Solis Continues on Path Towards Another Title

RENO, NEVADA — In a measured performance, world ranked light flyweight Ulises Solis scored a ten-round unanimous decision win over shop-worn former titlist Eric Ortiz at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino on Saturday night. Their bout headlined a fight card which was part of a celebration weekend, honoring the centennial anniversary of the Jack Johnson-James J. Jeffries World Heavyweight title fight which took place in Reno.

Solis (31-2-2, 21 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico fought far more cautiously than many had expected he would against Ortiz (32-11-3, 21 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. After all, Solis was completely dominant in their first encounter which took place in 2006 and ended in a ninth-round stoppage.

Solis, 113 ½, started out slowly before Ortiz, 114, landed two rights in the second round that seemed to wake up the former IBF Light Flyweight Champion. Solis, currently the IBF #1/WBO #3 ranked 108-pounder, began to assert himself in the third, most notably landing a hard leaping lead left hand.

As the rounds went on, Solis utilized his superior boxing skills and built up a heavy lead on the scorecards. Ortiz could not make his way around Solis’ stiff jab, and thus was a sitting duck on the outside. As the fight moved into the seventh round, Solis began to press the fight as Ortiz began to fade.

Early in the eighth, Solis stunned Ortiz with a left hook, but did not press the issue with an aggressive follow-up attack. Ortiz burst with a quick flash of energy in the ninth and pressed Solis into a corner, where he landed some feather dusting combinations. Ortiz seemed to begin to lose his legs as he leaned on Solis moments later. With Ortiz already falling over, Solis gave him a shove that accelerated his fall to the mat. For that action, referee Jay Nady deducted a point from Solis.

The shoving incident proved to be an indication that Ortiz was deteriorating in the fight. Moments later, Solis landed a quick jab, overhand right combination that forced Ortiz to touch his right glove to the mat to score a knockdown and negate the point deduction. Ortiz would make it out of the round, but another right would result in another knockdown for Solis in the tenth. Ortiz, who outperformed expectations based on his recent performances, proved game until the end as he continued to come forward until the final bell.

In the end, Solis earned the nod in lopsided fashion by the scores of 99-88 and 98-89 twice. Solis is the mandatory challenger for the IBF Light Flyweight title currently held by Luis Lazarte. However, Lazarte already has a defense scheduled for September 4th against Carlos Tamara. Instead of sitting on the shelf waiting for his mandatory to be enforced, Solis took the calculated risk of fighting Ortiz. “He had everything to win, and I had everything to lose,” said Solis after the fight. “But I feel I showed I am a world class fighter. The meaning on this fight was to get ready for the next title, and not waste any time.” Solis’ next fight will likely be against the winner of Lazarte-Tamara, although Omar Nino, holder of the WBC version of the title, is another possibility.

In the co-feature, welterweight hopeful Mark Jason Melligen (19-2, 13 KOs) of Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines scored a ten-round unanimous decision over Anges Adjaho (25-3, 14 KOs) of Geneva, New York by way of Cotonou, Benin. Adjaho, the IBF #9 ranked contender at lightweight, fought well down the stretch, but was not active enough in the early rounds to win any favor with the official scorers.

Melligen, 147, landed well to the body of Adjaho, 146 ½, at times early in the fight. However, it was when Melligen would wow the crowd with his attack on Adjaho’s midsection, that the Benin-born contender would wake out of his defensive posture and mount an offense of his own. Far too often though, Adjaho would cover up and wait for Melligen to stop throwing before attempting a punch of his own.

Adjaho came out of his shell some in the sixth, landing first for a change and buzzing Melligen with at least one shot mid-round. Melligen turned the tide late in the stanza, as he backed Adjaho up just before the bell. After a nondescript seventh, Adjaho controlled most of the eighth before Melligen landed a quick flurry to close the round.

Adjaho continued to press a tiring Melligen in the ninth. Each had their moments in the round, but the flow seemed to favor Adjaho. After a tenth round in which both fighters seemed to have little left in the tank, all three judges scored the fight rather widely for Melligen. Scores read 99-91, 98-92 and 97-73.

Melligen had been pegged to fight Michel Rosales Saturday, the last man to defeat him. However Rosales opted to take a fight in Mexico for a minor light middleweight title, and bowed out of the planned rematch. “I would like to fight Rosales,” said Melligen after the fight. “I accept my loss, but if Rosales would like to rematch me I will fight him.” Melligen stated he has tentative plans to return to the ring in August.

Joey Gilbert (20-2, 15 KOs) of Reno continued his rise back into contention with an eight-round unanimous decision win over the always tough Billy Bailey (10-9, 4 KOs) of Bakersfield, California.

Gilbert, 172, utilized an excellent body attack in round one, but the telling blows, especially upstairs, were landed by Bailey. Gilbert fell back on his boxing skills in round two, far outworking Bailey, 173, and landing best with hooks to the body. Gilbert started out on his toes in round three, and found success by landing potshots and getting out of range. Inexplicably, late in the round Gilbert allowed himself to get into a heated, flat-footed exchange with Bailey. Both landed their share of punches, but more importantly Gilbert was giving Bailey the one shot he had in the fight.

Gilbert regained control of the fight in round four, as he was again busier than the onrushing Bailey, and landed the stiffer blows for the first time in the fight. Round five featured some excellent two-way action, but it was Gilbert that landed in combination, while Bailey’s shots were usually one at a time. Again in the sixth, Bailey landed the cleanest punch in the round, but allowed Gilbert to outwork him for the majority of the three minutes.

Gilbert punctuated a seventh in which he outboxed Bailey again with several hard rights to the body, one after another. Throughout the fight, Bailey had just missed with several swings at Gilbert’s chin. As the bell rung to open the eighth, it was clear Bailey would need to do something dramatic to win the fight. A now bloodied Gilbert gave Bailey the opportunity again, as the two stood in the red corner and unloaded to close the fight. In the end, all three judges had the fight for Gilbert by the scores of 80-72 and 79-73 twice.

In the opening fight of the night, 2008 Mexican Olympian Francisco Vargas (2-0, 1 KO) of East Los Angeles, California by way of Mexico City scored a four-round decision over the game Juan Sandoval (1-4, 1 KO) of San Bernardino, California. Sandoval, 132, came to fight, but did not have the skill set to match the former amateur star. Vargas, 130, went all out in the fourth, landing several cracking blows against the defensive Sandoval. All three judges scored the bout a shutout in favor of Vargas, by the scores of 40-35 and 40-36 twice.

Carlos Gaytan (2-0-1, 2 KOs) of Reno pounded Alex Rivera (2-2, 2 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada en route to a second-round stoppage victory. Gaytan, 169, was the aggressor from the outset. Rivera, 168, was often in retreat, but was able to take several head shots without going down. Unable to put a dent into Rivera with punches to his head, Gaytan stuck a left hook to his body that downed the Las Vegas resident, forcing him into submission on the mat. Official time of the knockout was 1:33 of round two.

In the final walkout bout, Khadaphi Proctor (5-5-1) of Hesperia, California evened up his journeyman record with a hard-fought six-round split decision over John Figueroa (7-6-3, 3 KOs) of Salinas, Puerto Rico. Figueroa, 137, started out well as he rocked Proctor, 138, with a looping overhand right halfway through the first round. As the fight progressed, Proctor slowly began to seize control of the fight. In the end, one judge had the fight for Figueroa, 58-56. That tally was overruled by scores of 60-54 and 59-55 for Proctor.

Let’s Get It On Promotions will bring fight action back to Northern Nevada on August 28th at the Churchill County Fairgrounds in Fallon. USBA Light Heavyweight Champion Otis Griffin is expected to be part of a card that will feature both boxing and mixed martial arts.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com.