Saturday, April 18, 2009

By Isaac Kuhlman

  Roy Engelbrecht Promotions along with Fernando "Feroz" Vargas held the second installment of "World's Collide" at the Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, NV tonight. The World's Collide event was the first ever mixed promotion of MMA and boxing under one roof in the same night when it premiered on Valentine's Day earlier this year. The promotion is a $175,000 tournament between 3 weight classes and 8 fighters in each class of each sport that lasts through the year until December.

  The event had 7 bouts (4 boxing, 3 MMA), and included a first-round rematch that ended in a draw between Ignacio Garcia and Isauro Tapia. The tie was broken tonight as Garcia looked more confident in the second fight and pushed forward as the aggressor for most of the fight. Neither fighter landed many devastating punches, but Garcia outpointed Tapia and never left his defense vulnerable to a major offensive from Tapia. The fight was a unanimous decision for Garcia (40-36, 39-37, 39-37).

  The best fight of the night was a boxing contest between Rynell Griffin and Johnny Frazier, both of Las Vegas.

  The first round was a very even round and both fighters landed big shots with KO power, but neither could get the other to stagger for long.

  The second round was started by Frazier keeping Griffin at a distance with his jabs and straight rights. Griffin got in close and landed a few quick combos, but, in the middle of the round, Frazier stunned Griffin with a right cross. Griffin gained his composure by staying close and throwing combos.

Frazier throwing a left as Griffin ducks and tries to counter

  Round three was a tale of two half rounds. Frazier landed some big shots to the head of Griffin in the first half of the round, and the crowd was brought to their feet in anticipation of a knock out. However, Griffin never went down, and for the second part of the round Griffin came back with fast hands and a heavy dose of combinations.

  Round four became the "deciding" round as Griffin fired away looking unphazed by all the earlier rounds, and Frazier looked to be gassing out. Frazier landed a few power shots, but the round was clearly in favor of Griffin's determination to out work Frazier. As the fight went to the scorecards, it was too close to call, and the judges' decision confirmed it. The fight was scored a majority draw with Frazier winning on one judge's scorecard (38-38, 39-37, 38-38).

  The knockout of the night would go to boxer Arquimedez Garcia of Santa Ana, CA. In the first fight of the night, Garcia wasted little time with his opponent, Manuel Delgado of Riverside, CA. Garcia knocked down Delgado with an over-hand right. Delgado caught himself on the canvas before he fell on his back, but, after trying to push himself back up, he stumbled to the ground.

Garcia throwing the jab into Delgado's face

  Delgado took his knee and a "standing eight" count, but he still looked to be a little dazed. Garcia must have seen this as he unleashed power shot after power shot on Delgado. Garcia knocked Delgado around, and, as Delgado lunged for a clinch, referee Jay Nady called a stop to the fight. Garcia was declared the winner by TKO at 1:12 in the first round.

  The best MMA fight was between Jamie Fletcher of Fullerton, CA and Walter Roberto of Huntington Beach, Ca. The rounds were easy to score as it was a matter of each fighter picking when they could control the fight.

Fletcher working the ground with a guillotine attempt

  Round one went to Roberto as he had Fletcher's back for most of the round and tried to sink a rear-naked choke for most of the round. The next two rounds were similar in the fact that Fletcher took control after losing the first round on every judges' scorecard. However, Fletcher became much more aggressive in his stand up by throwing stinging leg kicks, and, in the third round, he was able to dominate Roberto and take his back for most of the round. Though Fletcher never sunk a deep submission, he was able to control Roberto throughout the round, and he got the judges' unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

  The craziest fight of the night took place between Victor Medina (pro debut) and Paul Mendez who is 1-0. The fight was dominated by Mendez throughout, but Medina never went down. Medina looked to be on his way to losing a unanimous decision by trailing in every round, but with 1 second left in the round, Mendez hit Medina with a crushing liver punch to drop Medina and end the fight as Medina--whether he knew it didn't matter if he got up or not, or was just really hurt--could not stand up.

Story of the fight: Mendez giving it to Medina at will

  The event will be hosting the remaining rounds of the tournament throughout the year at Buffalo Bill's. For more information on the events and their dates, visit www.primmvalleyresorts.com.