By Jody Kohn
BKB was back again Saturday night with their third installment. Although its participants may have lacked some of the name value of the previous two outings, the fights themselves were no less entertaining. Unfortunately, Tyrone Spong, who was scheduled to compete in the main event, had to pull out do to injury. He was replaced by Randy Hernadez who would face Julian Pollard in the first ever BKB heavyweight title fight.
Eight bouts would make up the card.
In the pay-per-view opener, BKB lived up to their promise of delivering more knockouts as Arturo Quintero took out Travis Castellon in the fourth round of a scheduled five rounder for the lightweights. Quintero controlled the action throughout, wearing down his opponent with an effective array of combinations that eventually led to the stoppage.
Next up was a junior middleweight contest between Urmat Ryskeldiev and Marcus Willis. Although the action was brisk, it failed to lead to a knockout, instead going the five round distance. The judges ruled in favor of Ryskeldiev, who took a comfortable 50-45 decision from each.
Ed Paredes and James Trotter delivered what was likely the best fight of the night. Trotter overcame a sluggish start, and showed tremendous heart, as he survived two knockdowns in the third, scoring two of his own in the fifth. Incredibly, the fight made it to the final bell where Trotter was awarded with a unanimous decision.
Shane Mosley Jr. was perhaps the fighter the crowd was most interested in, being the son of the legendary Shane Mosley. He didn’t disappoint them, as he walked away with a first round TKO victory. After dropping Jason Kelly with a body shot, he followed that up with an overhand right and left uppercut to seal the deal. The right hand would earn him a $10,000 bonus for “Punch of the Night.”
Adrian Granados beat the fighter who is most recognizable to the average fan, taking out the durable Jesus Soto-Karass by unanimous decision. Granados controlled the early action, with Soto-Karass being ineffective until the third. However, he wasn’t able to do enough in the eyes of the judges who awarded Granados a comfortable decision.
In the main event, the big boys competed for the first ever BKB heavyweight title. Julian Pollard who competed on the first two BKB cards, winning both, faced Spong’s replacement Randy Hernandez. Pollard was able to set the pace and control the action for the entire fight, and Hernandez could get little of his own offense in. The result was a comfortable decision for Pollard who becomes the first heavyweight champion in BKB history.
Preliminary Bouts
Chris Spang def. Sam Horowitz
Antonio Johnson def. Anthony Castellon
In its infancy, it’s still hard to determine how successful BKB will be. Boxing fans are a fickle bunch, and change is something they are reluctant to give in to. So they have their work cut out for them. However, they are clearly going out of their way to try to deliver what the fans most want to see, and eliminate what they can do without. Will that result in a successful promotion that can attract tons of fans and big names? Only time will tell.
Stay tuned to PBI for updates on BKB as we get them.
Check out some highligts of the night and the post fight press conference below.
