The ESPN TNF troupe touched down at good ol’ tank town Joplin, Missouri for an action evening of  club fight dueling.

Main event saw featherweights Jorge Lacierva and Jesus Perez in some serious give and take … and when the smoke cleared in stanza six, it was the better ring technician Lacierva winning by TKO at the 2:01 mark.

Through five candles it was all Lacierva … had the advantages of speed over a very game walk-in type in Perez … the ongoing pop-pop-pop claimed each round over an occasional scoring Perez that lacked the needed clout to turn things around.

Finally, number six, and Perez goes down from a left hook … again on the canvas courtesy of a big right hand … Lacierva is all over Perez with a flurry and a third knockdown for the TKO.

Lacierva goes to 26-5, 18 by KO, Perez drops to 23-6, 11 KO’s.

Closing comments: Lacierva shows good movement coupled with quickness … unorthodox enough in style to confuse many at the club fight level … but pretty much a what you see is what you get and what we get is a fun guy to watch over ESPN.
                                  Perez ~ Old age 31 … Very game but very limited in skills department. Walks in but not big enough banger once arriving, final albatross is slow hands.

………………………………..........................................................................

Semi-final lighweight battle saw Isaac Mendoza winning over Roy Delgado in a busy affair to the unanimous tune of 98-92 on all judges cards . My unofficial also had Mendoza a clear winner at 97-93 in points and 7-3 in rounds.

Mendoza utilized his better boxing skills during the run to the wire as he breezed over stanzas seven thru ten; received a bit of help when one of them inadvertent head collisions cut Delgado high on the head.

While neither gamester punched with bad intentions, the steady barrage delivered by Mendoza played havoc to Delgado’s features that saw him finishing with a grotesquely swollen left eye.

Post Scripts: Mendoza remains unbeaten at 11 wins with 5 by knockout. Can shout to his pals "I coulda been a contender" when all is said and done … but only in his mind.
                      Delgado ~ Drops to 12-3-2, 9 KO’s … contested over opening six candles but flame flickered once nearing deep water.

P.S. Main event referee Mike England did acceptable job; co-feature arbiter Kevin Chapman just a tad much. But neither went hometown route.

GEL         

7-20-2004