Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
Despite a spectacular amateur career, Karl Dargan (17-1, 9 KOs) seemed to have never been tested in the way he was tested tonight at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut on a card promoted by Main Events.
Tony Luis (18-7, 7 KOs), a 27-year-old Canadian Lightweight who was previously robbed a decision win in a barn burner against Ivan Redkach, was battle-tested and prepared as he scored a 10-round unanimous decision win over Dargan in the main event of the January 30th edition of ESPN 2’s Friday Night Fights.
Dargan, 29, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began the fight well by landing sharp right hands, although he was not very active with his punch output.
In Rounds 3 and 4, however, Luis began closing the distance much easier and even landed a short left hook in Round 3 that dropped Dargan.
The knockdown was ruled a slip, but it earned Luis something else: the psychological win that convinced Dargan that he could no longer win this fight.
By this point, Luis had begun to make the fight uglier and uglier and Dargan was not prepared to deal with the increase in intensity.
Indeed, instead of sticking to his earlier game plan of fighting on the outside, Dargan began fighting at close range and was then outworked in nearly every round.
All judges scored the fight 97-92, 99-90 and 97-92 for Luis, who finally gets the televised win that eluded him in 2014.
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
In the co-main event, Cuban amateur standout Sullivan Barrera (15-0, 10 KOs) scored a fourth-round TKO victory over a shot Jeff Lacy (27-6, 18 KOs) in a fight that was unfortunately allowed to happen.
Lacy, who had been knocked out in two of is last six fights, could not adequately defend himself throughout the fight and took several left and right hands before the fight was mercifully stopped in Round 4.
Barrera, who is trained by Abel Sanchez out of the Summit Gym in Big Bear, California, will now look to fight more competitive matchups after having scored a knockout victory over a well-known fighter.
Photo Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
In an entertaining scrap that opened up the televised card, Thomas Falowo (13-3, 8 KOs) scored a close unanimous decision win over Russell Lamour (11-1, 5 KOs).
Both fighters had previously fought each other five times in the amateurs and demonstrated their familiarity with each other by engaging in every round.
According to CompuBox, Lamour landed 211 punches, while Falowo landed 176, making a combined 387 punches landed in the fight.
It was Falowo, however, who got the edge in the scorecards with the judges scoring the fight 78-74, 77-75 and 77-75.
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