Contender stars win in Washington

By Marc Abrams

Cornelius "K9" Bundrage and Walter Wright scored victories in their first fight since their participation on the reality television show, "The Contender" on Friday night from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington.

Bundrage took on former prospect Chris "The Mechanic" Smith in a scheduled ten round Jr. Middleweight bout.

Bundrage seemed to have the advantage early as he picked his spots to gain advantages by using his jab. In round Six, Smith came alive by landing a right hand that sent Bundrage to the ropes. With Bundrage hurt, Smith jumped on Bundrage and landed a big barrage of punches that if more time remained Smith may have been able to stop Bundrage.

Bundrage regained his composure to start winning the bulk of the rounds until the final round. In the last frame, Smith once again had Bundrage in trouble as he landed multi-punch combinations. Bundrage was able to hold on and let the judges decide the fate if this close fight.

Despite a few tough moments and a cut over the left eye Bundrage won a split decision by scores of 97-93 and 96-94 while Smith won one judges card by a 96-94 score.

Bundrage is now 25-2. Smith is 20-4-1.

The co-feature saw Walter Wright, 154 lbs of nearby Seattle taking on undefeated and untested Dan Wallace, 154 lbs of Detroit in a Jr. Middleweight bout scheduled for eight rounds.

Wright dominated the action throughout the affair. Wallace was very active early but was far from pinpoint with his punches whereas Wright was sharp shooting with both hands. In round four, Blood started to appear from the nose of Wallace.

In round eight, Wright landed a left hook that rocked Wallace back into the ropes. Wright quickly jumped on his prey and landed ten unanswered shots until the referee gave Wallace a standing eight count. When the action restarted, Wright landed a left that was followed by close to twenty more shots and the referee stopped the bout at 1:22 of the eighth round.

Wright is now 13-2 with seven early wins. Wallace is 8-1

Roger Cantrell, 169 lbs of Puyallup, Washington scored a four round split decision over Marcus Pernell, 168 lbs of Portland in a four round Super Middleweight bout.

Scores were 40-36 and 39-37 for Cantrell who improves to 9-0. Pernell won a card 40-36, but that wasn't enough and now is 12-2.