HOMETOWN FAVORITE IVAN BARANCHYK DECISIONS KEENAN SMITH IN MAIN EVENT OF SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION FRIDAY ON SHOWTIME® FROM BUFFALO RUN CASINO IN MIAMI, OKLA.
Rolando Chinea Upsets Previously Unbeaten Kenneth Sims Jr.
Glenn Dezurn and Adam Lopez Fight To a Split Draw
Joshua Greer Jr. TKOs Leroy Davila After Round 5
Catch The Replay Monday, July 17 At 10 p.m. ET/PT On SHOWTIME EXTREME®
MIAMI, Okla. (July 15, 2017) – Ivan Baranchyk went the distance with Keenan Smith in front of Baranchyk’s adopted hometown in the main event of a quadrupleheader featuring eight returning fighters on Friday’s ShoBox: The New Generation from Buffalo Run Casino & Resort.
In a battle of undefeated fighters, the hard-hitting Baranchyk (15-0, 10 KOs) took advantage of a one-point holding deduction against Sims in the fifth round to earn the decision in his fifth appearance on the ShoBox series and sixth consecutive fight out of Miami.
“I’m happy to be fighting back home in Miami, I love to fight here,” said Baranchyk, who was happy with his win but displeased with his overall performance. “I came out too hard and tried too hard to knock Smith out. I really wanted to knock him out which is why my punches were wild.”
After Smith (11-1, 5 KOs) handled Baranchyk’s wild punching in round one, in the subsequent rounds he became increasingly resigned, and then he found himself facing an even greater deficit in round five when he was deducted a point. The referee acted in haste with the deduction, but the decision was the culmination of smaller warnings for excessive holding throughout the first half of the fight. Ultimately, Smith became the 166th fighter to lose his undefeated record on the ShoBox series, as the judges scored the fight 80-71, 78-73 and 79-72.
“They weren’t playing fair,” Smith said. “Anything that I did, the referee was on me. I was hitting him with clean body shots, and he kept telling me to keep them up, and then he took a point for holding. I don’t know what fight [the judges] were watching.”
The fight was a hard-hitting and physical affair from the beginning. Baranchyk came out swinging, landing just 21% of his jabs and 29% of total punches, edging out Smith who landed just 22% of his total punches.
“I came out too hard and tried to knock him out, which is why my punches were wild,” said Baranchyk.
In the co-feature, Rolando Chinea upset previously unbeaten former national amateur champion Kenneth Sims Jr. in a close majority decision.
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“I was most confident after the second round of the fight, when I noticed he was sticking his tongue out and making certain gestures that showed he was tired,” Chinea said. “If I had to grade myself I would rate my overall performance as a B… I have a lot to improve on and my job here is never finished.”
Like Smith later in the main event, Sims (12-1, 4 KOs) suffered the first loss of his career, becoming the 165th fighter to lose his undefeated record on the ShoBox series.
“My body just didn’t respond tonight,” Sims said. “I am done at 140 pounds. I just did not feel right from the opening bell. I am going to 147 pounds.”
In the sixth round, Chinea took control and was the busier fighter against a fading Sims. While both fighters exchanged numerous punches in the seventh and closed the fight out with a flurry of activity, Sims clearly struggled at 140 pounds.
In the well-contested final round, the pair combined for 291 punches and 85 connects, but Chinea’s surge earned him the majority decision win. Chinea was badly outclassed in the first round, but his commitment to pressuring Sims the entire three minutes of each round paid dividends at the conclusion of the fight, as two of the judges’ 77-75 cards overruled the 76-76 card.
In the second fight of the night, Glenn Dezurn (9-0-1, 6 KOs) stepped up to the 121-pound super bantamweight division to go the distance with ShoBox veteran Adam Lopez (16-1-2, 8 KOs) in an action-packed eight-round slugfest that ended in a split draw. Both fighters were visibly disappointed by the judge’s decision.
“I thought I did enough to win,” said the still-undefeated Dezurn, who spars with his wife, women’s pro fighter Franchon Crews. “I’m just fortunate for this opportunity and hope [Lopez] and I can come back strong and fight again someday.”
The first round was a round of fairly even give-and-take where both Dezurn and Lopez landed and sustained an impressive amount of body punches. It was Lopez who originally appeared more subdued, foregoing the counterpunch as Dezurn worked the jab.
By the fifth round it was clear Dezurn was losing steam when Lopez began to break him down and force him against the ropes. Lopez went on to dominate the sixth and seventh rounds, when Dezurn, clearly out-fought, looked tired and began to lean over.
“After the first round, I dominated the action,” said Lopez, who has now fought on ShoBox a record-tying six times. Maybe [Dezurn] won the seventh, but I whipped him. I should have won the fight, this was a redemption for me. Once I got used to his speed, I feel I won rounds six to two. The whole fight, his back was against the ropes and I beat up his body.”
Trained by the famed Coach Barry Hunter, the still-undefeated Dezurn made a valiant comeback in the final round, where he came back to life. In between rounds 6 and 7, the demanding Hunter admonished Dezurn for briefly wavering in an expected can-do attitude.
“I thought it was fair,” Hunter said. “We came on in the middle rounds, and Glenn won the seventh and eighth to get us the draw. It all came down to the stretch and I thought we did enough to win those rounds.”
In the opening bout of the telecast, former knockout-of-the-year candidate Joshua Greer Jr. (14-1-1, 6 KOs) stopped Leroy Davila (5-2, 3 KOs) after five rounds, when Davila’s corner called the fight at the conclusion of the fifth.
“The game plan was to box and hit hard, and that’s what I did,” said Greer, who earned a memorable knockout against James Gordon Smith in his last ShoBox appearance back in March. “I had to put on a good show. I will fight whoever has the belts. I want to fight for a world title.”
The 23-year old Greer landed a number of aggressive combinations that had Davila against the ropes from the outset of the fight. While Davila appeared to come alive in the second round, the 29-year old southpaw became stationary and had trouble recovering from a shot to the face that had him bleeding out of the left side of his nose, and struggling for the second half of the fourth and the fifth. His corner called the fight just after the bell sounded, ending the fifth round.
The event was co-promoted by GH3 Promotions and Holden Productions.
Friday’s quadrupleheader will replay on Monday, July 17 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME and will be available on SHOWTIME on DEMAND® and SHOWTIME ANYTIME®.
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