By Bill Green at ringside
New Jersey amateur prospect Joel Flores who was recently signed by GH3 would have to settle for a majority draw against St Louis’s Charles Johnson. Flores quickly established a strong body attack with fast flurries. Johnson thought to be only as MMA type opponent proved his worth by landing chopping right hands and occasional lead left hooks to the body. While Flores would have plenty moments with the cleaner and pure boxing style, Johnson would switch stances and surprisingly show Great footwork to dance out of any problems. Rounds 3 and 4 we’re back and forth action with both fighters imposing their will and landing big shots. The Iowa commission deserves credit for ignoring one fighters status of being a blue chip prospect and declaring the fight a draw. Scorecards read Judge Bechen 39-37, Mike Contreras 38-38 and Jeff Sinett 38-38.
Both fighters felt they did enough to win and disagreed with the decision. The crowd was into this one from the start and the word respect has filled the air. Flores remains winless but a fight like this does more for him as GHS definitely knows they have tough kid and at the mere age of 19, will clearly get better. Johnson, strangely enough, remains winless with 2 draws both again A side prospects. He clearly has more talent than originally believed.
In a thrilling fast action fight popular and local power punching Super Lightweight Drako Rodriguez would thrill the home fans by landing a crushing left hook to floor McCray moments into the 2nd rd. McCray would beat the count but would make another cardinal sin by never hook with a hooker. While McCray’s was faster Rodriquez’s was much more powerful and again would floor McCray clear off his feet. Only heart and conditioning allowed the Kansas City native to get up, Rodriquez would jump all over him and referee Adam Pollock would wisely waive off the fight 1:33 into the 2nd rd via TKO. Iowa clearly has a crowd-pleasing heavy handed fan favorite in Rodriquez as he improves to 2-0 (2). McCray drops to 1–2-1.
Bout #2 saw two power punching Light Heavyweights in DeShawn “Lethal Weapon” Webster take a short notice fight with Minnesota’s Mengistu Zarzar. Webster would establish his superior reach and keep Zarzar at bay with a stiff left jab. Zarzar’s game-plan was clear as he would throw wild off-balance shots hoping to end the night with one punch. Rounds 2 and 3 would pick up but the pattern of Webster pot shooting Zarzar from the outside with the occasional haymaker landed by Zarzar. Round 4 was the best action of the night as cardio came into question as both men would have their moments. In the end, Webster would win a 4 rd Split decision with scores 39-37, 38-39 and 39-38. Webster picks up his 10th win and goes to 10-1 (6) while Zarza falls to 6-2-1 (5)
The opening bout belonged to Jorge “Super Saiyen” Serrano and Frank “The Enforcer” Young, both local and newcomers to the sport. Serrano and Young are known as crowd-pleasing MMA crossover combatants. Serrano would recieve a nice round of applause as he clearly has the better skill set. Young would come out aggressive throwing wild shots but midway into the 1st round Serrano would land a short counter left hook that would drop Young. Although Young would beat the count and dust himself off at the count of 7, the power of Serrano would be in full display as he landed a booming overhand right to the chin of Young for another long count. Things became a little confusing as Young would absorb another barrage and collapse as he was definitely on shaky legs. The round suddenly ended with most questioned if the round was shorted or if the bout was stopped. The fight would continue and the result was never in question as Serrano jumped on Young with another barrage. Referee Paul Perry would wave off the fight :52 into the 2nd rd via TKO for the winner and now 1-0 Jorge Serrano. Young drops to 0-2.