In a fight that was marred by grabbing and holding, Julio Gonzalez defeated Montell Griffin by a six round technical majority decision. The bout was halted at 1:11 seconds of the sixth round, when a gash on Gonzalez's left eye was opened up, the cut was ruled as an unintentional headbutt. The ringside doctor made the decision, and Gonzalez looked at him with frustration. As the bout went to the cards, Gonzalez won a decision by the scores of 60-54,60-55, and 57-57. The fight was an IBF eliminator. The fight was the main event of a six bout card from the Spa Resort & Casino in Palm Springs, California presented by Goossen-Tutor promotions. The main event was telecast on Fox's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period."

      The early rounds were ugly, but tactical, dominated by inside action as Griffin seemed content to grab Gonzalez, who seemed to even get frustrated by Griffin's actions. Griffin did keep the rounds close, but Gonzalez was able to do some good body work in the first two rounds. Gonzalez was able to dig to the body before Griffin would hold. A cut surfaced under Gonzalez's left eye in the second round. The fight continued to grind until the sixth round. During a clinch, Gonzalez emerged away with blood gushing from his eye, urging referee Pat Russell to pause the fight. The ringside doctor then decided to halt the fight to the disgust of the crowd. The crowd seemed to change their mood when the decision was announced. The former WBO champ improved to 38-2 with the win, while Griffin fell to 47-6.

    In the co-feature, veteran junior welterweight Steve Quinonez of Palm Springs upset undefeated James Armah by majority decision. Armah came into the fight with a 14-0 record, but had only fought two six rounders after a two year layoff. Quinonez basically outworked Armah throughout the fight, in what was a close fight. The scores read 97-93,97-93,and 95-95 in favor of Quinonez, who improved to 29-9-1 with the win. Armah of Ghana fell to 14-1.

   In an entertaining heavyweight bout Jason Gavern of Scranton, Pennsylvania defeated Jermaine Woods of Phoenix by unanimous decision. Gavern controlled the fight, until he ran into some trouble in the final round. Gavern looked tired, and got dropped on a body blow from Woods, only the shot was called a low blow. This was questionable as the shot looked above the belt, but Gavern looked spent, but managed to survive the rest of the round. Throughout the rest of the fight Gavern was able to land big shots, and was busily outworking Woods, which might have played him against him in the later rounds as he appeared to tire. Gavern with the win improves to 8-1-1, while Woods falls to 8-3-1.

    Heavyweight sensation Chris Arreola of Riverside, California continued his winning ways with a fourth round stoppage of Kenny Lemos of Denver. Arreola continually pounded away at the tough Lemos to
the head and body, until the referee finally mercifully jumped in to stop the fight at 1;49 of round 4. The undefeated Arreola was 10-0 with 9 KOs coming in, but could not drop the resiliant Lemos. Arreola barraged Lemos to the head and body, and at times appeared to have Lemos hurt. Lemos was not able
to mount much offense, only able to land the occasional potshot while Arreola was punching. Arreola improves to 11-0, while Lemos falls to 8-2-1.

    Another heavyweight prospect also did his thing on the Cinco De Mayo card. Undefeated Travis Walker, a former 2003 National Golden Gloves Champions, easily dispatched of William Cook in the second round. Walker landed a hard body shot that sent Cook down for good in the second round. Walker of Tallahassee, Florida improved to 10-0 with 8KOs, while Cook of Kansas City fell to 7-4.

   This concluded an exciting evening of Boxing from the Spa Resort & Casino in Palm Springs, California on the festive Cinco de Mayo. The card was promoted by Goossen Tutor. Some faces in the crowd included heavyweight prospect Malcolm Tann, female prospect Jessica Rakoczy, former IBF titlist Julio Diaz, and new WBA heavyweight champion James Toney.         
  
5-6-2005

 

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