Patterson Takes the Charge

RESEDA —  The bigger they are, the harder the other guy charges.

That was the case for Tracy Harris Patterson, who counter-punched his way to an eighth-round knockout of a motivated Manuel Chavez-Tellez in a scheduled 10-round featherweight bout Saturday night at the Reseda Country Club.

Patterson, 33, a former two-time world champion, improved to 60-5-1 with his 42nd knockout and moved a step closer toward another world-title fight.

But he had his hands full with Chavez-Tellez (21-7), who survived several hard right crosses from Patterson, including a trio of right hands that landed him on the seat of his pants as the bell sounded to end the seventh round.

Patterson put Chavez-Tellez away at 2:21 of the eighth with consecutive right hands to the side of the head.

Patterson absorbed twice as many punches as he had thrown and nursed a swollen left eye with ice when the fight was over. Yet, he never appeared in danger.

“When you’re a two-time world champion, you have to be ready for anything,” Patterson said. “I’m always ready for the tough guy. He was looking to make a name for himself. With a guy like that, you have to be patient and pick your shots and listen to your corner.”

Patterson, the adopted son of former two-time heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, searched for openings while Chavez-Tellez continued to charge. His most telling blows snapped back his opponent’s head. Patterson attributed his swelling to a recurring sinus problem.

“He wasn’t really catching me solid, he was just relentless, punch after punch,” Patterson said. “He caught me a few times. But [the swelling] was probably from my own gloves hitting me.”

Chavez-Tellez, of Guadalajara, Mexico, landed his most solid blows in the sixth round, during which his followers within the sparse crowd stood and chanted his name. He emerged without swelling and praised Patterson.

“He has more experience,” Chavez-Tellez said. “I hope this fight will help me. I prepared for him. I thought I was going to go the whole 10 rounds. I gave it 100%.”

In other bouts, Wolfgramm, a 334-pound Tongan heavyweight and 1996 Olympic silver medalist, knocked out Bill Eaton 89 seconds into the first round.

Wolfgramm, who outweighed his opponent by 123 pounds, knocked Eaton down twice, the second time with a devastating right hand. Wolfgramm improved to 12-0 with his 10th knockout.

In a 10-round junior-welterweight semi-main event, Effi Schneider of Los Angeles earned a hard-fought unanimous decision over Mark Fernandez of Denver. Schneider, under the tutelage of trainer Joe Goossen, improved to 8-3-1. Fernandez is 33-17-1.

“With all the experience he has, I didn’t want to get into any surprises,” Schneider said. “I hit him, I hit him and I hit him and he was not going to go down. So, I held back a little bit.”

Chuck Goossen of North Hollywood, trained by his father, Pat, recorded a first-round technical knockout over Onofre Chavez. The bout was stopped after the first round.

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The Scorecard

Results from Reseda Country Club

* Featherweight

Tracy Harris Patterson (60-5-1) d. Manuel Chavez-Tellez (21-7), KO 2:21 of eighth round.

* Junior-Welterweight

Effi Schneider (8-3-1) d. Mark Fernandez (33-17-1), 10-round unanimous decision.

* Heavyweight

Wolfgramm (12-0) d. Bill Eaton (10-2-2), KO 1:29 of first round.

* Light-Heavyweight

Jesus Ruiz (14-0) d. Paul Jones (5-7-2), six-round unanimous decision.

* Junior-Middleweight

Brandon Mitchem (10-1) d. John Bryant (8-11-3), TKO, fourth round.

* Junior-Lightweight

Jermaine Fields (7-0) d. Luis Montes (11-21), four-round unanimous decision.

* Welterweight

Chuck Goosen (10-2) d. Onofre Chavez (0-5) TKO, first round.