Even at the age of 42, Vince Phillips showed he still has something left in his tank. On Thursday night from the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California, Phillips dropped Kelson Pinto once en route to a majority decision victory in a shortened five round fight. The bout had to be halted after round five, due to a cut over Phillips's right eye that was caused by a head butt. The bout was the main event of a four bout card presented by Maldonado Promotions.

    Kelson Pinto was hoping to keep climbing  since his loss to Miguel Cotto. He was hoping to reel off his third straight win, and take the WBC Continental Americas title in the process. But, he ran into a  stubborn old man in Vince Phillips, who came out early and was schooling Pinto with counters. Surprisingly, Pinto tried to box Phillips, not brawl. In the opening round, Phillips was the aggressor, stalking Pinto and throwing hook after hook. On a number of occasions, Phillips was able to land these hooks, usually by countering.

     Pinto started well in round 2, landing a solid left hook early, but Phillips came back in a big way. Phillips landed a tremendous straight right to the chin of Pinto, which dropped Pinto. Pinto was a little wobbly, but started to become more aggressive. Phillips took advantage of this by countering, Pinto ate a number of counter rights throughout this second round. Pinto was an easy target for Phillips as he was standing straight up and not using any head movement. The third round was a little closer, but Phillips was the sharper of the two. Phillips landed a solid counter left hook midway in the round as he continued to stalk Pinto. Pinto was sticking and moving more this round.

    The fourth round was also close, but a better round for Pinto. Pinto probably took the round with a excellent left hook-right uppercut combination midway in the round. Round five was probably Pinto's best round as he started to look sharper and more comfortable. Pinto would shoot inside, land, and get out. Phillips was still able to counter well, but Pinto did a little more. Towards the end of the round, Pinto landed a great overhand right which probably solidified the round for him. It was during this round in which a cut opened up over Phillips' right eye.

    At the end of the round the ring doctor went immediately to Phillips' corner to evaluate the eye, and decided to halt the bout. Pinto's corner saw this and immediately started celebrating wildly, thinking they had just scored a TKO victory. They even raised Pinto onto their shoulders.  Cassius Green, one of Phillips cornerman, saw this and disgustedly went over to Pinto's celebratory corner and reminded them that the cut was from a butt, and that the fight would go to the cards. Once Pinto's corner realized this, the celebration turned to nervousness as the scorecards were read. Phillips won a majority decision by scores of 48-46, 49-45, and 47-47. BRC scored the fight 48-46 for Phillips. A huge win for the savvy veteran, as he hopes to line himself up for a big payday. Phillips with the win improves to 48-9-1, while Pinto falls to 22-2.

    In other bouts from the Ontario Convention Center on Thursday, middleweight Joilson Dos Santos scored a 5th round TKO victory over Sean Holley. Dos Santos started to break down Holley after round two with devastating combos. Early in the fifth round, Holley's corner threw in the towel and the victory went to Dos Santos. The Brazilian improves to 10-1, while Holley falls to 8-18-1.

    Impressive young Brazilian junior middleweight Erivan Conceicao destroyed Cesar Ibarra by 2nd round TKO. Conceicao dropped Ibarra twice in the 1st round, once with a hook to the head, and once with a hook to the body. With Conceicao doing similar damage in round  two, referee Jose Cobian decided to halt the fight at 2:06 of the second round. Conceicao improves to 4-0,
while Ibarra falls to 2-2.

    In a heavyweight scrap, Jay Horton of Pomona, California TKOed the much smaller P.J. Sierra in the second round. Horton improves to 5-0 with 2 KOs, and for Sierra it was his pro debut. This wrapped up a four bout card from the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California. With the old man schooling the youngster in the main event. The card was presented by Maldonado Promotions. The main event can be seen on  Fox Sports Español in November.

10-14-2005