Muratalla-Cruz Prelim Results

WBC US light heavyweight champion Khalil Coe missed weight by an inexcusable 7.8 lbs
for his defense against against former super middleweight title challenger Jesse Hart. Hart insisted on going through with the fight anyway as the title would still be on the line for him and bad blood between the two meant there was a score to settle.

Hart landed a couple of sharp shots that got the attention of Coe in the first round. In the third round, the two wound up in an awkward clinch and Coe deliberately lifted up Hart and slammed him to the canvas. Referee Thomas Taylor gave a stern warning to Coe followed by a point deduction for the egregious infraction. Coe came out in the fourth looking for answers and switching to southpaw, hoping to find some. He found his rhythm, rocking Hart in the sixth, which caused Hart to hold excessively, garnering a point deduction from referee Taylor. Coe continued his surge in the latter rounds, rocking Hart in several occasions. Hart hung in there and had his own surge in the last two rounds. The judges saw it as follows: 94-94, 95-93, 96-92, for Coe by majority decision. Coe moves to 11-1-1, 8 KOs, while Hart falls to 31-4, 25 KOs. Hart threw 183 more shots and landed 38 more than Coe, but it didn’t help in the eyes of the judges. The WBC US light heavyweight title is now vacant.

For former WBA Junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, facing unheralded Luis Salazar was supposed to be an easy fight after 11 months out of the ring, surgeries on his shoulder and meniscus and a long grueling bout with pneumonia. It was anything but. Madrimov showed an effective herky-jerky offense, but it was his defense
that was suspect as his left eye sported a purple mouse and his conditioning was far from peak. For his part, Salazar landed some punches sporadically and demonstrated a sturdy chin which appeared suspect on paper, considering his only loss was nearly 20 lb lighter via an 8 round TKO. In the 10th and final round, Madrimov put his foot on the gas and threw everything, including the kitchen sink at Salazar, who absorbed nearly every punch, sagging at times, but somehow stayed on his feet. The stoppage seemed imminent but never came. The final scores were: 99-91 across the board for Madrimov, who improves to 11-2-1, 7 KOs. Salazar falls to 20-2, 7 KOs.

Hot super welterweight prospect Omari “Banger” Jones tried his best to live up to his nickname against Jerome “Thoroughbred” Baxter in a hard-fought six-rounder. Baxter was dropped hard by a Jones left but showed his grit and chin the rest of the way, withstanding everything Jones threw, which was a hard lot. Jones finished about on his bicycle, avoiding Baxter’s desperate haymakers and coasting to a unanimous win via scores of 60-53 across the board, moving to 5-0, 4 KOs. Baxter drops to 7-1, 3 KOs.

Opening the show, super featherweight southpaw Zaquin Moses took on Leandro Medina in a scheduled six rounder. Moses worked his height advantage over the shorter Medina with crisp head and body shots. The righty-lefty conundrum came to light in the third round with a clash of heads that led to a swelling under Medina’s left eye. Medina did his best work in countering the singular jabs of Moses.
A sharp right from Moses dropped Medina as he was charging in at roughly 30 seconds into the fourth round. Medina fought back gamely and got through the rest of the round.

Moses coasted the rest of the way by scores of 60-53 from all three judges. He moves to 6-0, 3 KOs. Medina falls to 7-3, 4 KOs. Moses is the cousin of Shakur Stevenson, who was in the audience tonight.

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