Fight Card a No-Win Situation : Boxing: Tiger and Campas battle to a technical draw to end a frustrating night.
The main attraction didn’t live up to billing, a little like the boxing show itself.
Young Dick Tiger and Armando Campas, after a little more than 25 minutes of mostly dancing, had their fight stopped and ruled a technical draw.
The decision left both camps frustrated and long faces all around.
How fitting.
There was plenty of disappointment to go around Wednesday night in the Grand Ballroom at the Warner Center Marriott.
The monthly boxing show, hampered by confusion and the cancellation of the boxer who was supposed to be a big draw, attracted a crowd of less than 400--fewer than half what is normal.
And those who came witnessed about half a typical show.
Tiger and Campas pawed, jabbed and mostly avoided each other until Campas was cut over the right eye by a head butt, resulting in referee Vince Delgado--after consulting with the ringside physician--stopping their junior middleweight bout 1 minute 45 seconds into the ninth round.
At that point, judges handed in their cards. One had Tiger ahead, 78-75. The other two scored the bout identically, 76-76.
Tiger, a former Nigerian champion based in North Hollywood, was incredulous.
“I won this fight, I won this fight,” he kept repeating as his handlers led him to his dressing room.
And from the other camp: “I thought we were ahead,” said Carlos Madrid, Campas’ trainer and manager. “We won the first five rounds straight.”
Neither fighter was particularly impressive or aggressive until the middle of the sixth round, when Campas backed his opponent against the ropes with a volley of punches and Tiger responded with a few rapid-fire deliveries of his own.
“I was beating him in the body all night,” Tiger said. “I was going with the plan--jabbing, jabbing, scoring, scoring. The last round, that’s when I was going to explode.”
The end came suddenly. Campas, who bore in on Tiger throughout the fight by leading with his head, suddenly lurched forward and was caught just over the eyelid by Tiger’s temple.
Delgado ruled the butt unintentional, but Tiger blamed Campas for causing it.
“He got cut, but he hit me,” Tiger said. “This guy used the head butt all the time. That’s the only time he hit me was with his head.”
Tiger’s record is 31-11-3. Campas, from Sonora, Mexico, is 13-12-4.
The fight, which was scheduled for 10 rounds, was the fourth and final bout of the evening.
A scheduled six-round super middleweight bout between Ray (Baby Animal) Villanueva of Torrance and Calvin Combs of Lancaster was canceled because Combs failed a state-mandated eye examination.
For promoter Peter Broudy, losing his fifth bout topped off a rather eventful last few days.
Late last week, Broudy was informed that his headliner, local heavyweight John Bray, was pulling out of the main event--a scheduled 10-round battle with another young and promising fighter, King Ipitan.
That resulted in the first of many changes to the card, a situation complicated by Broudy’s involvement in the promotion of regular shows at the Grand Olympic.
The events of the past few days and the disappointing turnout prompted Broudy to announce that he is turning over most of promotional responsibilities for the Marriott shows to former heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee.
“I’m not a big fan of empty chairs,”’ said Broudy, who has a contract to promote monthly shows at the hotel through the end of the year.
“I got out of (Wednesday’s show) about what I put into it. I just don’t have the time anymore.”
Broudy said he will stay on to assist Coetzee.
In undercard fights, Raymond Orozco (4-4-1) won a unanimous decision over Cortez Dean (0-1-1) in a five-round junior lightweight bout; Ricky Stewart (3-0) knocked out Kent Linthicum (0-1) at 1:06 of the first round in a middleweight bout, and Steve Hurley (1-1-1) and Viatcheslav Martyniouk (0-0-1) battled to a draw in an entertaining four-round middleweight bout.
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