Former Ukrainian Olympian Tsotne Rogava (5-0, 5 KOs) scored his third first-round knockout victory Friday night at Soboba Casino Resort in San Jacinto, California. Georgia-native Rogava, who stands 6’5” and weighs 270 pounds, unloaded a brutal body attack on John Shipman (5-6, 2 KOs), who was unable to keep Rogava at a distance. The referee halted the action when Shipman was getting used and abused by the potentially loaded heavyweight prospect Rogova.
Rogava successfully transitioned to boxing from his world class Muay Thai and kickboxing career and he has greatly benefited from being trained by Hall of Famer Joe Goossen, who has favorably compared him, style-wise, to Tyson Fury because of their enormous size and relatively nimble footwork.
Undefeated Nicaraguan super featherweight prospect Nilo Guerrero (8-0, 7 KOs) continued to impress with a knockout over Dan Hernandez (3-5, 2 KOs). The 23-year-old Guerrero used his freakish height and reach advantages. The 2016 Nicaraguan Youth National Champion, now fighting out of Coachella, California, boxed from the outside, using his long jab to set up Hernandez. The end came in the opening round when Guerrero closed the show with a classic left-right-left combination to stop a game Hernandez.
California heavyweight Jack “The Outlaw” May (9-0, 8 KOs) used effective range-finding punches to rough up Byran Hall (1-3-1, 0 KOs) until the accumulative punches damaged Hall so severely the referee halted the fight in round two. The 6’ 8” May is a punching machine.
Phoenix welterweight Kenekuk De La Rosa (3-1, 1 KO) pulled off a mild upset over local favorite Jimmie “El Chingon” Nunez (5-3, 5 KOs), taking a one-sided six-round unanimous decision,
Other undercard results were pro-debuting light heavyweight Jason “El Crazy Horse” Lara (1-0, 1 KO) pitches a shutout against previously undefeated David Longoria (2-1, 2 KOs), winning all four rounds on the three judges’ scorecards, lightweight William King (5-1-2, 2 KOs) and David Reyes (2-2, 1 KO) fought to a four-round draw, and heavyweight Ian “Captain” Morgan (1-2, 1 KO) vs. Giovanny Meza (0-6), and Temecula heavyweight Ian “The Captain” Morgan (1-2, 0 KOs) stopped Terrance Brown (1-6, 0 KOs) in round one.
“Punches and Punchlines,” presented by Toro Promotions, Inc., House of Pain, and Black House Boxing, was the first pro boxing event at Soboba Casino in nearly five years.