PHOTOS page 33
1/28/2008
David Banks versus Elvin Ayala rematch
photos by Raul Camargo
Reports out of his training camp had suggested that Elvin Ayala (in Black trunks) was one hundred percent focused and ready for action but from the opening bell the New Haven native looked flat and uninspired versus Oregon's David Banks (in White trunks). Ayala, who weighed one sixty three and a half, pawed at Banks with jabs and let himself get bulled into the ropes again and again by the busier and more aggressive Banks. Fighting with his back along the ropes Ayala was rarely able to land with anything significant and was unable to deflect or slip out of the way of Banks' punches.
Other than an occasional flicking jab Ayala was never able to land anything significant and yet he was still able to win three rounds on one official scorecard and four on another. Only Judge Clark Sammartino, who saw the bout at 99-91 for Banks, seemed to be watching the same fight the rest of the assembled witnessed. Judges Steve Weisfeld and Tom Kaczmarek saw the fight 96-94 and 97-93, respectively, all for David Banks.
Icender Beauchamp, of Revere, MA, (in Blue) got up from a first round knockdown at the hands of Gabriel Cruz, of Portland, Oregon, (in Red) to score a unanimous decision win. In round one both men exchanged hard shots and a snappy left hook from Cruz put Beauchamp flat on his back. Beauchamp stepped up his attack in rounds two, three and four and rallied back, landing hard bolts to the head of Cruz in each round. After four, the three judges saw the fight the same to the round, scoring it a 38-37 victory for Beauchamp.
In the opening bout on Telefutura, Castulo Gonzalez (in Red) of Revere, MA, outworked Barbaro Zepeda (in Black & Gold) of Chicago, in a rough and ugly match-up that saw referee Ken Ezzo doing lots of work tugging both guys out of numerous clinches. Throughout Gonzalez was able to walk Zepeda down and dig to his body only to be caught up again and again in grappling clinches. By the end of eight rounds the crowd had seen plenty and so had the three judges who scored the fight 80-72 and 78-74 twice all for Castulo Gonzalez.
Featherweight Dat Nguyen (in Yellow) was just what the Mohegan Sun crowd ordered; a pint-sized puncher who wings bombs with both hands and doesn't like lulls in the action. Nguyen, who is trained by the former junior welter and welterweight champion James Buddy McGirt, didn't disappoint versus English southpaw Vineash Rungea (in Blue). In the first round Nguyen stung Rungea several times with looping power punches but by the fourth round Rungea had found a chopping right to the head of his own that catches Nguyen repeatedly, breaking his rhythm and stymieing his attack.
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