Boxing Recap: Salita Wins Decision. Paulie Malignaggi Next?
© Robert Brizel / Saddo Boxing
Dmitry Salita made a successful comeback by winning an eight round unanimous decision over southpaw Franklin Gonzalez on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at Oceana Hall in Brooklyn, New York.
Salita, now 31-1-1 (16), was fighting for the first time since his loss to WBA champion Amir Khan in a title bout last December.
The first round was a cautious feeling out round. Gonzalez, now 13-6 (10), a southpaw, came forward as the aggressor, but many of his jabs fell just short of the intended target. Salita, in the orthodox stance, threw single right hands after placing his left foot outside of the right foot of Gonzalez.
This enabled Salita to win the first two rounds as more right hands scored. Both fighters were trying to land overhand lefts and rights. Salita succeeded in landing more punches overall with better footwork.
In rounds three and four, Gonzalez managed to get his right foot outside of Salita’s left. Salita frequently stepped on the front foot of Gonzalez as the two boxers jockeyed for foot position. Gonzalez landed right hands in the third and fourth which put a welt under Salita’s left eye which did not affect the bout.
A turning point in the bout which may have affected the scoring were warnings by referee Benji Esteves to Gonzalez for hitting behind the head in rounds five and six.
Salita picked up on his footwork, and won rounds six and seven by coming forward with more jab combinations and straight rights to the head of Gonzalez which rocked him several times.
The eighth round looked more like a wrestling match with both fighters grabbing and holding and the referee deeply involved in separating them. The bout appeared even as both fighters opted to hold, perhaps hoping to hit and then grab.
The bout, in all fairness, was very close. The burden was on Gonzalez to take the fight to Salita. He appeared to have the capability to do it, but did not do enough in the second half of the bout.
Dmitry Salita UD8 Franklin Gonzalez
Scoring: 78-74 across the board for Salita
The comeback was significant because after the bout ended, former IBF world champion Paulie Malignaggi entered the ring to congratulate Salita and proposed a match between the two fighters later this year.
The two fighters seemed to be in agreement that such a bout could occur in the future between these two popular, well-known New York City area fighters.
This bout was fought at junior middleweight. Salita, who fought his career at 140 to 146 pounds, came in for this bout at a career high 149 1/2 pounds, but it did not appear the extra weight affected him.
In the preliminary to the main event, Mike Ruiz won a six round unanimous decision over ‘Steamin’ Josh Beeman in a junior middleweight bout which almost had a turnaround ending.
Ruiz, now 10-4, Long Island, New York, had a muscular build. Beeman, now 4-8-2, Providence, Rhode Island, had an ordinary appearance.
In a careful first round, Ruiz jabbed with both hands while Beeman countered calmly, neither fighter wanting to punch themselves out. Ruiz came forward as the aggressor in the second round and landed a number of hard left jabs. Beeman kept moving side to side to stay out of range. Ruiz dropped Beeman with a hard left jab for an eight count after pinning him along the ropes.
In the third, Beeman grabbed and held and leaned with his head, getting hit with a great many right-left 1-2 combinations to win the round. Beeman landed some decent counters, had a good defense, tried very hard and was ‘in the house’.
In the fourth round, Ruiz landed some power shots in the center of the ring and along the ropes to win the round. Beeman complained of low blows, but was not landing much.
In the fifth round, the bout dragged to a slow pace, with Ruiz landing a lot of body shots and 1-2 jab combinations to win another round, with Beeman landing a few right hand counters.
The action stopped several times in the sixth round as Beeman’s right hand tape kept unraveling and had to be addressed. Ruiz appeared to be winning the round with jab combinations again, when he suddenly ran out of gas with less than a minute in the bout.
Beeman, who never punched himself out, seized the moment on Ruiz and attacked with everything he had with thirty seconds left. Ruiz took a huge beating on the ropes.
Beeman then trapped and battered a defenseless Ruiz in a corner with left and right hand power shots in the last fifteen seconds. Ruiz punched his way out and survived just as the final bell rang.
Mike Ruiz UD6 Josh Beeman
Scoring: 59-56, 59-56 and 58-55 Ruiz
Undercard Results:
Rajiv Bahttacharya TKO 1 Tyrone Gamble
Gamble appeared to go to the floor without getting hit. The referee stopped it early in first. Battacharaya from Stanford, Connecticut improved to 3-0 (3), Gamble from Baltimore, Maryland drops to 0-2.
Frank Galarza KO 1 Nicholas Morris
Galarza, trained by Quito Bracero (father of welterweight Gabriel Bracero), blazed across the ring, landed a left right combination and knocked out Morris, who never left his corner, never raised his hands and made no effort to defend himself. The official time of the knockout was 20 seconds into the first round.
Galarza from Brooklyn, New York, wins pro debut while Morris of Reidsville, North Carolina, remains undefeated at 0-2
Thomas Baldwin Majority Draw 4 Felix Rangel
Scoring: 38-38 twice and 39-37 Baldwin
Baldwin, Newark, New Jersey, now 1-0-1, and Rangel, Bronx, New York, 0-4-2, fought a surprising war on the undercard. Baldwin won the first by coming forward and landing overhand lefts, rights and power shots.
Rangel was bleeding out of the corner of the left eye, but aggressively fought back in the second and the third. While not as aggressive as Baldwin , Rangel countered with power shots to the body well enough to remain competitive. His corner did as good a job working the cut between rounds.
Rangel missed with many of his punches. In the fourth round, Rangel came from nowhere to win the round with his own mix of left and right leads and power shots as Baldwin tired. The bout appeared even. Rangel shook off the best power shots of Ruiz.
Rafael Vazquez W4 Benjamin Morales,
Scoring: 39-37 across the board for Vazquez
Morales, now 1-1, Allentown, Pennsylvania, appeared to be a featherweight at 118 pounds, not a junior lightweight. Vazquez was clearly bigger in size and weight. The first round was fought in center ring with fighters carefully jabbing and counter jabbing.
Vazquez appeared a bit more aggressive, and landed a few power shots when Morales got caught in a corner. Morales came forward and won the second by landing a number of power rights. Neither fighter was cutting the ring off.
In the third, Vazquez and Morales traded power shots and counter power shots, and Vazquez won the round by landing frequently and the more effective blows.
In the fourth, the bout was stopped after Vazquez threw a low blow. Vazquez got away with a few more, but clearly won the round-and the bout-by landing more power shots than Morales.
Jonathan Cuba W4 Hector Rivera
Scoring: 40-36 across the board for Cuba
In a good jab and foot war, Jonathan Cuba of Queens, New York, went to 3-2 (2), with a unanimous decision over outmatched Hector Rivera, Paterson, New Jersey, 2-6 (1). Cuba got his left leg on the outside of southpaw Rivera’s right, and won the first round by landing more power rights.
Cuba and Rivera waged a foot war again in the second. Rivera started well with power lefts after he got his right foot outside of Cuba ‘s left. Cuba retaliated by switching stances back and forth from orthodox to southpaw and back, confusing Rivera and landing power shots.
In the third, Cuba pinned Rivera on the ropes for the majority of the round and trapped him there, throwing power shots that scored. Rivera opted to counter off the ropes, and did not do as well, losing the round on the punch count.
The fourth round was fought in center ring, with Cuba landing more blows than Rivera due to superior footwork. Again, Cuba got his left leg outside of Rivera’s right, and landed more power shots than Rivera.
DeCarlo Perez TKO 4 Filberto Nieto
Perez, 1-0-1 (1), Atlantic City, New Jersey, found a tough opponent in trial horse Nieto, 1-7 (1), Guerrero, Mexico. Perez had a substantial height and reach advantage. The Mexican had a heart, however, and took the fight to the inside to try to survive in a war fought at close quarters, and neutralize his opponent’s reach advantage.
Perez was landing left-right combinations on the strong Mexican in center ring and on the ropes all night, but Nieto kept fighting back with short jabs on the inside like a stubborn bulldog and wouldn’t fall.
Nieto gave quiet a good accounting of himself and was better than his record indicated. In the end, though, the reach and height advantage Perez had was too much to overcome. A huge forehead cut all the way across the top of the forehead was too much, and ultimately hampered Nieto’s vision, forcing him to give up at 0:57 of the fourth.