B-Sides Victor Cayo And Tyrone Harris Topple A-Sides Julio Diaz And Marvin Quintero

Friday night was a bad night to be the boxer everyone was supposed to be paying attention to, both on Showtime and ESPN2.

  • Junior lightweight prospect Marvin Quintero got stopped by would-be journeyman Tyrone Harris in the 8th in the ShoBox main event. Fun fight. The problem with Quintero isn’t that he doesn’t box enough, which is apparently what his team thought. The problem is he doesn’t defend himself enough after letting some punches go. Harris was quick enough and skilled enough to take advantage. It still was something of a back-and-forth bout through six, though, because Quintero got aggressive in stretches and outworked Harris. However, I don’t have a clue why Showtime’s Nick Charles thought Harris may have “stolen” the 5th and Quintero had a good 6th — Quintero was badly hurt in both rounds and almost stopped in the latter. The stoppage came later, and despite the boos, it was an excellent call. Referee Raul Caiz, Jr. immediately recognized that the flush combination that had Quintero staggering backward had done very severe damage and ran into position. He gave Quintero a chance to answer, but he couldn’t. Quintero, a ShoBox fave, takes a step back, but he’s definitely exciting enough for me to want to see him rebound from this. Harris may or may not be a player in the division if he can make the weight and keep a consistent effort that has apparently been difficult for him to do in his career.
  • On Friday Night Fights, junior welterweight Victor Cayo proved that he’s not one of those guys with glossy records built on poor opposition by defeating Julio Diaz by decision. Cayo can fight a little. He’s speedy and awkward. He helped continue Diaz’ career tailspin. Diaz didn’t look good to me and I can’t remember the last time he did. He’s not very fast, he doesn’t take punches well, his technique seems to have degenerated and while I wouldn’t say he’s “shot,” the mustard is off the hot dog. He needs to consider retirement or see if he can make money as an “opponent,” but it’s definitely time for him to stop getting fights as a headliner or even as a key player in a supporting bout.
  • Also on FNF, heavyweight Derric Rossy beat Carl Davis Drumond by decision in what amounted to a total non-effort by Drumond. It’s not like Rossy was just too slick or something — Drumond gave trouble to Ruslan Chagaev, who’s nothing if not slick. Still, nice win for Rossy, who’d stepped up in opposition a couple times and flailed. He’s not that good or anything but the win ensures he’ll get some other kind of fight somewhere somehow.
  • Bantamweight Chris Avalos looks like a fun prospect. His opponent, Andre Wilson, forced Avalos into a shootout that he didn’t seem to want early, as he was patient to a fault. But once the shootout was on, Avalos was game. He scored a pair of knockdowns in the 2nd and the referee stepped in to save Wilson. Wilson had the right mix of boxing and aggression in the 1st, but got carried away in 2nd, and I felt for the kid because he seemed to want it and was very disappointed.
  • Light heavyweight Antonio Tarver did just fine as a guest analyst on ShoBox, turning the occasional colorful phrase and quickly recognizing how badly hurt Quintero was in the 8th but overall providing fairly basic info. I’d say he’s a good announcing prospect, but only time will tell if he goes A-list.

About Tim Starks

Tim is the founder of The Queensberry Rules and co-founder of The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (http://www.tbrb.org). He lives in Washington, D.C. He has written for the Guardian, Economist, New Republic, Chicago Tribune and more.

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