It was another beautiful sunny day in Southern California where the Morongo Resort & Casino in Cabazon  hosted Desert Storm on Saturday, March 22. All the fights were spectacular with several crowd pleaser bouts. The event was almost full to capacity and the boxing fans in attendance were the winners at Morongo Casino.
 
In the main event, veteran Joel Casamayor came out fighting, knocking out the young Australian warrior Michael Katsidis twice in the first round. The Cuban [36-3-1, 22 KO’s] proved he is still a dangerous fighter despite having been underestimated by many boxing fans.
 
Katsidis [23-1, 20 KO’s] didn’t lose his cool after being knocked-out so early in the round, and in the fight. He seemed  a little anxious afterwards and was looking for a knockout with his punches, which turned out to be a slugfest with Casamayor. Katsidis came back, knocking Casamayor down and through the ropes in the sixth round. Dramatically,  Casamayor managed to step back into the ring to beat the referee's count.
 
As each round went on, the toe to toe brawl kept on getting better and better for hardcore boxing fans. Casamayor was deducted a point in the ninth round for a low blow and both fighters were warned for head butting.
 
The bruised Katsidis took Casamayor's punches and was counterpunching effectively until the tenth round when Casamayor dropped him for good to take his WBO title.
 
Casamayor won a technical knockout decision to retain his WBC title, adding the Ring Magazine and Katsidis' WBO title belt to his collection.
 
The Co-Main Event between Librado Andrade and Robert Stieglitz was another thriller bout that resulted in a broken jaw for Stieglitz.
 
Andrade [27-1, 21 KO’s] of Mexico was all over the German Stieglitz [31-2, 19 KO’s] from the beginning until an uppercut by Andrade snapped Stieglitz's head back and made his nose bleed in the second round.
 
Stieglitz came back in the third landing his own monster punches that briefly stunned Andrade. Stieglitz kept trying to apply the pressure to keep up with Librado’s uppercuts that were landing at will. In the seventh round, Andrade was getting the upper hand and in the eight round Stieglitz the referee halted the bout.
 
Andrade wins an eight round TKO of a scheduled 12-round IBF super middleweight eliminator.
 
A ten round bout in the junior lightweight division was a one-sided fight for Edgar Vargas of Santa Ana, CA but the judges ruled in favor of the undefeated Australian Billy Dib.
 
Vargas [11-4, 1 KO’s] was busy chasing Dib [18-0, 9 KO’s] landing half of his punches while missing the other half as Dig moved in and out to avoid being hit, but not actually fighting. Later in the rounds they both exchanged punches; Dib seemed to be hurt but recuperated quickly.
 
Every time Vargas cornered Dib he was able to land his punches to the head and body. Dib was able to get out of trouble by dancing around, landing his limited jab and left hook punches.
 
Several warnings by the referee made Dib start boxing, making for some decent rounds after the half-way point of the fight.
 
By the eighth round, Vargas, who had been taking control of most of the rounds found himself receiving several punches from Dib who fought more in that round than in all the previous ones. Dib actually starting landing a variety of punches and working the body.
 
Dib taunted Vargas in the last round and raised his hand in victory at the end of the fight. The crowd booed him and chanted for Vargas. Nevertheless, the judges scored it 95-94, 94-95 and 95-94 for Dib but the crowd didn’t agree and they booed the decision. Dib scored a split decision win and remains undefeated.
 
In a six round featherweight bout Carlos Velazquez 7-0, 6 KO’s, of Puerto Rico settled for a decision against Manuel Sarabia [16-23-9, 9 KO’s] of Los Mochis, Mexico. The judges scored it 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.
 
In a four round middleweight bout Daniel Jacobs [4-0, 4 KO’s] easily disposed of Matt Palmer [2-2] by knocking him down and out twice in the first round.
 
Juan Velazquez [7-0, 4 KO’s], twin brother of Carlos Velazquez, got by with a unanimous decision win over Tomas Bernal [3-6, 2 KO’s] of Guerrero, Mexico in a six round featherweight bout. The three judges scored it 40-36 for Velazquez.

3-22-2008