By David Robinett and Rocky Morales at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada
Former three time world champ, Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria (38-5, 23KO), showed he still has a lot left in his 36 year old tank while stopping talented Philly fighter, Miguel Cartagena (15-4-1, 6KO). It was an all action bout with the 25 year old Cartagena showing no respect to the elder Viloria.
They fought pretty evenly through the opening three rounds but in the fourth round, the superior experience of Viloria started to show and he badly staggered Cartagena. Viloria tried his best to get the stoppage in the fourth round and he very nearly did but Cartagena held and threw back just enough for the referee to allow the fight to continue. Viloria, however, tasted blood and went for the kill in the fifth round and with Cartagena no longer able to defend himself, the referee waved off the bout to give Viloria the technical knockout victory. Viloria looks solid in victory and appears ready for yet another title challenge.
In a scheduled eight round super lightweight bout, Rutland Madiyev (10-0, 4KO) outboxed aggressive Abdiel Ramirez (23-2-1, 21KO) en route to a unanimous decision victory. Ramirez was a tough customer but was seemingly pulled out of the scrap heap, returning from a 33 month layoff, to give Madiyev a solid appearing win on his record. There were no knockdowns in the fight but Ramirez endured a lot of solid counterpunches that turned his face into a bloody mess by the final bell. Ramirez stalked Madiyev from the opening bell to the final bell but was just outclassed. Judges scored the bout 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 all in favor of GGG stablemate, Madiyev.
Female junior flyweight “Superbad” Seniesa Estrada (11-0, 2 KOs) made her mark on tonight’s “Superfly” card with an easy eight-round unanimous decision over seasoned vet and former title challenger Anahi Torres (16-17-1, 2 KOs), by scores of 80-72 across the board. Estrada had little trouble with her opponent, coming forward in a cocky, hands down style while peppering Torres with both hands and taking little punishment in return. Estrada, who had well-chronicled troubles early on finding credible opponents to stay busy, won her third bout in three months after fighting only four times in the first four years of her career starting in 2011.
Unbeaten junior welterweight George Acosta (3-0, 1 KO) had his hands full with winless Derick Bartlemay (0-6-1) but managed to stay one step ahead of the scrappy underdog en route to a 40-36 unanimous decision on all three scorecards. Acosta looked like he might make it a short night early on, staggering Bartlemay with a right uppercut, left hook combination in round one. Round two was also one-sided in favor of Acosta. However in rounds three and four Bartlemay gave a better account of himself, bothering Acosta with more pressure, albeit with a lot of missed punches that Acosta was able to slip and effectively counter just enough to shade the last two rounds. A good learning experience for Acosta. Bartlemay can hold his head high, possibly returning to the MMA ranks where he’s undefeated.
Kicking off the undercard of HBO Boxing After Dark’s “Superfly” tripleheader from StubHub Center in Carson, California, welterweight Nick Frese (6-0, 5 KOs) remained unbeaten with a four-round unanimous decision over Nam Phan (3-3-1, 2 KOs). Frese, a Thai national who just missed qualifying for the 2016 Olympics and an amateur soccer standout growing up in the Netherlands, used his length and reach to easily outbox Phan to scores of 39-37, 40-36, 40-36.
