of the trail. This particular bout appeared to be one he could win, and the resulting loss was not due to a lack of skill, but rather, in the end, due to Shamone’s failure to listen to the advice of his corner.
Trainer Arnold Robbins explained, “Shamone has not been listening to me in the corner for the last three or four fights. This guy (Carrasquillo) has eighteen losses. The old Shamone Alvarez would have had this guy out of there with his jab. You don’t stand in front another fighter and trade like Shamone did tonight.
Robbins continued, “Shamone has lost three in a row, five of his last seven. His main problem is he is not listening to his corner! His career is virtually over. However, he’ll always be like a son to me.”
Apparently unimpressed by his opponent’s vast experience, and relying more on his opponent’s losing record, Alvarez strangely stood in front of Carrasquillo, and tried to slug it out with him in rounds one and two. Carrasquillo, who stands short and has a limited reach, simply walks forward slowly towards his opponents.
Carrasquillo fights southpaw against southpaws, and orthodox stance against orthodox stance. His entire ring generalship is one dimensional. However, Carrasquillo throws monster power shots with both hands with the impact of a sledge hammer. He does not chase his opponents. When an opponent stands in front of him, he will hammer them to pieces like a pit bull chewing on a rag doll.
And so it was that Carrasquillo brutally battered Alvarez to the canvas in rounds one and two, and staggered him around the ring when he was on his feet. Alvarez, survived, but gave away a 10-8 round in the first and second.
Alvarez came out in the third and fourth rounds with a different plan-which temporarily worked. Recognizing his mistakes, Alvarez sent his left and right jabs to the head with speed and accuracy, mixed with occasional body shots, to win rounds three and four. Moving from side to side and not offering Carrasquillo a target, Alvarez used reach advantage to get Carrasquillo to swing senselessly into open air, and tied up his dangerous opponent whenever the two of them got too close. Alvarez won round three and four 10-9, but still trailed by two points on the scorecards.
In round five, Alvarez then again went toe-to-toe with Carrasquillo, standing in front of Carrasquillo and trading, looking for a hometown knockout. Some of the shots Alvarez threw rocked Carrasquillo, who shook them off as if nothing had happened. Seeing Alvarez as an available target right in front of him, Carrasquillo swung away and brutally hammered Alvarez to the canvas a third time.
Alvarez beat the count, but his legs were gone. Carrasquillo then landed six unanswered head shots, forcing the Alvarez corner to notify referee Lindsay Page to stop the contest at 1:16 of the fifth. At this point, Alvarez could not win on the scorecards if the eight round bout had continued, which may have figured in to his corner’s decision.
Carrasquillo stated, “I don’t get any respect. I showed I fought on the next level, so I get the credit. This is his (Alvarez) hometown. He wanted to prove to his people he was the man. For me, this is nothing new. I fight in everyone’s hometown. This guy doesn’t have the punch anymore, and he cannot take my punches. Show me them money, and I’ll give him a rematch.”
Julio Alvarez, the trainer of Carrasquillo, was surprised at the outcome. “This was a stupid fight from the beginning. Shamone fought a stupid fight. We thought Shamone would just stick and move. He just stood right in front of Doel. Also Shamone also looked out of shape, like he didn’t prepare well enough for this bout. His career was on the line.”
Alvarez continued, “Carrasquillo was in tip-top shape. “Shamone is a lefty, so we fought him lefty, and Shamone couldn’t seem to deal with that. Doel hits with power. This was far too dangerous a fight for Alvarez.”
Result: Doel Carrasquillo TKO5 Shamone Alvarez, Junior Middleweights
Time: 1:16 of the fifth round
Boxeo Azteca Undercard Bouts
Jason Escalera KO2 Mickey Scarborough, Super Middleweights (0:31 KO)
Vincent ‘Vinny’ Maddalone KO1 Mike Sheppard, Heavyweights (1:22 KO)
Chazz Witherspoon KO3 Tyson Cobb, heavyweights (1:07 KO, walkout bout)
All three above knockouts were immediate endings-and did not require a 10 count
