Hollywood Fight Night Delivers

The weekend of Southern California boxing began a bit early Thursday night with the return of Hollywood Fight Night. The event presented by Bash Boxing in association with Art of Boxing, delivered an exciting card that not only featured boxing but also some mixed martial arts fights.

The packed house at the Florentine Gardens in Hollywood were excited for all the local fighters appearing on the card. Among those in attendance were actor Mickey Rourke and MMA fighter Vladimir Matyushenko. Newly crowned IBF featherweight Champion Evgeny Gradovich was also in attendance to support his fellow stablemate who was in action.

The first fight featured the undefeated super bantamweight Erik Ruiz, who represents the Robert Garcia Boxing academy against Maywood boxing club’s own Oscar Venegas. After six tough rounds, Ruiz would earn a split decision over Venegas. Ruiz was tested but survived the fight improving his record to 8-0.

Another fighter on the rise is heavyweight “Prince” Charles Martin who defeated Phillip Triantafillo by first round knockout. With the win he improves to 6-0 all wins by knockout.

One of the fights featured an impressive showing by the talented Vyacheslav Shabransky who scored a fourth round TKO over the tough Emmanuel Wright. The Ukrainian Cruiserweight known as Slava has a nice set of skills and shows promise as he improved to 8-2-1.

The Wild Card gym made their presence felt as British fighter Liam Vaughan excited the crowd with his 6 round decision victory over Antron Pearson. Trained by Freddie Roach and Marvin Somodio, the young fighter excited his British supporters who were present with a very Ricky Hatton like performance. With the victory the junior middleweight improves to 7-1.

In the main event of the night, Terrell “Tiger” Williams scored a sensational first round knockout over the game but outgunned Luis Alfredo Lugo. The first knockdown came off a counter left hook that caught Lugo right on the chin. Lugo beat the count but it was a matter of time befor Williams body attack opened up opportunities to score to the head. Referee Lou Moret had seen enough and stopped the fight at 1:56 of the opening round.With the win Williams improves to 10-0 and is really a prospect to watch in the welterweight division.

Also on the card were a pair of super bantamweights as Khabir “The Crazy Russian” Suleymanov earned a split decision over Raymond Chacon. The victory gives Suleymanov a record of 14-3 while Chacon falls to 4-6.

MMA results included welterweight Alex Suhonosov earning a unanimous decision victory over Fernando Vargas. The Russian fighter improves to 2-1 while Vargas falls to 2-2.

Another welterweight fight saw Jason Borba spoil the profession debut of Marlon Magee by earning a split decision. With the victory Borba improves to a record of  2-1.