Sammy Valentin Wins by TKO Over Alejandro Barboza

By Joshua “City” Brewer (At Ringside)

On Friday, October 3rd, boxing once again commenced with action live from Osceola Heritage Center, Kissimmee, FL. The show wasn’t an All Star Boxing, Inc., production. The night didn’t disappoint and there was endless action from the opening bell.

The featured bout was a matchup between “Hurricane” Sammy Valentin, 13-1, 10 KO’s, versus Alejandro Barboza, 11-1, 7 KO’s. It was a controlled start to the first round from both fighters as they looked to establish themselves with the jab. Barboza found some success to the body early in with a combination. Barboza then landed a grazing left hook to the head early in the second. Valentin chose to keep a measured approach with the jab at work often. Valentin started to mix it up a bit as the round wore on, even touching Barboza to the body with long shots.

Valentin found success in the third as he ripped off combinations while Barboza laid against the ropes. Valentin dropped Barboza with a hard shot midway through the round. Barboza was able to answer the count but looked visibly hurt. Vargas again stunned and dropped a dazed Barboza with a right hook near the ten second mark of the round. Barboza again looked badly hurt but was able to make the count, thus making it through the round. Momentum was fully on Valentin’s side at this point.

In the fourth round Valentin focused in with air tight precision, landing hard body shots on Barboza as he again was backed to the ropes. Barboza a swing but widely missed when attempting shots. Valentin then seemed to take his foot off the gas pedal as Barboza was able to recover and make it through the round. The fifth round saw Valentin open things up with five unanswered right hooks to the body before dropping Barboza with a huge hook to the head. Barboza answered the count on shaky footing as Valentin pounced on him with a flurry of unanswered shots forcing referee Frank Santore to step in and call a halt to the fight. It officially went down as a technical knockout victory for Sammy Valentin, an impressive showing.

The co-feature was an exciting battle between Hairon Socarras, 16-0-3, 11 KO’s, and Gabino Cota, 19-8-2, 17 KO’s In the first Cota started things off with a clean left hook while Socarras showed a snapping jab. Socarras opted to fight on the inside and Cota willingly obliged. Cota again found a home for his left hook early in the second as Socarras continued to work the body. Both fighters saw success throughout the remainder of the round, Socarras to the body, Cota to the head, landing hard shots.

Defense was virtually an afterthought for both fighters. In the third round Socarras got the better of the stalking Cota during the exchanges, landing hard hooks to the body and head. Socarras landed a hard straight right early in the fourth that got Cota’s attention. Socarras then landed a flurry of hard shots as he had Cota pinned to the ropes but started to tire as the round wore on, even losing his mouthpiece at one point.

Cota was the fighter pressing for the majority of the fifth though he didn’t take advantage of the fatigue factor Socarras seemed to be facing. In the sixth and final round Socarras looked very gassed but somehow mustered up enough energy for an occasionally uppercut or hook as Cota looked to capitalize. Both fighters finished on their feet in what was an exciting piece of action. Officially, the judges saw it as 57-57 (twice) and 59-55 in one scorecard ruling the fight a majority draw.

The rest of the card played out in exciting fashion as well. Antonio Vargas, 5-0, 3 KO’s, took on Jonathan Garcia, 6-1, 1 KO. Vargas sought to set the tone early and a clean left hook from him was the first significant punch of the fight in the first round. Vargas got the better of Garcia with a flurry of shots towards the end of the round. Garcia found himself swinging hard but missing wildly.

In round two Vargas got in a hook combo to body early before dropping Garcia with a hard right hook. Garcia was able to answer the count. Vargas continued to land clean combinations as the round wore on. Vargas was more reserved in the third as he chose to throw single shots, occasionally doubling or tripling his punches. Garcia continued to maintain a presence but wasn’t landing anything of significance until he found an opening within the last 10 seconds of the round.

The fourth saw both fighters throwing shots though the harder and cleaner punches came from Vargas. Vargas hurt Garcia to the body early in the fifth and looked to capitalize. Garcia started to take more punishment with very little in return but made it through the round. In the sixth and final round Vargas picked up where he left off bring to conclusion what was a clean sweep in my eyes. Officially, all judges scored it 60-53 in favor of a unanimous decision victory for Antonio Vargas.

Aidar Sharibayev, 7-0, 6 KO’s looked very good in his matchup with Dailus Prescott, 31-6, 23 KO’s. Sharibayev stalked with a solid jab early on eventually pinning Prescott to the ropes landing a set of hooks to the body on multiple occasions. A left hook to the body followed by the same to the head dropped Prescott. Prescott was able to answer the count but was dropped again with a body shot shortly thereafter. Prescott again got up but was dropped with merely seconds left with another hard body combination forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Gerald Semidey, 2-0, 1 KO’s, took on Joshua Ciulla, 0-1, 0 KO’s, on this card. Semidey looked poised early on landing the clean shots on a defensive Ciulla. Ciulla never really looked comfortable in the fight and repeatedly took clean shots and had noticeable swelling around his right eye in the first. Semidey hurt Ciulla with a hard right hook in the second. Ciulla fought back but didn’t have a definitive answer for Semidey offense.

Semidey continued to press forward in the third with Ciulla offering some resistance and showing much grit as Semidey got the better of him during an exchange. Semidey won the unanimous decision. The night also saw Esquiva Falcao, 19-0,13 KO’s get a seventh round knockout victory over Jose Fandino, 11-4, 7 KO’s. The last fight of the night was a quick and exciting fight where Jean Carlos “Chapito” Rivera, 12-0, 7 KO’s scored an impressive technical knockout victory over Edgar Cantu, 7-1-2, 1 KO’s. All in all, it was a great night of boxing on an action packed card.

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