“Battle in the Ballroom” – Irvine Marriott – Post Fight Results
By Gina L. Caliboso (At Ringside)
As I gave up my usual kickboxing workout to attend “Battle in the Ballroom” promoted by Roy Englebrecht Promotions, I was happy to sit ringside and watch a great mix of boxing and MMA. I am anxiously awaiting the next installment of “Battle in the Ballroom. But, as promised, here’s a breakdown of last night’s bouts.
“Battle in the Ballroom” began with a 4 round super featherweight bout between Emmanuel Castro, 1-1, and Jonathan Alcantara, 3-1. As the bout opened, round 1 proved to be a feeling out round for both fighters. In the second round, Castro, a southpaw, moved forward on Alcantara, but Alcantara showed a great jab-cross combination that landed along with solid body punches.
In round 3, Castro came out as the aggressor, but lost points by missing. Alcantara pulled off several overhand rights and showed definite evasiveness. By round 4, Alcantara continued the momentum of the 3rd round and pulled off a flurry of punches and also made Castro miss. As the night’s opening bout, the sellout crowd witnessed Alcantara score a unanimous decision over Castro.
In the first heavyweight bout of the night, Chris Davis, 1-1, 1 KO, went against Nevada’s Kourtney Boden, 2-0. In round 1, Boden showed a good display of combination shots to the head and body. Davis displayed a relaxed jab-cross combination along with a good defense. Davis showed a good hook and active lead hand. In the second round, Boden connected with a straight cross to Davis’ chin. Boden connected twice and rocked the towering Davis in the center of the ring. Boden tagged Davis twice and had the bell not rung, the referee would have been counting. In the 3rd round, Davis still looked a little shaky and Boden capitalized on the opportunity. He connected with compact power punches and was able to get inside of Davis. Finally, the referee called an end of the bout by TKO at 1:51 in round 2. Davis had taken too many shots and his legs just couldn’t support him.
In the first MMA bout of the evening, Marcus Kowal, 2-0 of Krav Maga Worldwide fought against San Bernardino’s Vincent Martinez, 1-6. Martinez initially took Kowal down to the mat, but Kowal adeptly worked himself out in a reversal, into side control, until finally Martinez lost his back and gave Kowal the dominant position to put down strikes on Martinez. It was a quick victory for Kowal at 1:30 in the first round.
After the MMA bout, the action switched to boxing. In a 4 round bout at 136 pounds, Manuel Delcid, 3-0, defeated Arquimedez Garcia, 4-2, 2 KO’s. Both boxers showed good head movement, but tentative engagement at best. In round 1, Garcia showed a good jab and displayed better hand speed. By round 2, both fighters remained tentative and didn’t work combos. Garcia worked the body well in the second round. By the 3rd and 4th rounds, both fighters felt the sense of urgency to win by points, but didn’t exactly show any aggression. Delcid wins by unanimous decision.
In the second MMA bout of the evening, Chris “Pit Bull” Saunders, 4-1, from Long Beach went up against Billy Terry, 4-16 of Taft. In this bout, Saunders was clearly the aggressor as he shot in as soon as he tied up with Terry from the stand-up. Terry couldn’t put together an attack until, finally, Saunders gained a dominant position on the ground – working from side control, eventually into mount position. It was an example of a great ground and pound ending.
In the evening’s main heavyweight bout featured Cliff “Twin Tyson” Couser, 26-21, 14 KO’s, fought against Joe “the Future” Hanks, 11-0, 6 KO’s. The opening round started out slowly for both heavyweights, but Hanks showed definite connects with a great jab-cross combination. Hanks worked inside and Couser took the punches. In an exchange, Hanks executed a body shot that took Couser out of the fight by KO at 2:22 of the 1st round.