Battle Star XVIII March 24 2004

Battle Star XVIII March 24 2004

Event was held at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City.

Review by Mark Graves

Something for everyone on this night of fighting. We saw 4 TKO's or KO's one of which was the hardest/cleanest knockout I have seen in person. There were two dominated unanimous decisions where the bout was one sided but the opponent showed heart and determination to continue to try to battle. Then to top it all off, the main event was a action packed, hard fought, even fight. Overall a very nice night of boxing.

Anthony Cherco vs Bruce Seisman

The first round was full of action. Unfortunately for Seisman, Anthony's shots landed while his did not. Anthony land a Left Jab followed by a Straight Right that put Bruce down for an eight count in the first. The second began the way the first ended. This time, the Left Jab/Straight Right combination ended the fight at 0:45 of the round. Nice debut by Cherco.

Sharon Gaines (1-0) vs Nikki Lawson (0-2)

Left Hook to body followed by Right Hook to body followed by Left Hook to head followed by Right Hook to head by Sharon was the theme of this fight. That set of combinations were thrown and landed by Sharon over and over and over and over again. Each "over" in the previous sentence indicated a winning round. Nikki was hammered the whole fight but stayed in there and battled. Sharon won a unanimous decision 40-36 on all cards.

Jose Sosa (1-0) vs John Gartner (4-10-1)

Jose shows great poise in the ring rarely out of control. Nice body punches and great Left Hooks by Jose in the first round. Jose landed some hard punches but John showed a solid chin. The chin was tested more in the second but Gartner stayed up so Jose decided to go more to the body and that got him an eight count against John. Jose landed many heavy shots in the third but again Gartner stayed up. John actually landed a clean Left Hook in the fourth that momentarily shocked Jose. He didn't stay shocked long and returned to pounding Gartner. The fight ended with Jose getting a unanimous 40-34 decision on all cards. I was surprised that Gartner made it the distance.

Leroy Childs (8-0) vs Doug Florence (0-0)

This was an unfair match-up. A stiff Left Jab by Childs got one knockdown while another (maybe followed by a Straight Right) got the KO at 1:41 of the first. Doug did get to throw a few punches before the fight was over but it was never a contest.

A personal commentary here: I hope that Leroy can now begin to find better competition. He has shown awesome power in his early fights. I have already indicated on the "boxers" page that it will be hard to find competition for Leroy around here. I said that before I saw some of the talent under Rob Calloways' camp in St. Joseph. I don't know if that would be a place to start or if Leroy is going to have to search farther out. I do know however that Leroy appears ready to step it up and begin to try to make some noise in the heavy weight division.

Josh Sosa (2-0) vs Chuck Dairy (8-11-1)

I expected this to be a decent fight. I have seen Chuck a couple of times and he was a battler. However what I forgot was that a good clean body shot can cause Dairy's body to shut down. Well guess what? Josh landed a heavy Left Hook to the body at 1:21 of the first round. At this point, Chuck went down in the fetal position and was unable to completely gather himself before the ref stopped the fight. It was a devastating Left Hook to the body.

Donovan Castaneda (4-0) vs Steve Vincent (1-0)

I don't know what to say about this fight. Steve landed the hardest/cleanest punch I have ever seen. Vincent used a Left Jab to find the distance and unloaded a Strait Right that landed flush on the chin and with so much power that I could here the thud from the last row on the riser side of Ameristar's seating configuration. Donovan was out on contact. He went down and stayed down for at least two minutes. The first sixty seconds were spent scarily motionless. Eventually he began to show some motion. Then, Vincent went over and Castaneda raised his glove to shake Steve's hand. The medical staff brought in the flat board, but Donovan was able to get up on his own and leave the ring under his own power. There were some scary seconds that past, but in the end, all was good. I will finish with this: WOW what a punch!!!

Main Event for the IBA Welterweight Americas Title

Rico Lane (16-0) vs Jeff Carpenter (10-9)

First round to Jeff who threw more punches even though most of them were blocked. The action in the second round brought the crowd to its feet. A slugfest that saw Rico land cleaner punches. Another nice round in the third that I gave to Rico; however, others around me gave it to Jeff. The fourth round was a toss-up in my opinion.

At this point in the fight, Rico controlled the fight when the fighters were in the middle of the ring while Carpenter controlled the fight when near the ropes. That being said, Lane tends to allow his opponents to get him in the corner and throw punches. Now most of those punches land only on gloves, but it looks good to the crowd.

I give the fifth round to Jeff who simply did more work. The same thing in the sixth. Jeff simply throwing more punches. I think the seventh was a toss-up. In the eighth, I felt Rico landed better punches so I gave him the round. Rico landed good body shots in the ninth. I again give Rico the tenth because his landed punches were better than Jeff's. Now the eleventh and twelfth rounds I give to Carpenter because he did much more work than Rico.

Now to the scorecards: 115-113 for Rico, 115-114 Carpenter, and 114-114 for a draw.

At this point, the crowed goes nuts booing. They obviously felt Jeff won. Those around me thought Jeff won because he was the aggressor and threw two to three times as many punches as Rico. I felt however that most of Carpenter's punches were blocked and then when Lane did throw punches, which was a significant number, more power and cleaner landing occurred. My review shows five rounds for Rico, five rounds for Jeff, and two toss-up rounds. I was satisfied with a draw. Mind you I was in the minority though.