By Jason Marchetti at ringside
Photos: Emily Harney

By Fightnews.com

In the main event at Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino, WBA #4, WBC #8, WBO #13 light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (19-1, 14 KO’s) TKO’d Paul Parker (8-2, 4 KO’s) on a card promoted by Main Events and televised by HBO Latino. The first three rounds were even with both fighters having trouble finding their distance and scoring consistently. Barerra took over in the 4th and settled down, landing combinations and keeping Parker off balance while winning the exchanges. In a weird exchange, Barrera punched Parker in the chest but also headbutted him which gave him an immense amount of time to recover.

In the 5th, it was all Barrera, dropping Parker twice and the referee called out the contest when Parker was about to drop a third time, bouncing off the ropes. The second knockdown sent Parker entirely across the canvas which tied him up in the ropes for a brief moment.

Barrera’s pedigree was a bit more polished and gave an exciting finish for himself who has fast hands and is generally ranked in the top ten at light heavyweight.

In the co-feature, Vaughn Alexander (8-0, 5 KO’s) outboxed Andres Calixto (14-4, 9 KO’s) over 10 rounds at middleweight. Generally lacking combinations, Alexander was able to score throwing one powerful punch at a time, starting with a stinging left hook. As the rounds went on, both fighters tired, but the slow-moving, forward-coming Alexander was able to control the pace of the fight. Alexander scored in the 5th, landing powerful body shots followed by a straight right hand upstairs. Calixto had a few moments of his own but not enough to win rounds. The final scores were, 100-89 and 99-90 (twice) to Alexander, who is brother to former IBF Welterweight Champion Devon Alexander.

Cassius Cheney (10-0, 5 KO’s) defeated Juan Goode (8-5, 6 KO’s) in a 6 round bout at heavyweight. Cheney landed some heavy shots in solitude, but was never able to follow it up enough to put Goode in major trouble. With a major height disadvantage, Goode hung in there and battled back in the last round landing some wild hooks and backing up Cheney. Cheney scored enough, but disappointingly couldn’t finish the job en route to his 10th career victory. All three judges scored it 59-55 for Cheney.

Tough-as-nails Shawn Cameron (10-3, 5 KO’s) couldn’t go the distance against Main Event’s Madiyar Ashkeyev (8-0, 4 KO’s) in a bloody fight at jr. middleweight. Ashkeyev, a rising prospect from Kazakhstan, bloodied himself with an accidental headbut in the first round. However, Cameron was overmatched from the opening bell and took tremendous punishment for 7 rounds. Ashkeyev cut off the ring and pummeled his opponent first with three punch combinations, then with lunging straight right hands which split the guard later in the bout. Credit Brooklyn’s Cameron for hanging tough and never hitting the canvas, but the referee saw enough and halted the action in the 7th.

Enriko Gogokhia (4-0, 2 KO’s) punished Bryan Goldsby (4-2) in the second bout of the evening. Gogokhia, a southpaw originally from Georgia, cut off the ring and stalked Goldsby for his fourth career victory at welterweight. Most impressively, Gogokhia kept his distance and landed accurate 1-2 punches while Goldsby stumbled around the ring. Goldsby continued to move to his right, the opposite of what should be done versus a southpaw. He paid the price with a straight left hand to the chin several times and although he didn’t hit the canvas, his corner threw in the towel at the end of the 2nd round.

In the first fight of the evening, Meiirim Nursultanov (2-0, 1 KO) overwhelmed Mexican novice Javier Olvera (1-1, 1 KO) by TKO in the 2nd round in a bout at middleweight. In the opening frame, Nursultanov dropped Olvera with a nice combo that ended with a left cross. In the 2nd, referee Danny Schivone halted the action as Olvera continually bounced off the ropes while wincing, as Nursultanov attacked the head and body with little resistance.

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