As a regular venue for the nationally televised “Friday Night Fights,” Chumash Casino Resort is fast becoming a prime location for showcasing young, up-and-coming boxers.
Most recently, on Aug. 5, fans packed into the casino’s Samala Showroom, and thousands of viewers tuned in at home on ESPN2, to watch the long-awaited “Clash at the Chumash.”
The night’s first major bout featured a battle of junior lightweights; Glendale’s Art Hovhannesyan and former world champion Cristóbal Cruz, who entered the ring with a 39-12-2 lifetime record. The bout looked to be evenly matched from the start, with both fighters landing flurries and combinations early on.
Hovhannesyan, with his animated cornermen urging him on, appeared to take control in the second and third rounds, but an accidental head butt by the Armenian fighter opened a cut over Cruz’s right eye in the fourth. The gash proved serious enough to force a referee’s stoppage, and the fight ended in a draw from the scorer’s cards, provoking a cascade of boos from the Chumash crowd.
The controversy was soon forgotten, however, as the night’s much-hyped main event, pitting junior welterweights Tim “Pitbull” Coleman and Vernon Paris, soon followed. For months prior to the bout, the opponents had engaged in a war of words in the press and over Facebook, of all places, culminating in a scuffle on the casino floor the night before the bout. The incident resulted in both fighters being booted from the casino to separate hotels.
On fight night, the bad blood spilled over in a tense stare down during the introductions, and a brief exchange of hostile words before the fight. Once the grudge match began, Coleman, who entered the contest with a 19-1-1 record, quickly bloodied Paris’ nose in the closing moments of the first round. A couple of shots after the bell by both fighters spurred more angry accusations.
Paris took a right uppercut for a standing eight count in the second round. He recovered, and the fighters went toe-to-toe into the fifth, where Paris landed a series of solid uppercuts to Coleman’s midsection, dropping the fighter to his knees twice.
With Coleman appearing gassed, Paris took over in the seventh round. He got Coleman up against the ropes and knocked him down for the third time in the fight with another uppercut to the midsection. The referee called a technical knockout, and afterward, the two camps engaged in more pushing and shoving in the ring.
After the smoke cleared, the challenger Paris had run his record to a perfect 25-0, claiming the USBA Junior Welterweight belt. It was his first fight ever in front of a national audience.
Santa Maria’s own Rufino “El Animal” Serrano narrowly missed his chance to appear on national TV in his bout against Johnny Frazier, but the 21-year-old featherweight did pull off a surprising six-round unanimous decision against his much larger opponent.
Serrano took the fight as a last minute replacement for Frazier’s originally scheduled opponent, who dropped out for unknown reasons. Carlos Ruiz, Serrano’s trainer at the Santa Maria Boxing Club, said he tried to get his fighter to gain a lot of weight for the fight, but still Serrano came in at 126 pounds. Frazier weighed in at 130 pounds, meaning he was probably around 140 pounds by the time the bell rang.
“He’s a big fighter,” Ruiz said. “We first decided not to take the fight but we were put in a position where they would have had one less fight without us. There was a lot of politics, so we decided to take the fight.”
Serrano, sporting gold-trimmed trunks emblazoned with “805,” entered the ring to the biggest ovation of the night, with the Santa Ynez crowd chanting “Animal!” and “Santa Maria!’
“That was a big advantage to me,” Serrano said of the welcome. “It motivated me more to throw more punches and if you’re tired, they keep you moving.”
Despite the size disadvantage, Serrano battled Frazier smartly, dancing around out of arm’s reach, picking his punches, and staying out of trouble for the first few rounds.
“I was pleased with his performance because usually he gets a little excited and he likes to bang with the guys,” Ruiz said.
Serrano was equally satisfied with his performance.
“I thought it was pretty good, other than the fact that I didn’t throw as many punches,” he said. “But I didn’t want to stay in there because he was big. I didn’t want to take that chance.”
With the win, Serrano upped his record to 10-3, with his last three bouts coming against bigger opponents. His next fight is scheduled for Sep. 30 at Chumash with an opponent yet to be determined.
“I’ll definitely be running more, doing more sprints and trying to throw more combos. I only throw one or two, maybe that’s why I don’t get knockouts,” he said. “I’m going to run more so I can get in better condition to throw more punches.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas isn’t getting killed, he’s getting mad. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com or follow him on Twitter at JThomasSMS@twitter.com.
This article appears in Aug 11-18, 2011.