Lateef Kayode
celebrates his victory...
Luis Franco
celebrates his win...
-Photo Credit: Tom Casino/Showtime-
LATEEF KAYODE’S KNOCKOUT STREAK CONTINUES;
CUBAN OLYMPIAN LUIS FRANCO REMAINS UNBEATEN
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t Miss The Thrilling Replay On Thursday, Dec. 9, at 10
p.m. ET/PT on SHO 2
SANTA YNEZ, Calif.
(Dec.
3, 2010) – The knockout streak lives on for Lateef “Power”
Kayode, the Hollywood cruiserweight from Nigeria who
registered a sixth-round knockout for the 14th
consecutive fight on ShoBox: The New Generation on
SHOWTIME®
Friday night from Chumash Casino Resort.
In the
co-feature, former Cuban Olympian Luis “La Estrella” Franco
remained undefeated moving his record to 8-0 (5 KOs) with a
disqualification (low blows) win over Eric “Outlaw” Hunter
at 2:34 of the eighth round.
In the main
event, Kayode (15-0, 14 KOs) defended his cruiserweight NABO
and NABF titles against a game Ed “The Georgia Thumper”
Perry, 34, of Frankfort, Indiana, a former high school
football player who drives a dump truck for a living. Perry
(18-5-2, 11 KOs) hung in there with Kayode, but just like
Kayode’s last 13 victims couldn’t last, taking a knee at :51
seconds in the sixth round after a devastating left uppercut
right under the rib cage where he was then counted out by
referee Jack Reese.
“It was a
good fight for me,” said Kayode, 27, who is trained by
Freddie Roach and was fighting at cruiserweight for the
fifth time in his career. “I waited a round or two to gauge
what he had. He took some shots. Normally guys would have
fallen after some of those shots but he had a good chin and
stayed in there.”
Kayode’s
powerful body shots impressed SHOWTIME announcer Antonio
Tarver. “His talent is immeasurable” said the heavyweight
Tarver. “But I commend Perry for staying in there as long as
he did.”
After the
fight, Tarver told Perry he needed to work on his condition
and “stay in the gym.”
“The body
shots took their toll,” said Perry, who had never seen the
canvas in his career but took a knee after a lethal
combination by Kayode in the fourth round before standing at
an eight-count. “I don’t know, I’ve always been pretty
tough. It takes a brave man to stand in there and get hit
like that, especially on national TV.”
Added Kayode: “He tried to
rush me and rough me in the fifth round. He came at me, so I
didn’t go with my jab anymore. I went with my straight right
because he was bending to my right side and then I got him
with the left uppercut.”
In the
co-feature, both Franco and Hunter came out firing in a
matchup for the vacant WBO NABO featherweight title. The
first two rounds went to Franco easily with Hunter warned
for a head butt and two low blows. Referee John Shorley
stopped the fight at 2:34 of Round 8 after a third low blow
by Hunter giving Franco the win by disqualification.
“It looks
like he was looking for a way out,” said Franco, who won
every round in the dominating win. “My body shots were just
hurting him and he didn’t want to get knocked out. He knew
he was going to get knocked out in the ninth round and so he
decided to take the disqualification. I out-jabbed him and
out worked him and finally got the DQ.”
Hunter, 24,
who first appeared on ShoBox back in 2007 and was a 2004
U.S. Olympic alternate, was visibly upset after the
disqualification. “There was just too much complaining going
on the whole time,” he said. “I said before the fight they
better watch out for his complaining. Ah, man. I don’t even
want to talk about it. He played to the crowd and the ref.
It should have never been stopped.”
“He didn’t
act like a pro tonight,” SHOWTIME announcer Steve Farhood
said of Hunter.
The
doubleheader was promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC.
Friday’s fights will re-air
on SHO 2 on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on
the west coast). The fights will be available On Demand
from Dec. 8 until Dec. 21.
The night of boxing was the
second of four consecutive weeks of fights on SHOWTIME. Next
Saturday night, Dec. 11, it’s the bantamweights who will
take center stage in a “Winner Takes All” tournament.
SHOWTIME will televise the fights live at 9 p.m. ET/PT
(delayed on the West Coast) from the Emerald Queen Casino in
Tacoma, Wash.
Four of the top 118-pound fighters battle it out in a
two-round, single-elimination tournament to determine the
world’s best in the division. In the opening bout,
undefeated, world-ranked rising star Abner Mares will face
two-division world champion Vic “Raging Bull”
Darchinyan. Then, former IBF 118-pound champ Joseph King
Kong Agbeko will try to earn back the title from the man
that won it from him, current IBF champ Yonnhy “El
Colombiano” Perez from Irapuato, Mexico.
On Dec. 18
on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (9 p.m. ET/PT), World Boxing
Council 175-pound titleholder Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs)
meets former world light heavyweight and middleweight
champion Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KOs) for the WBC light
heavyweight title
from the Pepsi Coliseum in
Québec City, Canada.
For
information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including
exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries,
complete telecast information and more, please go the new
SHOWTIME Sports website at
http://www.sho.com/sports.
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