Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis Wins Regional Titles in L.A.

WOODLAND HILLS, CALIF-Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis scrapped his way to winning the USBA and USNBC junior welterweight regional titles against Denver’s Rob “Red Hot” Frankel in a competitive match on Friday.

Pendarvis used his eye-popping speed to counter and attack in front of a mostly hometown crowd at the Warner Center Marriott. The Bash Boxing and Art of Boxing Promotion card proved to be unpredictable and that’s a good thing.

Denver’s Frankel was not there to be a punching dummy. If you’ve ever had a chance to see the lanky junior welterweight in action, he’s a true professional. When I say that I mean he comes to win every single time.

After Pendarvis jumped to a lead with his speed southpaw style, Frankel was able to pin him against the ropes and turn the fight into an inside rumble. That’s when it got interesting. The Denver boxer has fought numerous world champions and contenders in his career and showed that experience against Pendarvis.

Aside from the speed advantage, Pendarvis has always been a little known secret outside of the Los Angeles area except to the fighters themselves. He’s sparred with many of the elite fighters in the world and it shows when he’s in the ring. It showed Friday night or else Frankel would have hung a defeat on him.

“I had to take the fight inside,” said Pendarvis. “He came to fight hard and I expected that.”

For most of the latter half of the 12-round fight, both boxers took turns firing combinations toe-to-toe with rapid fluidity. In the end, it was Pendarvis whose blows packed more power and thus the judges scored it in his favor 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111. It seemed to be much closer than those scores but the end result was justified.

Other bouts

Light heavyweight Tyrell Hendrix (9-1, 3 KOs) out-punched Fresno’s Loren Myers (8-16-1) after a rugged six round tussle. The taller Hendrix never slowed down in any of the rounds but Myers withstood barrage after barrage to end standing despite two knockdowns in the fight. All three judges scored it 60-51 for Hendrix.

Russia’s undefeated southpaw Anton Novikov (25-0, 10 KOs) was simply too strong for Oregon’s Paul Mpendo (7-10-4) who was knocked down with a counter left hand in round five. Novikov won by unanimous decision.

Denver’s Shawn Nichol (6-11, 5 KOs) upset Carson’s Raymond Chacon (4-2) after four rounds of a junior featherweight contest. It was obvious that Chacon had the speed advantage as he fired off four and five-round combinations with blinding speed. Nichol simply waited for his moments and floored the Californian in the first round with a left hook. In the third round Nichol caught Chacon with a right on the chin for another knockdown and followed that with a second knockdown in the same round with the left hook doing the job. Nichol won by unanimous decision 38-35 on all three cards. It was his first win by decision. All had come via the knockout.

Russia’s Aslanbek Kozaev (21-0, 7 KOs) steamrolled James Ventry (7-15, 4 KOs) from the sound of the opening bell. A counter left hook floored Ventry who beat the count but was in serious trouble soon after. Referee Pat Russell stopped the fight wisely at 2:18 of round one.

Carlos Rodriguez (3-0) of Oxnard overwhelmed Ricardo Malfavon (2-9-1) in a junior middleweight match. The fight was stopped at 2:33 of round one by referee David Mendoza.

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