The Showtime Sho-Box FNF offering from outta town Buffalo
Casino @ Miami, Oklahoma, delivered us late nite fight fans the return of
past light heavyweight title holder Antonio "Magic Man" Tarver in role of
heavyweight.
The opposition, a carefully selected gimme named Nagy
Aguilera, a transplanted Dominican from Newburgh, N.Y. - somehow was
introduced as from the Bronx, N.Y. - and with it the 16-4 with 11 KOs was
likely a Sho-Box ploy to invoke memories of past Bronx stars such as Roland
LaStarza, Jake "Bronx Bull" LaMotta and others.
The younger at age 24 Aguilera, did show heart but little
else, as he absorbed assorted Tarver offerings over most stanzas without
once looking for a fire exit - simply put, the kid has no skills - the
eleven stoppages arrived mostly from pugilistic exhumed opposition.
Official scoring went unanimous Tarver to the tune of
98-92 on all three cards - my unofficial had it Tarver 98-93 in points and
7-2-1 under the round by round method.
Still, once Tarver realized Aguilera was a non-threat in
the power punching department, he switched from earlier stick and counter to
a more aggressive mode looking for a knockout, it was clear this heavyweight
gamble is not going to work.
Forget this one was coming off a year and change layoff, and carried excess
baggage in the weight department - once "Magic Man" steps up against legit
top ten opposition he'll be yesterday's news. He is not all that quick and
slick enough to gain the needed respect. His shout of dethroning one of the
Klitschko brothers is laughable.
Perhaps next up on the Tarver gamble, we, the fight fan, could be
entertained by a Tarver vs. Arreola pairing - er, Samuel Peter maybe?
Think not.
Sho-Box "New Generation" segment opened the televised show with young Akron,
Ohio tout, undefeated welter Shawn Porter battering victim Hector Munoz who
arrived off two TKO losses to help the Porter resume grow to 17-0, 13 K0s.
Polluting this one was the collective idiocy of house hack medic, hapless
incompetent fool "Man in charge" referee Gary Ritter - and worse yet, the
Munoz corner, in not calling this mismatch a no-mas until tossing in the
towel at 2:05 mark of numero nine.
Porter, en route to the stoppage, had grabbed every stanza over a game,
tough as nails Munoz, that walked into the quick fisted Porter incoming
while dripping red fluid from both sides of the head from those "inadvertent
meeting of the minds."
Porter claimed the NABF welterweight minor league strap with the win and at
age 22 could develop into top ten material - needs some discipline to go
with the natural talent before being rushed to the next level where the
established ones at 147 play.
