By Nick Bellafatto Ringside
A quite sparse crowd would be on hand (3,992 paid attendance) at USC’s Galen Center this evening where a visiting Bermane “B. Ware” Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) would in the sixth round stop Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (35-4, 31 KO’s) to become the first ever fighter of Haitian descent to capture a world’s heavyweight title.
The time, 2 minutes and 2 seconds of round 6 as Bermane with the same counter right hand that dropped Arreola in their previous meeting connected big time to eventually snuff out the Mexican’s latest of title aspirations.
With Arreola able to find his legs and beat the count after the first of 3 knockdowns in round 6, Stiverne smelling blood in the water would swarm “The Nightmare” to drop him a second time, putting his counterpart in a seriously bad way.
Barely making it to his feet at this juncture, referee Jack Reiss would allow a quite disoriented Arreola to continue, to seconds later intervene and save the Mexican from further punishment after being deposited on the canvass for a third and final time.
An exciting fight for the WBC’s version of boxing’s most coveted prize that saw Chris behind a jab control the action, while in lieu of such a blow the hometown fighter time and again put himself in harms way.
That’s to say a cool, calm, and collected Stiverne who although coming up short during many an exchange would bide his time, confident he would land something significant of which he did.
The end result after a year of inactivity was a huge payoff, as the Mayweather gym trained fighter would inherit long reigning champion Vitali Klitschko’s title strap, who entering the Ukranian political fray would vacate the former.
Imam in co-main event outshines Ugas
In a co-main event between two highly skilled craftsmen, it was junior welterweight Amir Imam (12-0, 10 KO’s) of Davie, Florida who was that much better, as he would outshine 2005 Cuban world amateur champion Yordenis Ugas (15-3, 7 KO’s) of Miami, Florida resulting in a unanimous decision win by scores of 79-73, and 78-74 twice.
Closely contested early on, a less aggressive Ugas was a less effective Ugas, made that way the result of solid jabs, tight defense, and a sharp right that would on more than one occasion wobble the Cuban so that Imam in an impressive performance would remain perfect.
Undercard Bouts
Over the course of four rounds at featherweight, the lengthier Mario Barrios (4-0, 1 KO) of Racine, Wisconsin would from a distance control the action, outworking and outlanding Bayamon, Puerto Rico’s reluctant Jaxel Marrero (1-3-1) to on all the judges scorecards earn a 40-36 unanimous decision win.
Memphis, Tennessee’s Rodricka Ray (5-7-1, 2 KO’s) would out of necessity need to make it an ugly fight against a significantly larger opponent in heavyweight Razvan Cojanu (10-1, 5 KO’s) of which he did, constantly clinching, crowding, and on occasion going low to survive.
But connecting with the better shots throughout, Razvan would wear on Rodricka, dropping him in the 5th with a thumping body shot who upon rising would receive more of the same. This would prompt referee Ray Corona to in the same round of a scheduled six-rounder call a halt, the end coming at the 2:51 mark.
47 seconds into it for those still getting seated, Ashland City, Tennessee’s Caleb Hunter Plant (1-0) in his pro-debut planted a massive looping right hand on Virginia opponent Travis Davidson (2-3, 2 KO’s) to separate from his senses so that a ten-count was irrelevant.
In a scheduled six-round cruiserweight bout that didn’t go the limit, BJ Flores (29-1-1, 19 KO’s) of Las Vegas, Nevada with the old 1-2 would add another knockout to his resume, flooring Portsmouth, Ohio’s Adam Collins who unable to beat the count would be declared the loser at 1:58 of the very first round.
In a bout that saw Levan Ghvamichava (11-1-1, 8 KO’s) of Poiti, Georgia clearly impose his will, for his efforts he would be subject to a majority draw against Phoenix, Arizona opponent Abel Ramos (9-0-2, 5 KO’s) by scores of 57-57 twice, and 59-55 for Ramos. This in a six-round junior welterweight match up.
2 minutes and 39 seconds of round 5 would see the night’s action end with a premature stoppage as Eric Molina of Raymondville, Texas (21-2, 15 KO’s) appeared to get bailed out in a heavyweight scrap with opponent Davarryl Williamson (27-8, 23 KO’s) who got nothing but the short end of the stick.
