ATLANTIC CITY – Paul Williams received a gift from ringside judges as he scored a dubious majority decision over Erislandy Lara in a twelve round majority decision at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom in Atlantic City
Lara dominated early as he must have watched the explosive left hand that Sergio Martinez put him to sleep last November as Lara was loading up and connecting with with that same puncj and getting to Williams..Lara would get his feet set and look for the opening. the results of his work were evident in round five as a cut was formed around the right eye of Williams.
Williams tried to get the offense going as his plan was to walk down the shorter Lara and he didint do much jab. It was much of the same over the second half of the fight as another big left buckled Williams in round seven. Williams tried to pick up the tempo as he worked a little better on the inside but his flurries will ineffective and far between the straight lefts that peppered Williams bloody face over the last few rounds.
Williams, 153 1/2 lbs of Aiken, SC won by scores 115-114; 116-114 and a third judge had it 114-114 to raise his record to 40-2.
Lara, 153 lbs of Miami is now 15-1-1.
Looking lethargic for the first six plus rounds, Rico Ramos needed one big shot to win the WBA Super Bantamweight title with a stunning seventh round knockout over Akifumi Shimoda.
It was Shimoda who dominated the first six rounds by landing straight lefts at will from his southpaw stance. Ramos suffered a nice gash around his right eye in round five.
With Shimoda cruising and winning every rounds, it was inevitable that he would bring his belt back to Japan and then lightning struck as Ramos landed a booming left hook that could be felt up and down the boardwalk that plummeted Shimoda to the canvas. Shimoda made one feeble attempt to get to his feet and fell back down and out for several minutes.
Ramos, 122 lbs of Los Angeles is now a world champion with a record of 20-0 with eleven knockouts. Shimoda, 122 lbs of Tokyo, Japan proved he was a worthy champion before getting caught and now has a record of 23-3-1.
Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola pounded a ten round unanimous decision over journeyman Friday Ahunanya.
Arreola dictated the action for most of the fight except for a few instances where Ahunanya landed a hard combination that had Arreola briefly holding on. In the next round Ahunanya landed a hard upper cut that rocked the head of Arreola. But those were his two and only high points of the as Arreola boxed consistently over the next six rounds and out combinations together and Ahunanya was never really a threat again
Arreola, 236 lbs of Riverside, CA won by scores of 100-90; 99-91 and 99-91 to raise his mark to 33-2. Ahunanya, 244 1/2 lbs of Las Vegas is now 24-8-3.
Jhonny Gonzlaez defended his WBC Featherweight title with a body punch knockout over Tomas Villa in round four.
Gonzalez controlled the action and then turned up the heain round’s two and three before stopping Villa with a body punch just forty-nine seconds into the frame.
Gonzalez, 125 ½ lbs of Mexico City is now 49-7 with firty-three knockouts. Villa, 125 ½ lbs of Chihuahua, MX is now 23-8-4.
Brandon Quarles remained undefeated by scoring a four round split decision over Corey Preston in a Middleweight bout.
Scores were 40-46; 39-37 for Quarles. Preston took a card 39-37.
Quarles, 161 lbs of Alexandria, VA is now 6-0. Preston, 160 lbs of Cincinnati is now 1-5.
Thomas “Cornflake” Lamanna made it four straight when he stopped Reggie Jenkins at 2:14 of round one of a scheduled four round Jr. Middleweight bout.
LaManna dropped Jenkins once from a combination and the fight was stopped shortly thereafter.
LaManna, 150 ½ lbs of Atlantic City is now 4-0 with three knockouts. Jenkins, 147 ½ lbs of Freemont, NC was making his pro debut
The night’s first bout saw Denis Douglin rebound from his first pro defeat by scoring a six round unanimous decision over Phillip McCants in a Jr. Middleweight bout.
Douglin landed the harder punches and controlled the action..Douglin landed some nice flurries in round’s three and five. Despite a cut over the left eye, McCants tried to press the action in the final round but it wasn’t enough as Douglin was never challenged.
Scores were 58-56;60-54; 60-54 for Douglin, 155 lbs of Marlboro, NJ and is now 13-1. McCants, 155 lbs of Philadelphia is now 9-3-1.
