Saturday night at the Ormsby House the Carson City Boxing Club hosted an invitational amateur boxing card that was a hit with the slightly more than 400 people who attended.
The fans roared their approval before, during and after each one of the fights as the boxers gave everything they had for the 19 fights on the card.
The main event saw CCBC fighter Mike Peralta win by decision over Reno Jets fighter Al Goranson, to the delight of the hometown fans. Peralta, who is handled by his father and CCBC head coach Frank Peralta, and Goranson slugged it out for the full three rounds in a battle of 135-pounders as the crowd cheered on Peralta. It was a good win for the local fighter.
In addition to Peralta, other CCBC were in action against fighters from Reno (Jets and Arce Boxing Club), Wadsworth/Fernley and Fallon. Susanville, the Kings Boxing Club and Fresno also sent fighters to the card from California.
In a feature bout, CCBC fighter Joe Goss won by decision over Fernley's Scotty Sampson in a dandy little fight. Also, Jose Elizondo from the CCBC won by decision over Martin Mendoza of Arce and Louis Loe Jr., and Dwayne Pope, both from the CCBC, put on a hard-hitting fight that saw Loe come away with the decision win.
CCBC fighter Mike Loe lost by decision to Fallon's Simi Lonewolf in an excellent fight and CCBC's Marvin Smith was stopped in the first round by Fallon's Jared Baca. Johnny Ramirez from the CCBC and Ivan Gallegos from Fernley fought a "workout match" that was as good as any of the fights on the card and Jose Gomez from the CCBC lost by decision to Ramon Vargas from the Kings Boxing Club.
Matchmakers and coaches for the local team were CCBC Director Chuck Williams, Frank Peralta and Louis Loe Sr. Local officials who donated their time and expertise to the non-profit card - which benefited the CCBC equipment and travel fund - were Dr. Loren Simpson of Gardnerville as ringside physician, Mike Downey and Jack Howell from Carson City as judges, Warren Bottino from Gardnerville as both a referee and judge and Lake Tahoe judge Mike Baker.
The fight card was sanctioned by USA Boxing of Nevada. The next amateur card for Northern Nevada takes place April 22 at the Boys & Girls Club in Reno.
- HARVEY'S FIGHTS A SUCCESS - The Sunday night professional fight card at Harveys in Stateline was a sold-out success also as 550 fans attended the card.
Before we get to the fights, a little sidebar from yours truly. As part of the festivities, the "California Hardbodies" put on an oil wrestling show after the fights, but during the evening they were available for photos and interviews and this "Nevada Softbody" got to meet and get my photo taken with them .... Thought I'd just throw that, considering there isn't much to tell you about the main event on the card.
That was the NABO light heavyweight title fight between Julian Letterlough and Troy Weaver and it was over before you could blink! When the opening bell rang, it was wham-bam and Weaver was down. He got up, took a few more shots, was down again and out! That's it. The fight lasted a whole 42 seconds. But it was an exciting 42 seconds, I might add.
Harveys Sportsbook had Letterlough listed as a -$2.20 favorite with Weaver at +$1.80.
Letterlough improved his record to 12-0 with 12 KOs while Weaver fell to 13-7-2 with 13 KOs.
In prelim bouts, South lake Tahoe's Hector Torres huffed-and-puffed his way to a four-round decision win over Lamont Winn in a light heavyweight fight. Torres - his brother Juan was a kickboxing champion who also fought for boxing's lightweight title - needs to train a little harder as he was "sucking air" by the third round, but he held on for the win to improve his record to 5-0. Winn's record fell to 4-4.
In a couple of upsets, undefeated Miguel Jimenez, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist from Las Vegas, lost an 8-round decision to Las Vegan Max Heyman in another light heavyweight fight. Heyman is now 10-2-2, while Jimenez lost his first pro fight and dropped to 14-1. The other upset saw Las Vegas Dexter Williams knock out New Jersey's Johnnie Hayes at the 2:58 mark of round one in their middleweight fight. Hayes suffered his first pro loss and is now 4-1, while Williams improved his record to 6-11. Completing the card, South Lake Tahoe's Eric Majors stopped Mexico's Raymundo Paramo at the 39-second mark of round three in their junior welterweight fight. Majors evened his record at 2-2 while Paramo is now 0-4-1.
- NO FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS - ESPN2 takes this week off for it's usual Friday night fight card because to a hockey playoff game. They return in two weeks with Dana Rosenblatt (36-1, 23 KOs) taking on James Crawford (31-2-1, 13 KOs) in the main event.
- HBO has an excellent live fight card set for Saturday night from Las Vegas. The main event is a dandy as undefeated Fernando Vargas - he fought at Caesars Tahoe last summer - defending his junior middleweight title against Ike Quartey. Vargas is listed at local sportsbooks as a 5-2 favorite with Quartey at +2-1.
The semi-main should be a brawl when Ivan Robinson tangles with Antonio Diaz for the junior welterweight title. Note the different starting time for the live telecast. It begins at 6:45 p.m.
Alan Rogers is the Nevada Appeal boxing writer.
