Headlining the Hollywood Fight Night event at the sold-out Chumash Casino Resort on Friday night, undefeated middleweight contender Sadriddin Akhmedov, (15-0-0, 13 KOs), of Almaty, Kazakhstan now residing in Santa Monica, CA stayed perfect with a seventh-round stoppage over Nigerian veteran Raphael ‘Trouble’ Igbokwe, (17-6, 7 KOs), of Houston, TX in the scheduled ten rounder.
Trained by the renowned Abel Sanchez, Akhmedov displayed a relentless body attack and a strong beard in the first half of the fight as he stayed aggressive despite Igbokwe’s counter punching from the southpaw stance.
Akhmedov earned the stoppage from a barrage of unanswered power punches to the head and body in the seventh stanza over the game Igbokwe who had previously fought in a distance fight against former world champion Israil Madrimov. Time was :56 as Akhmedov’s powerful performance stamped him as can’t miss in the future.
2016 U.S. Olympian ‘King’ Karlos Balderas (15-2, 13 KOs), of nearby Santa Maria, CA returned in style in front of a huge crowd of supporters with a sixth-round stoppage of Colombian veteran Cesar ‘Ras Tas Tas’ Villarraga, (11-11-1, 5 KOs) in a scheduled eight rounder.
Landing the more effective punches, the Robert Garcia trained Balderas displayed his world class skills, including a full arsenal from both hands against the aggressive Villarraga that had previously marked the fan favorite as a future world champion. Upping his output in the sixth round, Balderas dropped Villarraga in the sixth round with a brilliant right hand. Although beating the count, Villarraga was counted out shortly thereafter at :52 of the stanza.
19-year-old female amateur standout Perla Bazaldua, (1-0, 1 KO) of South Central, Los Angeles, CA wasted no time in her highly anticipated pro debut with a first-round stoppage (1:40) over Mollie Backowski, (0-4), of Golden, CO. Bazaldua dropped Backowski with a stunning left hook leading to the victory later in the round. Bazaldua is a 15-time national amateur champion trained by Manny Robles.
Welterweights Jorge Maravillo, (10-0-1, 8 KOs), of Salinas, CA and Damoni Cato-Cain, (8-1-2, 7 KOs), of Oakland, CA battled to an eight-round draw in an entertaining back and forth battle. Scores were 77-75 for Maravillo, 77-75 for Cato-Cain and 76.76. Cato-Cain was the more aggressive in the early rounds, however the Freddie Roach guided Maravillo took control in the fourth and seemed to control the action in the second half.
Fighting in the super featherweight division, Oxnard, CA native Angel ‘Apocalipto’ Carrillo, (4-0-1, 2 KOs), continued to impress as the 19-year-old scored a four-round shutout victory over a game Joshua Torres, (0-2-2). Scores were 40-36 on all three judge’s scorecards.
Rounding out the card in a four-round battle of undefeated featherweight newcomers, Fidencio Hernandez, (3-0, 2 KOs), of Oxnard, CA took a four-round decision over Josephat Navarro, (1-3-1), of Laguna Hills, CA. Scores at the end of the entertaining scrap were 40-36 twice and 40-35.