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In two important action packed bouts last Saturday, October 28 at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ middleweight prospect Brandon ‘Flawless’ Gonzales and welterweight prospect Javier ‘King’ Reyes scored important decision wins to keep their world title hopes alive. A packed crowd watched five undercard bouts, followed by two televised bouts seen on Showtime by millions, courtesy of Goosen Tutor Promotions.
In the main event, unbeaten middleweight prospect Brandon Gonzales overcame a slow start to win a controversial eight round split decision over veteran Ossie Duran, in a bout with many close rounds which could have gone either way on the judge’s scorecards and ultimately did. Gonzales, now 15-0 (10), out of Portland, Oregon, got taken the eight round distance for the third time in his career, and had his closest call to date against Duran, 26-9-2 (10), Accra, Ghana.
Duran, who won a USBA regional title in his previous bout, put the pressure on Gonzales early. Gonzales appeared to enter the ring without having worked up a sweat, and had a slow start as a result. Duran appeared to win rounds one two, four and five, throwing more punches as the busier fighter and landing more power shots.
Gonzales won the third round by landing jabs and power shots while mostly staying out of Duran’s range, but got cut on the corner of the left eye by Duran during a heavy exchange. The cut which looked nasty was not a factor in the bout. In a rare ring occurrence, the bout was briefly stopped during round five when Duran’s dreadlocks came loose and obscured the fighter’s vision, prompting referee Lindsay Page to order the Duran corner to tie the loose dreadlocks into a new knot.
Gonzales did better in rounds six, seven and eight, as the busier fighter on inside exchanges, landing jabs, with good foot movement so as not to provide Duran with a target. Duran landed a big right hand which hurt Gonzales in the seventh, but Duran appeared to be tiring by this point and his legs were not moving.
Duran appeared to have Gonzales in a lot of trouble in the early rounds, but Duran never floored the gas pedal to do enough to try to win, allowing Gonzales to get back into the bout. Gonzalez attempted and failed with counter punching in rounds he lost.
After the bout, Duran’s corner complained about the judging and talked of filing an appeal of the outcome. Saddoboxiong scored the bout a close draw, while other press scored the bout in both directions. The bout was clean, and judging appeared fair.
After losing the split decision, Ossie Duran had a different view. “Everyone can see I won the fight. This kid (Gonzales) was a tough kid. He trained for the fight. I won this fight with my experience. Gonzales was running away from me. He landed a few power shots. I landed more shots-and you could see any time I hit him he was hurt.”
James Ali Bashir, Duran’s trainer, expressed his views. “Everyone saw our man win the decision. Gonzales fought back, but Ossie landed the better punches. If it were a ten rounder, Ossie would have knocked Brandon out. This is terrible, when one judge says Ossie wins, and the other one says Brandon wins. After 37 years, I know how it (the decision) is going to go. It (the decision) hurts.”
Result: Brandon Gonzales SD8 Ossie Duran, Middleweights
Scoring: 77-75 twice for Gonzales, 78-74 Duran.
In the televised co-feature bout welterweight prospect Artemio ‘King’ Reyes pounded out a clear eight round unanimous decision over unbeaten Javier ‘El Intocable’ Molina. Reyes, 14-1 (12), Colton, California, physically and style wise resembles and fights like a slightly smaller version of middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio.
Reyes, applied relentless pressure coming forward while trying to cut off the ring. Molina, who fell to 9-1 (4), Norwalk, California, was not his usual self, not moving around the ring, standing in front of Reyes and foolishly trying to trade, providing Reyes with a juicy target.
Reyes appeared to win every round except the fifth and sixth, which appeared even. Using his jabs nonstop, while moving forward as the aggressor, Reyes fought much of the bout against Molina in a telephone booth, scoring points when Molina did not stay out of range. Molina was effective when moving and throwing combinations, and using accurate counterpunching, but was unable to sustain his movement. Eventually, his legs were just not moving. This provided Reyes with a great opportunity to do quality head and body punching on the inside, and counter on the inside as well, winning the fight on points for accuracy, consistency and activity.
Molina tried trading power shots and dueling Reyes in center ring with combination exchanges, but Reyes was still winning on the inside by punch volume and punches landed. Molina had a heart, but was unable to change tactics, giving Reyes the bout.
Result: Artemio Reyes UD8 Javier Molina, Welterweights
Scoring: 78-74 twice and 77-75 Reyes.
Untelevised Bally’s Undercard Bouts
Kevin Womack Jr. ( Pro Debut) W4 Korey Pritchett, Super Lightweights
Jason Sosa W4 Anthony Allen (Pro Debut), Junior Lightweights
Korey Sloane W4 Jason Sia, Junior Welterweights
John Lennox W4 Donnie Crawford (MMA Fighter), Heavyweights
Ramon Ellis TKO2 (3:00, after knockdown) Jesse Crawford, Junior Welterweights
