Chicas takes unanimous decision over Green

By Ricardo Ibarra at ringside
Photos by Mike Blair

San Francisco welterweight Johnathan Chicas (15-2, 7 KOs) added his second consecutive win since coming back from an eighteen month long hiatus on Saturday night at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Fighting in the main event of Brian Halquist Productions’ Battle at the Boat 106, Chicas overcame a bad late-round cut and the long-ranged attack of Vancouver, Washington’s Virgil “Black Mamba” Green (11-5, 4 KOs) to edge out a close ten round unanimous decision victory.

After a tentative first round in which both fighters fought at a measured pace, seemingly gauging what the other’s approach would be, Chicas began to come on in the second, closing the distance and unloading with effective overhand rights in close. Both fighters traded momentum in the third round with Green trying to establish his jab and find openings for his long right hand, while Chicas kept up the pressure and found success late in the round with thudding left-right hook combos. As the round wound down Chicas began to land the more damaging blows clinching the round with the harder and more effective shots.

Green found his rhythm in the fourth, though, working off his jab and using his longer wingspan and lateral movement to keep Chicas off balance and on the outside. For the next three rounds, Green boxed well and racked up points from range as Chicas tried to close the gap and land a momentum shifting shot.

In the seventh Chicas rallied back with sustained aggression and began to take over with hard rights in the pocket. A headbutt opened up a cut along the hairline of Chicas in the eighth, which began to bleed profusely, hampering his vision. He slowed his output momentarily in the ninth, but the Californian proved to be a resilient fighter pushing his way into the pocket and closing out the fight trading heavy leather with his taller opponent down the stretch. All three judges scored the bout for Chicas with scores of 96-94, 96-94 and 97-93.

“It was definitely a close fight,” said Chicas after the decision was read. “I felt it could have gone both ways and I know he was landing a lot of jabs, but I was a little more aggressive and I landed the bigger shots. The overhand rights were landing pretty flush all night. I think my aggression and tenacity to come forward was the difference in the fight.”

With the win, Chicas adds his fifteenth win and second of the year. Green, meanwhile, suffers his second consecutive defeat.

Local crowd favorite Isaac Tadeo (8-0, 4 KOs), of nearby Auburn, WA, added his eighth straight win in the super middleweight semi-main event of the night, stopping Ontario, Oregon’s Thomas Turner (4-6, 3 KOs) in the second round. Tadeo had to stifle some early aggression from Turner, who stepped into the pocket early in the first round with an aggressive attack, but a series of stiff jabs and accurate right hands quickly tempered that assault. As the round neared the end a debilitating right hand to the side dropped Turner to his knees, leaving him huffing and puffing on the mat. Turner made it up before the count of ten, and made it out of the round, but he was still visibly hurt as he made his way back to his corner. Tadeo wasted no time as the second round began, pressing with a barrage and landing another impressive shot to the midsection, dropping Turner once again. Turner would not beat the count, giving Tadeo his fourth KO victory at :59 of the round.

In a four round Jr.welterweight match-up, Yakima, Washington’s Andres Reyes (4-1-1) and Marcos Cardenas (5-5-1, 2 KOs), of Salem, Oregon, fought to a draw in a very closely contested, crowd pleasing fight. The two had fought in November of 2014, with Reyes taking a split decision. In their return bout the two wasted no time, stepping in close and letting their hands go early. Reyes had an edge in the first two rounds with quick one-twos and right hand counters as Cardenas pressed forward. Cardenas pressed hard in the third and drew Reyes into more of a brawl, which allowed him to land more effectively in close. Down the stretch the two traded momentum as well as vicious shots, giving the crowd some exciting moments of action to close out a very good fight. The final tallies read 39-37 for Reyes, and 38-38 twice for the majority draw.

Jr lightweight Giovanni Cabrera Mioletti (2-0, 1 KO), who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois but is originally from Seattle, Washington, handed local favorite Jeremy McCleary (8-3) his second straight loss, dominating every round en route to a four round unanimous decision win. Cabrera dropped McCleary in the first round with straight left out of a southpaw stance and went on to methodically pick his opponent apart for the next three rounds with blistering combinations. McClearly remained a game fighter throughout and tried to rally back, but he was never able to overcome the quicker hands and crafty defense of Cabrera. All three judges scored the bout for Cabrera with scores of 40-35.

Granger, Washington’s Antonio Neal (4-5, 3 KOs) broke a four-fight losing streak, taking a four round unanimous decision win over Will Hughes (5-5, 3 KOs), of Tacoma in a welterweight bout. Neal had an edge in the bout with the more aggressive approach, consistently stepping in with hard rights and countering well as Hughes tried to gain control of the range with his jab. Two judges scored the bout a shut-out at 40-36, with the last judge seeing it 39-37, all for Neal.

In the card’s opening bout, Portland, Oregon’s Will Marshall (1-1, 1 KO) rebounded from an early knockdown to stop Damian Savino (0-1), also of Portland, in the first round of a bout contested in the cruiserweight division. Marshall had pulled ahead in the first minute of the round with the busier pace, but a well-placed right from Savino sent Marshall to the canvass. Marshall made it up at four, but appeared dazed. Savino pounced as soon as the action was allowed to resume, slamming Marshall’s head back with hard uppercuts in close. Marshall weathered the assault, though, and turned things around with a thunderous over-hand right that sent Savino down for a count. Referee Jeff Macaluso let it go, but after another right dropped Savino again, he made the decision to stop it as the round came to a close. The time was 3:00 of the first round. Marshall came back from a nine year stretch of inactivity to add his first win as a pro. Savino, meanwhile, loses his pro debut.

Brian Halquist Productions returns to the Emerald Queen Casino for Battle at the Boat 107 September 10th. Tickets are now on sale at the casino box office and all Ticketmaster outlets.