Ringside Boxing Report: Willie Stewart – Vitali Kopitko
Bouts at Casino Morongo leave Fans, Boxers Seeing Red
 © Parimal Rohit Saddo Boxing |
Call it “Red Friday”. On a dry yet breezy Friday evening at the Casino Morongo Resort, just outside Palm Springs in Cabazon, CA, approximately 1,000 fans filled the reservation’s boxing arena, only to witness each winner hail from the red corner. A fitting color considering two boxers drew blood just before succumbing to the winner. While it |
may have been a runaway night for the red corner, the seven scheduled bouts, promoted by Two Feathers Productions, provided plenty of entertainment and parity for boxing fans who traveled to the venue, located on the Morongo Indian Reservation.
“The fighters appear to be very evenly matched tonight,” stated local heavyweight boxing star Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola. “All the fighters here are good and the fans should enjoy these bouts.” Indeed, “The Nightmare” was on point about the matchups that were anything but a bad dream. Of the seven scheduled bouts, only two ended in a knockout. Yet, even in both of those fights, the losing boxer held his own, stood his ground, and demonstrated stellar physical and mental toughness.
As if parity already is not a major theme, the first bout between Alex Arzola of Van Nuys, CA and Juan El Issa of Fresno ended in a split decision draw. The six round bout between these two welterweight boxers was by far the most evenly matched of all the contests, even before it went to the cards. It was a solid fight where neither boxer dominated the other, and the night would only get better. Arzola climbs to 2-2-1 (0) while Issa drops to 1-3-2 (1).
The next bout featured two featherweights in four rounds of boxing, matching up fellow Californians Marvin Carrera, of Wilmington, against Jorge Urbina from Los Angeles. Urbina brought a significant height advantage to this match, and had the most energy of the two fighters. Yet, Urbina’s enthusiasm, spunk, energy and three inch height advantage was not enough to beat Carrera. Urbina’s constant smothering of his opponent, despite landing stronger blows and body shots, was not enough to prevent a majority decision in favor of “Starvin” Marvin Carrera, now 4-0-1 (0). Jorge Urbina descends to 1-2 (0) in defeat.
The third bout of the night was scratched, as featherweight Raul Galvan was not in the building to face his opponent, Saul Ochoa. Ochoa reflected on the situation: “I was looking forward to fighting tonight, but I am not quite sure what happened. Apparently, the (State) Commission wouldn’t allow (Galvan) to fight tonight. But I am looking forward to fighting again in a couple of weeks.”
Perhaps the only fight where one boxer had complete domination over his opponent was flyweight Antonio Villareal of Perris, CA in a scheduled four round bout against Misael Martinez, making his professional debut. Martinez will be a good fighter someday, but he was in over his head with this fight, as the “Baby Assassin” Villareal dominated from the opening bell. It was all over after the second round, as the fight was called after Martinez suffered a gash on his left cheek from a Villareal jab, effectively giving the nineteen year old flyweight a stoppage victory. Antonio Villareal improves to 3-1 (2) while Misael Martinez gets off on the wrong foot at 0-1 (0).
That set the stage for the most controversial fight of the evening, a six round heavyweight matchup, featuring Arthur “The Bear” Cook and Willie “Wreckless” Chapman. The names were fitting, as Cook fought like a bear in hibernation, while Chapman fought more recklessly than smart. Overall, a very sloppy fight, with a few good blows each round. Yet, it appeared Chapman was the better of the two fighters, landing solid punches and body shots more often than Cook. That did not convince the judges, however. When the decision was announced, Chapman stood in his blue corner, gloves being unwrapped by his trainer, looking confident that his name would follow the “Unanimous Decision” phrase by the announcer. When the announcer, instead, called Cook the winner, Chapman moaned in disbelief. As he walked off in dismay, I asked him his thoughts: “I had better, cleaner shots! I was the better fighter!”
Chris Arreola seemed to agree. “The fighter in the blue corner [Chapman] seemed to be the better fighter. He should have won that fight. But that’s what happens when you leave it up to the judges.”
With such drama and controversy, the fans in attendance could not ask for anything better than to have in the main event. The bout featured “Slick” Willie Stewart of Las Vegas, NV in a ten round super middleweight contest against Vitali “Dr. KO” Kopitko of Miami, FL. Stewart approached this fight conservatively, picking his shots, systematically landing body shots at the right time. As each round progressed, the gap between Slick Willie and Dr. KO started to widen, and Kopitko’s body language appeared to concede defeat.
After the seventh round, when it became clearer that Stewart was in control, fans began to plea with the southpaw to finish the deal. While he did land stronger, more aggressive blows in the late rounds, it appeared that Stewart did not make that one body shot or jab or combination that could have ended the fight early, and Vegas man left it to the judges. This time the judges got it right, with a unanimous decision in favor of Stewart, who sees his mark to 22-2 (12). Thirty six year old Vitali Kopitko, originally from Kiev in the Ukraine, drops down to 24-8 (9).
“It was a good fight. I fought well and did what I had to for the win,” said Slick Willie. Stewart’s trainer remarked, “Willie should have won this fight earlier. He had Kopitko cornered most of the bout. We fought him a few months earlier, and Willie was more aggressive in beating him then. But we had a loss last month, so Willie was a little more conservative today. We got the result we wanted, so we’re okay with that. He’s ready to pick up again next month.”
After five superb bouts, it would seem the four round bantamweight contest between two fighters with three professional bouts between them would be anticlimactic. Yet, Michael “Lil Warrior” Franco of Riverside, CA had all the fans behind the red corner screaming and chanting his name as he entered the arena to fight against Danny Esquivel. Franco fought true to his name, and being a “Warrior”, took matters into his own hands. Esquivel, a very strong boxer from Tucson, AZ, took the blows very well and did everything right to finish the fight on his feet. And he only needed two more minutes to do so but halfway through the final round, Franco landed a right cross to Esquivel’s head, and down the Arizona man went in a knockout loss. Eighteen year old Michael Franco heads to 2-0 (1) while Danny Esquivel remains winless at 0-3 (0).
As he was flanked by adoring fans and escorted to the locker room by boxing officials and local police, Franco said “I should have had him earlier. I mean, it was a good fight, but I had him beat since the first round. It shouldn’t have last four rounds. I should have knocked him out earlier.”
This card showed what boxing is all about. Each bout was competitive, dramatic and carried a story line. Each boxer brought certain character which was on display in the ring. The fans were loud and got their money’s worth. There was a controversial decision, a sexy knockout, a solid main event and relatively even fights early in the card to keep all in attendance involved throughout the night. There was never a dull moment and the boxers were great; hardworking, lots of potential and gave one hundred and ten percent effort throughout each fight. When asked what he thought of the boxers, Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola stated, “Every dog has his day, and if each of these boxers keep up what they have done to get here, they will go places and succeed. I like what I see here.” Seems like Arreola was the only “nightmare” in an otherwise “dreamy” boxing event at Casino Morongo.