ESPN kicked off its Middleweight Boxcino Tournament on the February 28, 2014 edition of ESPN 2’s Friday Night Fights.
ESPN is currently holding two eight-man tournaments, the second of which began tonight featuring four quarterfinal Lightweight bouts. Last week, ESPN aired the quarterfinals of its Lightweight portion.
Each of tonight’s fights were scheduled for six rounds, but with one caveat: if a fight ends in a draw after the sixth, it will be continued for a seventh tie-breaking round.
Furthermore, according to a RingTV article, if the seventh round also ends in a draw, three ringside writers will determine which of the two will move onto the tournament’s semifinals, which will take place on April 14.
The winner of both tournaments will be awarded a special ESPN Boxcino belt.
Donatas Bondorovas (18-5-1, 6 KOs) versus Willie Monroe Jr. (16-1-0, 6 KOs)
Willie Monroe Jr. scored a sixth round unanimous decision victory over Dontas Bondorovas.
Monroe spent most of the fight using his movement to prevent Bondorovas from planting his feet often to land hard shots.
Bondorovas, on the other hand, seemed a bit busier in the early rounds, throwing more punches in order to lessen Monroe’s movement. He was determined to walk down Monroe for the whole fight, but clean shots were still quite elusive.
It was a close fight in which judging the fight may have been determined by the judge’s preferred style, which in this case the boxing ability of Monroe.
The judges scored the bout 58-56, 59-59, 59-59.
Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-0, 13 KOs) versus Cerresso Fort (17-3-1, 11 KOs)
Kopylenko easily pummeled through Fort after only two rounds. Kopylenko, who is the stablemate of Ruslan Provodnikov, brought a similar power advantage in his fight with Fort.
Indeed, in the first round, Fort’s legs wobbled after receiving Kopylenko’s jab–twice. The second round ended quickly after Fort was dropped with the opening shot, after which Kopylenko finished Fort en route to a TKO victory.
Kopylenko will face Monroe Jr. in the tournament’s semifinals.
Sena Agbeko (15-1, 15 KOs) versus Raymond Gatica (14-2, 9 KOs)
Raymond Gatica scored fourth-round knockout victory over Sena Agbeko. Gatica began the fight by swinging for the fences, throwing looping hooks and often losing his balance.
Agbeko answered Gatica’s aggression with looping hooks of his own, while unable to take advantage of Gatica’s recklessness. Agbeko’s undefeated record proved to be deceptive as most of his opponents had terrible records.
Indeed, Agbeko looked incapable of dealing with Gatica’s agression, and although landing hard shots of his own in the third and fourth, he was nevertheless unprepared for Gatica’s chin and power.
Gatica finished the fight by pushing Agbeko to the fences and delivering a barrage of hard punches through a now defenseless Agbeko.
Brandon Adams (13-0, 9 KOs) versus Daniel Edouard (23-5-2, 14 KOs)
Brandon Adams scored a fourth-round TKO victory after Daniel Edouard was unable to continue into the fifth round.
Edouard had previously fought only once in the past three years and was outgunned when Adams, a much younger and active fighter, picked up the pace.
Adams was faster, stronger, and more explosive in the first three rounds. Edouard was knocked down in the third round after running into a perfectly-timed left hook.
Adams will now face Gatica in the tournament’s semifinals.
