Rose Garden Slugfest: Bridgett Riley vs. Para Draine – by Katherine Dunn

Copyrighted photographs by : Sue TL Fox/WBAN

The Rose Garden Arena, Portland, Oregon. Promoter: Golden Boy, Inc. Matchmaker: Ed Steinfeld Judges: Greg Baker, Joe Bonaventura, Bob Flamme, Jim Howard Referees: James Erickson, David Hagen, Darrell Lewis

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy, Inc promoted its second show in the Portland Rose Garden on Thursday, Nov. 14 for a reported crowd of 2,769. The next scheduled Golden Boy fight card in the Rose Garden is set for January 3, 2003. De La Hoya himself tantalized the crowd with a declaration from the ring that his next fight might be against “Trinidad, Mosley, or Bernard Hopkins.” Oscar signed autographs for an endless line of fans between bouts.

The main event was a featherweight ten featuring prospect Marcos Licona, (123 1/2 lbs) now 19-2-1, 8 KO’s, originally of Mexico City, and fighting out of Westminster, CA. His opponent was tough veteran Ricardo Medina (123 1/4 lbs) of Mazatlan, Mexico, now 28-21, 14 KO’s. Medina , a former resident of Oregon, trained in Portland gyms during the 1990’s. Medina is a classic Mexican style fighter, working the body with hooks and crosses and striving to stay inside.

Licona uses his reach, and works off a jab with more versatility. The bout was busy and contentious from the first bell, with Licona steadily outpointing the slower but relentless Medina, and neither fighter able to inflict significant damage. All three judges called it 98-91, a unanimous decision for Licona.

As predicted, the fire fight of the night was the semi-main women’s six rounder between snappy star Bridgett “Baby Doll” Riley, (115 lbs) now 13-3, 1 KO, Missouri,  and dangerous Para Draine, (115 lbs) now 8-5, 3 KO, originally from the rough DogTown gym in Spokane, WA.

Riley is quick and busy, always coming forward with looping shots but excellent balance. Draine had the advantage in versatility and straight punching. She works body and head, inside and outside. Her jab discombobulated Riley enough to give Draine the numbers edge in punches thrown and landed. And Riley provided the evidence that Draine’s punches hurt.

One small but sometimes critical element in women’s bouts is hair. Draine had a short, practical boy cut that gave her no trouble. Riley’s long hair is attractive in publicity shots but a nightmare in the ring. She wore partial braids, but enough came loose in this rough bout to swing wetly in her eyes and give her definite problems in the deep water with Draine. Loose hair has been a problem for Christy Martin and many other women boxers. The successful solutions seem to be in the corn rows ala Ali, or the tight French braids adopted by some others.

Hair aside, Draine out-boxed, out-roughed and out-pointed Riley. The ref warned Draine twice about holding behind the head. Scholars present were impressed by the tricks pulled by the pair. Every kidney shot, or other foul cannily took place on the side away from the ref. The combined skill and ferocity of this diminutive duo lit up the crowd in the arena. The judges called it 60-54, 59-55, and 59-55, all for Draine. An upset win for Draine. This bout was billed as a womens’ bantamweight world championship elimination bout. The winner fights for the International Female Boxing Association title in December.

In four round bouts on the undercard:

Portland heavyweight Joe Gusman, (199 lbs) improved to 4-0, 2 KO, with a lop-sided unanimous decision win over outclassed but resilient Brad McPeake, (194 lbs), now 1-2-1, 0 KO of Vancouver, B.C.

The short, blocky McPeake won the crowd over with his determination to eat everything the busy, taller Gusman could throw, but keep coming back for more. All three judges scored the bout 40-35 for Gusman.

With former champ and current trainer Eddie Mustapha Muhammad in his corner, the sharp boxing Conal

McPhee, (176 lbs) now 5-0, 3 KO of Las Vegas, stopped the very fit and game Josuea Cielos, (173 lbs) now 4-2, 2 KO of Seattle at :30 of the third round. McPhee operates on a much higher skill level than Cielos, who hit the deck in each of the first and second rounds and was on the ropes in the third, absorbing a barrage to the body and head when the ref stepped in to stop the bout.

Mike Sams, (185 1/4 lbs) now 6-0-1, 3 KO, of Seattle stopped Jeff Simmons, (194 lbs) now 5-2, 2 KO of

Portland. At the weigh-in the day before, Simmons was 9 pounds over the contract weight which was 185

pounds, plus or minus one. The ruling of Jim Cassidy, Executive Director of the Oregon Boxing & Wrestling Commission was that, if the on-weight fighter accepted the match, the over-weight fighter would forfeit 20 percent of his purse to the on-weight fighter and the bout would go on. Sams accepted the bout, so the forfeit was made and the bout took place. That 9 pounds was a sign that Simmons was sadly out of shape, podgy and slow. An accomplished banger, Sams caught Simmons early with a right to the temple that staggered the bigger man. Simmons was virtually defenseless as Sams drove him to and through the ropes with intense combinations. The ref called a halt at :32 of the first round. A TKO win for Sams.

Courtesy report by Katherine Dunn of the  www.CyberBoxingZone.com