By John Unland

Salomon Becerra and his Rough House Promotions brought an 8 bout card to the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center in downtown Waterloo, Iowa on Saturday night. The main event of the evening saw local lightweight favorite Kevin Cruz make quick work of Reymundo Hernandez (6-23).

It was evident early on that Cruz was too fast for Hernandez, as he made Hernandez miss wildly, and was able to counterpunch effectively. He was able to get inside and start landing combinations to drop Hernandez, who beat the count. Hernandez was quickly down again for the second time in the round and this time didn’t even try to beat the count. Not to discredit Cruz, as he was clearly the better man in the ring and he did what he needed to do, but Hernandez obviously only showed up to collect a check as he quit at the count of six, walked over to congratulate Cruz, then walked out of the ring. Cruz showed good speed and footwork, and while he is not necessarily known for his power he stays perfect at 6-0 with 4 KOs. If he can stay more active than he has been so far in his career he has the potential to be a prospect in the lightweight division.

Local heavyweight Travis Fulton scored a first round knockout over Preston Shane of Iowa Falls. Shane was hurt early in the round and after he went down he had no intention of getting back up. Fulton improves to 25-45-2, while Shane’s record dips to 1-3.

Greg Sykes of Waterloo made his return to the ring after a 3-year absence against the determined Tristan James of Des Moines. This was an entertaining cruiserweight battle and an interesting clash of styles. The tall, lanky James was awkward and able to use his height and reach advantage to avoid the jab of Sykes. Sykes was able to land some heavy shots and a few power combinations, but without the jab, he could not get inside long enough to do any serious damage. He had James hurt a few times but was unable to capitalize, while James was able to corner Sykes and land quite a few punches. The punch output of James combined with his elusiveness made him a tough target and led him to a 40-36, 40-36, 39-37 victory. Even in defeat, Sykes was shown a lot of love by his hometown crowd, while James earned the respect of everyone in attendance. Both men should get credit for taking this fight, it was only James’ second appearance as a professional and Sykes was coming in off the layoff while also moving up in weight. Sykes loses for the first time and goes to 5-1, while James gets his first victory and is now 1-0-1.

The first fight of the evening saw Stephen Edwards of Davenport take a unanimous decision over Carlos Cabrera (0-3) in a 4 round welterweight bout. Edwards was the aggressor throughout the fight and dropped Cabrera twice, once in the first and again to end the third. The fight turned ugly at times as Cabrera was deducted 2 points for spitting his mouthpiece and Edwards was deducted a point for illegal kidney punches. The judges scored it 40-32, 40-32 and 39-33 all for the undefeated Edwards (7-0-1). Edwards is more of brawler/mugger type, but he is entertaining and while he might not yet be considered a prospect, a few more wins over some better competition might put him on that track.

Next up was a lightweight tilt featuring DeWayne Wisdom and Lance Williams of Muscatine. The pace started slow but picked up about halfway through the first round. Williams seemed reluctant to throw punches and Wisdom was able to come in and generally get the better of the exchanges. Williams had a few moments in the fight and landed a few shots of his own, but Wisdom was able to land the cleaner, harder shots, and prevailed 39-37 on two cards while Williams won the third card by the same 39-37. It was a competitive match-up, and Wisdom is now 7-36-1 while Williams falls to 7-10.

Noel Rodriguez (1-5) picked up his first career win with a 4th round knockout of Fort Madison’s Zach Knox (1-3). The bout was fairly even through the first two rounds then Knox came out swinging to start the third. He had Rodriguez in trouble against the ropes, but ran out gas halfway through the round. Rodriguez was able to get back into the fight and had Knox on unsteady legs to start the fourth. Rodriguez was landing at will to the head of Knox who was trapped in the corner, and the referee wisely waved it off.

In a match-up of Waterloo boxers, BJ Tomlinson dropped Brian Long twice in the first round to score a knockout 32 seconds into their cruiserweight bout. Tomlinson walked through Long’s punches and was able to connect to the head of the much taller Long. Long beat the count, but was dropped again and the fight was waved off without a count. Long remains winless at 0-4 while Tomlinson remains undefeated at 4-0.

Mark Sainci won a hard fought UD (40-36 on all cards) over four rounds against the tough but overmatched Chris Jackson. Sainci was credited with a knockdown in the first when Jackson’s glove touched the canvas, but neither fighter was ever in danger of being knocked out. Both fighters threw punches the entire fight and were not afraid to mix it up. Sainci got the better of most of the exchanges, but Jackson kept swinging, looking to turn the tide. Sainci’s punches had a little less on them in the third and fourth rounds, but he pressed the action and had Jackson on the defensive for most of the fight. With the win, Sainci moves to 2-0, and Jackson falls to 0-3.