Battle at the Boat 124 took place at Emerald Queen Casino on November 9, 2019. The evening consisted of six professional boxing matches. The first four bouts of the night were scheduled for 4 rounds, with the semi-main event set for 5 rounds. The main event was scheduled for 10 rounds.
Nikolas Vasquez v. Jose Cervantes – 147 lbs
The first bout of the night featured two fighters making their professional debut. Seattle’s Nik Vasquez entered his professional debut with a decorated amateur career, having advanced to the semi-finals of the 2015 Olympic Trial Qualifiers.
The first round of this fight provided tons of action, as both fighters were swinging for the fences. Vasquez started well, landing a nice counter left hook early. However, Jose Cervantes would prove a game opponent as he showed his punching power by answering with a heavy body shot.
One minute into the fight, Vasquez had his best moment with a big right hook to the head that connected clean and knocked his opponent down briefly. After connecting, Cervantes stumbled and fell forward putting his right hand on the canvas. Unfortunately, the referee missed the knockdown and the action continued without a mandatory eight count.
Despite being knocked down, Cervantes permanently changed the trajectory of the fight by scoring a knockdown of his own mid-way through the round courtesy of a nasty three punch combination. Cervantes advanced forward and started the combination with two hard hooks to the body and then finished the three-piece by landing a crushing right hand to the face. When the fight continued Vasquez showed toughness and heart, despite being compromised, by throwing heavy counter shots as Cervantes pushed forward.
Cervantes continued showing his power punching chops in Round Two, starting the round throwing heavy shots as Vasquez still appeared wobbly to start the round. Early in the round Cervantes landed a couple hard left hooks to the head that further compromised Vasquez. Cervantes closed the fight by TKO at 1:45 of the Second Round with an overhand right to the head.
Cody Brown v. Dylan Blakesley – 145 lbs
The second fight of the night proved to be a lopsided affair as Cody Brown delivered a TKO victory at 1:57 of Round 1 in his professional debut. Dylan Blakesley dropped to 0-5 in his professional career with the loss.
Brown started nicely with a hard jab that split Blakesley’s guard. Brown displayed a clear power advantage early and landed a solid combination that started to the body and finished upstairs. Brown displayed fast and powerful hands, seemingly landing hooks to the body and head at will.
William Parra-Smith v. Marco Garcia – 140 lbs
The third fight was an evenly matched contest that resulted in a majority draw. Marco Garcia was making his pro debut, while William Parra-Smith notched his eighth professional fight on a quick turnaround as he also fought on the Battle at the Boat 123 card just two months prior.
The first round saw Parra-Smith start aggressive and scoring with two, quick successive three-punch combos to the head of his opponent. Garcia increased his output and turned up the pressure mid-way through the round. Garcia landed a clean left hook to the head and advanced forward, pressing Parra-Smith back to the ropes. Parra-Smith, however, landed three clean punches to the head late this round. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of Garcia’s attacks could be seen as blood trickled from the nose of Parra-Smith at the end of the round. This was a close, evenly fought round.
A cut developed under Parra-Smith’s right eye early in the Second Round. The referee briefly stopped the action in order to clean the blood off Parra-Smith’s face. Garcia pressured aggressively at the re-start, but Parra-Smith responded well by backing off Garcia with a series of jabs. Later in the round, Garcia turned up the pressure and threw a flurry of nine punches that went unanswered by his foe. However, another close round ended with a flurry of activity by both fighters.
Early action in Round Three saw Garcia land a clean, hard hook to the body as Garcia had pressured Parra-Smith to the ropes. Parra-Smith answered with a good left hook to the body. But Garcia followed with a nice jab that split the guard. Garcia took over late in this round with two long flurries, connecting at a high rate.
Round Four saw both fighters fight hard to the end, despite both being clearly tired from the grueling action. Parra-Smith landed two good left hooks to the head early. Garcia pushed through his fatigue and did some good work on Parra-Smith up against the ropes. A good uppercut punch thrown mid-combination by Garcia split Parra-Smith’s guard late in the round.
One judge scored the fight 39-37 in favor of Garcia, another 40-36 in favor of Parra-Smith with the third scoring it 38-38, resulting in a draw for this close, hard-fought fight.
Sua Tuani v. Rafael Brewster – Heavyweight
Sua Tuani followed-up his knockout victory in his professional debut at Battle at the Boat 123 with another dominant performance, earning a unanimous decision over Rafael Brewster, who was making his professional debut. All three judges scored the fight 40-35.
Throughout most of the fight, Tuani controlled the action by pressing forward and throwing heavy shots. Brewster occasionally succumbed to the pressure by turning his back and running from Tuani’s pursuit. Brewster did land a clean right hand to the head during the round, but Tuani was far more active and landed a handful of heavy shots. One of which earned Tuani a knockdown in the opening frame. Tuani also snapped a nasty jab to the face, that had Brewster blinking hard. Just prior to the bell, Tuani closed the round with two hard punches to the head, the second of which wobbled Brewster.
In the Second Round, Tuani continued his forward pressure, at one point cornering his foe and teeing off with several hard shots. Tuani also landed a nifty shovel hook with his left hand while surging forward. Both fighters appeared exhausted at the end of the round.
The Third Round saw Tuani get another knockdown, this time by way of an overhand right. This was another dominant round for Tuani, as Brewster found it difficult to deal with Tuani’s power and relentless forward pressure.
Both fighters started the Fourth Round aggressively. Brewster saw some success by landing two hard right hands this round. However, the round largely played out like the previous rounds with Tuani using his power and aggression to control the fight.
Juan Jackson v. Alex Cazac – 172 lbs – 5 Round Semi-Main Event
The Five Round Semi-Main saw Alex Cazac improve his record to (2-2) with a unanimous decision victory over Juan Jackson (2-2). All three judges scored the bout 49-46.
The First Round appeared to be Jackson’s round, as he demonstrated some solid footwork to open the bout. Jackson ripped a big right hook to Cazac’s body early on. Jackson also landed a nice clean counter hook to the head later in the round.
Round Three was an impressive round for Cazac as he started to pick up the pace, at one point throwing an eight punch flurry, with several shots landing clean.Cazac later landed a good three-punch combo that finished with a hard right hook to the body.
The Fourth Round started with furious action with both fighters throwing hard punches. The Fifth Round started similarly. Cazac increased the pressure this round and began aggressively pursuing Jackson. Cazac showed impressive cardio, as this was a hard-fought fight, with Jackson clearly tiring toward the end. Jackson was largely inactive in the final round as Cazac was in clear control of the fight.
Manuel Monteiro v. Andre Keys – 142 lbs – 10 Round Main Event
Both fighters brought to the main event excellent professional records as Manuel Monteiro entered with a 7-1 record, with Andre Keys at 11-1. Keys emerged with the unanimous decision on scorecards reading 99-91, 98-92, and 96-94. From this writer’s perspective, while it was Key’s fight, the 96-94 scorecard appeared the most accurate. Key’s started and ended the bout strong, but Monteiro seemed to rate the edge in the middle rounds.
Keys started strong by showing an impressive jab in the first two rounds. In Round One, Keys landed two quick jabs early, followed by a couple more shortly thereafter. Keys was the aggressor in the opening frames. Late in the first round, Monteiro picked up his activity but didn’t land enough to take the round back from Keys. In the second round, Keys landed a nice jab in the middle of a combination as both fighters were throwing simultaneously. Keys landed a good uppercut to the body. Keys once again was pushing the action, moving forward as Monteiro continually backed up (as he did for much of the fight), looking to counter.
In rounds three and four, Monteiro picked up his activity and began bringing the fight to Keys. In the fourth round, Monteiro started throwing effective body punches. But Key closed the fourth round with five hard punches, four hooks to the body followed by a crisp straight.
Round Six was the best round of the fight as both fighters had their moments landing hard shots. Keys scored with two straight right hands early. Monteiro again decided to press forward more often this round and landed a good right hook upstairs.
Round Seven was a very good round for Monteiro. He started aggressively with eight unanswered punches. Monteiro appeared to be taking over the fight during this round. Monteiro threw a nifty combination that saw him land a good left hand to the head followed by a right to the body. Monteiro also landed a nice counter uppercut late in the round. Round Eight offered one of the most entertaining sequences of the fight as each fighter connected with three punches on six alternating jabs, drawing laughter and cheers from the crowd. By Round Eight, Monteiro began showing quite a bit of swelling under his right eye. In Round Nine, Monteiro began to show visible signs of fatigue late in the round and missed on two winging overhand rights. Keys finished the round strong clipping Monteiro just before the bell with a counter right hand. The Tenth Round saw Monteiro press forward early, but Keys had the stronger round. Keys landed multiple hard hooks this round, one left hook in particular that he landed upstairs while lunging forward. One of Keys’ finest moments of the fight happened when he threw a nice three-punch combo starting with two right hands to the head followed by a left to the body. Displaying good heart, both fighters were swinging furiously to close the fight.