Spring Slugfest V from Integrity Fighter Promotions from the Cathedral Hall in Oakland had another action-packed card on March 12th, featuring fan favorites and challenging out-of-towners across five professional fights and one exhibition.
Congratulations to the two fighters in the exhibition, Ashey Harner and Donya Shodja, on a great show to begin the night.
The main event of the evening was Basyzbak Baratov (5-1-2 1 KO) and Alexander Castellano (6-1 2 KO), an 8 round fight for the Appalachain Boxing Organization Featherweight Championship.
Both fighters had loud supporters. Baratov had many people from his native country, Kyrgyzstan, cheering him and Castellano brought a vocal portion from Buffalo.
Baratov and Castellanos have made their mark in Pittsburgh over the last year, Baratov has two wins in Pittsburgh and Castellano had an impressive victory in January.
It was a fun bout to watch, both traded winning rounds to begin the fight, in Round 3, Baratov would try to move the fight in close, while Castellano would try to beat his with long hooks from distance. Anytime Baratov got traction, he would wisely clinch and get the fight firmly in his control.
Sensing he was down in the fight, Baratov was more aggressive in Round 6, using his jab more and his opponent used the jab to get his hooks around Baz’s guard. Baratov and Castellano did enough to make it snug in the final two rounds.
It felt like a strong final round was the difference, as Baratov sensed that he needed to win the round a little bit more. His attack had more fervor behind it. Castellano got a few hooks in to stay with it.
In the end, Castellano wins the title by majority decision, the bout scored 76-76, 78-74, and 77-75 in another good showing in Pittsburgh.
The night kicked off with Johnny Spell (5-0 3 KO)wasting no time with his opponent for the night, Jonatan Godoy (5-13) of Argentina, in a lightweight bout scheduled for six rounds. Godoy came in 3 pounds overweight, but the fight was still on.
He used his entire arsenal, devastating hooks and punishing his opponent with body shots. He had three knockdowns in the first round, and the fight only continued because of a save by the bell.
You have to give credit to Godoy as he hung in there with an absolute hyena in Spell. The fourth knockdown happened towards the end of round two, but referee Ernest Sharif held off the post KO check to the bell.
Spell was awarded the victory by corner stoppage in the third round. A dominant performance by the Lightweight who’s going to continue making waves in June.
The second fight, a light welterweight battle between Rosalindo Morales (6-0) and Guadalupe Jimenez (5-5-1 4 KO)was another electrifying fight.
Morales attacked his opponent with huge left hooks and made sure he felt every single one of them. Jimenez survived and threw his own hooks but Morales caught his opponent with a left hook to the liver wrapping his first career win by knockout and the first half of the card as we quickly went to intermission.
The second half of the night is where the fights went the full distance. Lucas Adams (2-1) took on Tahlik Tayor (4-20-1 2 KO) in four-round light-heavyweight combat.
To start the fight it was Taylor on the attack swinging hard for but Adams dodging them. If he was able to connect on some of them the fight would have had a much different outcome. Both hooks from either hand looked devastating.
Adams got a nice body shot on him and played good defense waiting for his opportunity to catch him or his opponent tires out. Round 1 goes to Taylor for more aggression.
Round two continues around the same for Taylor, notably went for an uppercut and missed on his opponent. He caught a warning from Shariff and Adams continued to work the body with lefts and rights.
This round went to Adams for showcasing the skill, dodging through Taylor’s attacks.
In the third frame, Adams continues going for the body, feigning jabs to set up the attack. Taylor gets pieces of his hooks in on his American flag-clad opponent, who for the most part is working on the body and dodging a hook. The Butler native even got a hook in on the fighter from Durham, NC.
In round four, Taylor couldn’t quite fire like he did during the first and Adams is getting his jabs in. If it even felt like Taylor was starting to get free with his jabs, Adams would wisely hold him up.
I felt Adams adjusted very well from the salvos of Taylor and made his work in close before ducking out of harm from his heavy hooks. His opponent couldn’t get his shots in cleanly and didn’t change his approach.
The judges ultimately felt there was no clear-cut winner, ruling it a split decision draw. The scores went 39-37 for Adams, 39-37 for Taylor, and 38-38 for the draw.
Ring Announcer Matt Antonucci told the crowd the next Integrity Fighters Promotions card is June 18th at the Meadows Casino in Washington County. With Spell, Morales, and Baratov scheduled to compete.