Jose Zepeda Wins Knockdown Battle with Ivan Baranchyk at the MGM Bubble

Las Vegas was bombs away central as Jose “Chon” Zepeda traded knockdowns with Ivan “The Beast” Baranchyk and with the last punch won the probable “Fight of the Year” by vicious knockout on Saturday.

It was shocking and captivating at the same time.

“It was the first time I was in a fight like this,” said Zepeda, 31.

Inside the MGM Grand Bubble, Zepeda (33-2, 26 KOs) survived two first round knockdowns and slugged his way out of trouble against Belarus strongman Baranchyk (20-2, 13 KOs) in a war of knockdowns that showed the beauty and brutality of prizefighting.

Both entered the ring with losses to the current super lightweight titlists and looking to regain status.

Zepeda had lost to WBC/WBO titlist Jose Carlos Ramirez in a close scrap and was eager to prove he was title-worthy. Baranchyk lost to IBF titlist Josh Taylor and felt he could redeem himself with a win. Both had no intentions of moving backwards.

Immediately Baranchyk scored two knockdowns in the first round against Zepeda as both were eager to prove the other could not take their power. It was machismo at its best. Zepeda got up after the knockdowns eager to exchange again.

In the next round Zepeda floored Baranchyk but it was not ruled a knockdown by referee Kenny Bayless. No matter, Zepeda dropped him again with a right and left. When the fight resumed Zepeda was too eager and was caught by a Baranchyk left hook. He got up too.

Neither fighter was willing to give in and neither looking for an easy round. In the third frame Zepeda caught Baranchyk with a combination during an exchange and down he went again. But once again he got up.

In between rounds you could see both fighters were confident they could end the night with just the right punch. But what punch and who would land the telling blow?

It was like playing Russian roulette.

Zepeda and Baranchyk exchanged back and forth and seldom looked for the easy way out. Each looked to score with his best blow in the fourth round. Down went Baranchyk again from a Zepeda connect, but up he jumped back to his feet.

It was just a matter of time before one or the other landed the perfect punch.

In the fifth round Zepeda seemed to feel he had taken part of Baranchyk’s strength away with his knockdown in the earlier round. The Mexican-American fighter eagerly went into attack mode but was caught by a Baranchyk roundhouse right that sent Zepeda into the ropes. Referee Kenny Bayless correctly called it a knockdown and gave the Mexican fighter an eight count.

The fight resumed.

As Baranchyk moved into follow-up with his attack, Zepeda countered with a perfectly timed left cross to the chin and down went the Belarussian fighter in sections. He was out before he hit the canvas. Zepeda had incredibly won with the last blow of the fight at 2:50 of the fifth round.

It took several tense minutes before Baranchyk got up. Finally, those watching at the arena and on their mobile devices could breathe again with relief.

But what a war.

“I feel great because I won the fight. It was a hard fight. Man, boxing is hard, its no easy game,” said Zepeda. “You better give it 100 percent because it’s probably the hardest sport.”

Once again prizefighting also proved why it’s the most beautiful sport.

LA Fights

Anytime Philadelphia battles East L.A. you can expect an extremely good fight and that’s what happened in the PBC on Fox fight card at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Philly welterweight Paul Kroll (8-0, 6 KOs) emerged the winner by unanimous decision over East L.A.’s Luke Santamaria (11-2-1, 7 KOs) after 10 rounds but it surely did not look like the scores indicated. According to two judges Kroll won every round but one.

Santamaria was the busier fighter in almost every round and nearly scored a knockdown from a body shot in the second round. His movement and switching back and forth from southpaw to orthodox left Kroll befuddled and unable to use combination punching.

Later in the fight, Kroll adapted and began firing more blows, but no round was ever dominated by either fighter. After 10 rounds two judges scored it 99-91 and a third 96-94, all for Kroll. It very well could have been a draw.

A featherweight fight saw Mark Magsayo (21-0) escape by split decision over Rigoberto Hermosillo (11-3-1) after a slow start.

Magsayo is signed by Manny Pacquiao Promotions and trained by Freddie Roach.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / TopRank

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