Bocachica, Shishkin, and Montoya Emerge Victorious on ‘ShoBox’

For the second straight fight, Detroit welterweight Janelson Bocachica found himself matched against a fellow U.S.-born Puerto Rican, but he was stepping up in class against Tampa’s Mark Reyes Jr (pictured on the left) in a battle of unbeatens on the latest edition of “ShoBox: The New Generation.”

Bocachica, managed by David McWater (who handles Teofimo Lopez, among many others) was the “A” side. But Reyes was hardly intimidated and fought him on even terms as measured by the CompuBox punch stats which credited each man with landing exactly 579 punches. In the end, two of the three judges favored Bocachica, the taller man with the better jab, giving the Detroiter the victory by a majority decision (97-93, 96-94, 95-95).

Bocachica improved to 17-0 as Reyes fell to 14-1.

Super middleweight Vladimir Shishkin, one of several Russians domiciled in Detroit by promoter Dimitry Salita, had an easier fight than expected with Sena Agbeko, notwithstanding the fact that he fought the bulk of the fight with a bad cut over his left eye. The 29-year-old Shishkin (12-0, 7 KOs) won all 10 rounds on two of the scorecards and eight rounds on the other. The Nashville-based Agbeko, fighting for the first time in 13 months, brought a 23-1 (18) record but his first 15 fights were in his native Ghana against suspect opposition.

In a robust 8-round fight in the 130-pound division, Mexicali’s Abraham Montoya improved to 20-2-1 with a mild upset over previously unbeaten Alejandro “Pork Chop” Guerrero (12-1) of Houston. The 22-year-old Guerrero had prepped for this fight with sparring sessions at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Riverside, California, but it was all for naught as Montoya did enough to impress two of the judges and walk away with a well-earned majority decision. Montoya is the son of Eduardo “Fili” Montoya who challenged WBA featherweight champion Antonio Esparragoza in 1989, losing by TKO5.

In an off-TV 8-round middleweight fight, 30-year-old Russian southpaw Timur Kerefov (10-0, 5 KOs) dismissed late sub Fernando Farias (8-1-2) with a body punch in the opening round. Kerefov was purportedly 298-12 as an amateur (BoxRec shows 16-15). Argentina’s Farias was making his U.S. debut.

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / SHOWTIME

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