Jose Felix Wins Decision & Murat Gassiev Destroys Moore in Hollywood

HOLLYWOOD, CA.-Lightweight contender Jose Felix Jr. survived an exchange of knockdowns in the ninth round to win by unanimous decision over Yakubu Amidu on Saturday.

Mexico’s hard-hitting Felix (30-1-1, 24 Kos) hasn’t looked the same since losing his first fight last year and if not for a very slow start by Amidu (21-7-2, 19 Kos) the fight could have ended differently at Florentine Gardens.

Felix used to be a more aggressive fighter but the Los Mochis native seems tentative now and though he was in control for most of the 10 rounds, it was more Amidu’s lack to attack that was the reason Felix’s win.

In the ninth round Amidu finally opened up with his attack and got overly aggressive for the first time in the match. But he left himself open and Felix slipped a counter right in between Amidu’s blows and knocked him down. He got up and with Felix looking to end the fight Amidu caught him with a right hand bomb and down went Felix. The Mexican fighter got up gingerly but was able to fight on.

“He didn’t hit real hard but he was very intelligent,” said Felix. “He caught me good.”

All three judges scored it for Felix 97-93 twice and 98-92.

In the semi-main event Russia’s Murat “Iron” Gassiev (22-0, 16 Kos) was facing hard-nosed Rodney Moore (17-10-2, 9 Kos) a heavyweight who had never been knocked out. That ended in the second round when Gassiev connected with an overhand right and Moore signaled that it didn’t hurt. The Russian heavyweight then unloaded four hammer-like blows that crumbled Moore in a neutral corner. He looked at his corner and signaled he was OK. The fight resumed and Gassiev moved in again and snapped a hard right again near the ear of Moore and he collapsed in the neutral corner again. This time Moore signaled he was done at 1:13 of the second round.

Other bouts

Carlos Carlson (17-1, 11 Kos) won the battle of Tijuana featherweights by knockout of Heriberto Delgado (11-3, 6 Kos) at 1:43 of round four.

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk (6-0, 4 Kos) cruised to an easy win by unanimous decision after six rounds over Michael Gbenga (16-21, 16 Kos) in a light heavyweight contest. Gvozdyk, a former bronze medalist in the Olympics didn’t really turn on the machine until the final round.

Canada’s Zsolt Daranyi (4-0, 4 Kos) blasted out Washington’s Antonio Neal (3-3, 3 Kos) at 2:12 of the first round with a body shot. A right hand from the long armed Daranyi to the abdomen floored Neal twice. The end came at 2:12 of the first round of the middleweight fight.

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