Undefeated Light-Heavyweight Matt Floyd scored an impressive fourth round stoppage of a very “Game” Lui Guivalu to win the Western Australia State Light-Heavyweight championship on Friday night at Metro City Nightclub in Perth, Australia. Floyd dropped Guivalu with an overhand right in the first round. Although Floyd continued to pound Guivalu with power shots, Guivalu did his best to hang in there. In the fourth round after significant punishment, Floyd was credited with a second knockdown via a standing eight count. Guivalu was allowed briefly to continue before the fight was ultimately stopped at 2:32 of the fourth round. Matt Floyd advances to 4-0, with 2 Knockouts. Lui Guivalu falls to 1-6, with 1 Knockout.
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| Credit: Dragon Fire Boxing |
Also on this card:
In an exciting battle for the Western Australia State Jr.
Middleweight championship Fano Kori retained his title with a six round
majority draw with undefeated Joe McCoy. McCoy dropped Kori with a right hand
in round one, but in round two, a true rarity in the sport of Boxing, in an
exchange of hooks, both fighters landed to the head and both subsequently
scored knockdowns of each other. McCoy would score his third knockdown of Kori with
a counter right hand in round four, but Kori was able to make up ground and
hold on as two of three official judges scored the fight a draw. Fano Kori advances to 7-5-1, with 4 Knockouts,
Joe McCoy advances to 1-0-1, with 1 Knockout.
Cruiserweight Rusty Oates scored a four round decision
over a debuting Jed Nichols to earn the second victory of his professional
career. The southpaw Oates dropped Nichols hard in the first round with a left
hook to the body, straight left hand to the head combination that sent him down
to the canvas. Although Nichols was hurt, he was very “Game” and held his own
in the remaining three rounds of his pro debut. Rusty Oates advances to 2-4,
with 0 Knockouts, Jed Nichols falls to 0-1, with 0 Knockouts.
There were also five exhibition bouts that took place
earlier in the evening. In the first of these exhibition bouts, which began the
evening, Light-Heavyweights Nelson Cosmas and Marcus Surmin fought to a three
round draw.
An exhibition bout in the Light-Heavyweight division saw Bahityar
Sonyol score a three round decision over Liam Clayton. Sonyol was the
consistent aggressor throughout and outworked Clayton over the three rounds to
earn the decision victory.
Exhibition bout three in the Middleweight division saw Marcus
Di Lisa score a hard fought three round decision over Jo Burgess. Burgess
dropped Di Lisa with a short right hand in the first fifteen seconds of the
bout, but Di Lisa was able to regroup and by round three had scored a technical
knockdown of his own when the bout was temporarily halted when the referee opted
to give Burgess a standing eight count. Di Lisa was able to hold on for the
decision win.
In the fourth exhibition bout of the evening, Light-Heavyweight
Brad Tripplett score a three round decision over Joshua McPherson. A competitive
bout throughout, Tripplett simply got the better of the action to earn the
decision victory.
The final exhibition bout on the card saw Middleweight Dominic
Kennedy score a three round decision over Adesh Sapkota. Kennedy sealed the
victory by scoring a knockdown of Sapkota in round two.
It was a challenge for Promoter Tony Tolj’s Dragon Fire
Boxing to succeed in staging this Thunderdome 37 card due to several problems
in the week prior to the event that in short resulted in some fights being
cancelled, fighters being removed, and substitutes stepping in on short notice
throughout the card. While this is certainly not uncommon throughout the sport
of Boxing, it can be a difficult task to accomplish staging an event under
normal circumstances, let alone the circumstances of the ongoing global
COVID-19 epidemic. Fortunately, for Tolj and Dragon Fire Boxing, they were able
to put together an entertaining evening of Boxing in what had to be stressful circumstances. With the next event in the popular Thunderdome
series scheduled to take place in March 2022, one can hope that Thunderdome 38
will not have the struggles that Thunderdome 37 had. Despite those struggles,
Thunderdome 37 should still be viewed as a success.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
Promotional poster courtesy of: Dragon Fire Boxing Used
with permission.
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