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Taras Shelestyuk Gets Taken Into Deep Waters by Jimmy Herrera

1478369536505By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña (At Ringside)

Photos by Cynthia “Cindy Lou” Saldaña (At Ringside)

Under a clear, brisk, fall evening sky in Corona, California. Thompson Boxing Promotions brought fight fans a big night of world class boxing televised on Showtime, as their series ShoBox invaded Southern California. In the main event the Ukrainian unbeaten 2012 Olympic Games Bronze Medalist Taras “Real Deal” Shelestyuk, 15-0, 9 KO’s took on the always tough Jimmy Herrera, 15-4-1, 8 KO’s in the 10-round welterweight bout. Shelestyuk who is trained by Eric brown recently brought “Sugar” Shane Mosley to his camp in preparation for his fight with Herrera. Herrera who’s only two loses in his last 13 fights come at the hands of the “Mean Machine” Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Adrian “El Tigre” Granados looked for a big upset Friday night. Herrera stayed busy throughout the fight, bringing the pressure to Shelestyuk. Early on in the fight Shelestyuk caught Herrera with a big counter hurting him, but before Shelestyuk could finish him Herrera as was saved by the bell.

Shelestyuk stayed outside and out boxed the charging the Herrera and smothered Herrera when he would get inside by holding him. In the 5th round Shelestyuk was deducted a point for holding as the gritty Herrera really began to land hard shots on Shelestyuk as Shelestyuk would pull straight back and didn’t use much movement in trying to defend the hard shots of Herrera. After 10 solid round of boxing the judges scored it 96-93 (twice) and 95-94 in favor of the undefeated Shelestyuk. After the fight Shelestyuk stated “It was a tough fight. He is a tough fighter, He is slow but he worked well. In the 1st round, I did well but my legs went on me. I think it was because I did not sleep well. After 5 rounds I started to find my rhythm. I started boxing him. I made some mistakes in there like pulling straight back. This fight will make me better.”

In the co main event, undefeated cruiserweight Constantin Bejenaru 11-0, 4 KO’s of Catskill, N.Y. by way of Moldova, took on Stivens “Superman” Bujaj, 16-0-1, 11 KO’s, of New York, New York in a 10 round championship bout for the vacant WBC International and WBC Continental Americas titles. Bejenaru the shorter of the the two fighters stayed aggressive and took the fight to Bujaj as he used slick boxing to land several power shots on Bujaj throughout the fight. Bujaj caught Bejenaru early in the 5th with a big counter right flooring Bejenaru. Bejenaru never seemed hurt and composed himself quickly. Then in round 7 a clash of heads caused a hematoma on the forehead of Bejenaru but Bejenaru continued to bang. In a very odd 9thround Bujaj took a page out of the Mike Tyson playbook as he seemed to have bit the ear of Bejenaru, Bujaj continued fighting dirty causing referee Raul Caiz Sr. to step in and deduct a point for excessive head butting and holding. After 10 rounds all three judges scored it 97-91 in favor of Bejenaru. “He’s a dirty fighter,’’ said Bejenaru, who suffered a bad cut over his left eye and a big welt on his forehead. “You look at all his fights, all he does is lead with his head. “I was affected by his head butts but there was no way I was going to stop. He complains a lot, but all he did was foul. It felt to me like he bit me on the left ear that’s how he fights. The sport is boxing, not swimming and he flails his punches like a swimmer, a street fighter, not a pro fighter. He caught me with a clean shot on the knockdown but I got right up and wasn’t hurt.”

To kick off the television portion of the night undefeated lightweight and nephew of popular former two-time lightweight world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas. Vitor Jones Freitas,12-0, 6 KO’s, of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, took on local fan favorite Manuel Mendez,12-1-2, 8 KO’s, of Indio, California, in an 8 round bout. Mendez who is trained by Joel Diaz and is a regular on the Thompson cards made his television debut Friday night. Mendez wasted no time to, as he attacked Freitas from the jump, then caught the Brazilian Frietas with a devastating shot to the body. Freitas rolled around in pain unable to beat the count giving Mendez the 1st round KO. After the fight Mendez stated “I was surprised he didn’t take that body shot well. I knew I hurt him, but I thought he’d get up. I saw that he wasn’t covering up very well so I knew I was going to land one eventually. I’m pumped for the knockout win. I know it didn’t last long, but I hope the TV audience enjoyed it.”

The action packed night of fights gave fans a chance to take in a bout featuring undefeated World ranked lightweight contender Xolisani Ndongeni, 21-0, 11 KO’s. Ndongeni, who is ranked #2 by the WBA, was in unfamiliar territory Friday night as he made his U.S. debut against Juan Garcia Mendez, 19-1-1, 12 KO’s of Mexicali, Mexico. Ndongeni showed great skill and very good technical boxing as he out boxed and out classed Mendez through all 10 rounds, Ndongeni of East Cape, South Africa won by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-93 and is now 22-0. “It was a big fight for me it was my first time fighting in America and my first time fighting outside of South Africa.” said Ndongeni after the fight. “It was my first time fighting a Mexican fighter and they are very tough, I tried to fight with him but he was very tough I had to use my boxing skills.” Ndongeni hopes to have more fight in the United States and as he climbs the ranks would like to fight Mickey Bey and Jo Jo Dan in the near future.

Also on the card was Thompson Promotions newly signed prospect Ruben Villa, 3-0, 2 KO’s. The 19 year-old Villa of Salinas, California had a record of 166-17 in the amateurs that included two National Junior Golden Gloves titles and two National Golden Gloves championships at 123lbs. Friday night Villa took on undefeated Mexican prospect Aaron Lopez, 4-1, 2 KO’s from Guanajuato, Mexico in a 4 round Featherweight bout. Villa won by an impressive unanimous decision by the scores of 40-36 on all three judges scorecards and after the fight stated “It felt good to finally go all four rounds, my main goal was to in there and get the win, not necessarily to get the knockout but to learn from this fight.” Villa will head back to Northern California for the holiday’s before resuming camp with Danny Zamora in Santa Fe Springs in January with the hopes of fighting 5 to 6 times in 2017.

Other bouts included:

Danny Andujo, 2-0, 2 KO Vs Saul Sanchez, 1-0, 1 KO, (6 Rounds) Bantamweight, Results. Saul Sanchez by unanimous decision, Sanchez moves to 2-0, 1 KO.

Jerry Larios (Debut) Vs Jose Gonzalez, 1-1 (4 Rounds) Welterweight, Results. Larios by unanimous decision, Larios moves to 1-0.

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