The scene as Dzinziruk makes U.S. debut
After a long week of work, I had a chance to take a road trip up north with some fellow boxing scribes to check out the fights at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions and airing on ShoBox: The New Generation this past weekend. While sitting in traffic for over three hours sure doesn’t sound like a lot of fun on a Friday night, chatting non-stop about boxing helped make the trek go by a lot faster.
As we passed through the peaceful mountains and vineyards surrounding the area, the irony set in as our destination loomed ahead where we would see two guys slugging it out trying to knock each other’s blocks off. And as we got farther along the highway–away from hectic pace of L.A.–and closer to the deep Santa Ynez Valley, our anticipation grew.
The big buzz was all about checking out the U.S. debut of international superstar Sergiy “The Razor” Dzinziruk (37-0, 23 KOs) as he took on Daniel “The Rock” Dawson (34-2, 24 KOs) in defense of his WBO Junior Middleweight belt. For those of you who missed seeing his first pro bout in the U.S., the fight replay is on tonight on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
The Ukrainian boxer, out of Hamburg, Germany, sat out for over 18 months due to contractual disputes with a former promoter. So the main question was: Would any “ring rust” be burned off during the scheduled 12-round battle?
And the next question in Friday night’s fight would be how Dzinziruk would fare in the talented and already-crowded 154-pound division? One of the “top dogs” sittin’ pretty in that junior middleweight category is Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo who was in attendance at Chumash. Promoted by Gary Shaw, the former Mexican Olympian and fan favorite wouldn’t think of missing this bout since he could be squaring off against the European southpaw later on down the road.
But before the seven bouts of pro boxing began, the packed audience in the Samala Showroom (which normally houses their fierce bingo games as well as live concerts by top recording artists) were treated to a special amateur boxing exhibition by some area youth. I ran into Alex “The Bronx Bomber” Ramos, a huge supporter of amateur boxing who has also become an ambassador in boxing with his Retired Boxers Foundation. Ramos’ enthusiasm and love for the sport shines through every time and he was looking forward to a night of boxing.
Later during the evening, “Perro” was brought into the ring for an introduction by ring announcer Sonny Franco (in his SHOWTIME TV debut), along with Alex Ramos. And for the testosterone set, there wasn’t just a couple of ring card girls to get the guys cheering–there were five Chumash girls. The pretty squad all wore matching pink bikinis and sky-high heels as they posed with fans.
Singing the National Anthem was A.J. Tabaldo of “American Idol” fame. The talented young singer from Season 6 hails from nearby Santa Maria and entertained the audience with a rousing and soulful rendition of the anthem as the huge crowd showed its appreciation.
Curt Menefee (taking over for Nick Charles) joined Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver from ringside as emcee Franco announced to the excited crowd “Let the battles begin!” as the co-main and main event got underway. The pro card offered a variety of action from featherweights to cruisers with an international flavor with boxers from Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, Australia, and Armenia all lacing up.
In the co-feature Vernon “The Iceman” Paris went toe-to-toe with Juan “Chago” Santiago in a bout that really got the fans’ attention. This was a close back-and-forth battle that gave Team Paris (in their Detroit Soultown jerseys) a run for their money. After their first two rounds, a determined Santiago, the challenger from Denver, came back strong making it a competitive fight that had the audience roaring its approval. As Paris–hands held low–seemed to tire a bit, Santiago started coming forward as the aggressor. By the time the final round began, I saw Alex Ramos jump to his feet cheering on the two exhausted warriors on. But when the bell rang, it was “The Iceman” who prevailed, as Vernon Paris (deducted a point in the first round) earned a hard-fought split decision of 76-75 twice and 77-74 for Santiago.
Then it was time to check out the European sensation Sergiy Dzinziruk take on Daniel Dawson from Perth, Australia. Sergiy, the reigning WBO Champion, and Dawson, who had Justin Fortune in his corner, were both tentative from the outset.
But then Dzinziruk’s jab came into prominence. I began hearing comments echoing around me of “That’s a good jab.” Then as the rounds progressed I was hearing a lot of “That’s a GREAT jab!” as that one weapon did its job against the game but overmatched Dawson. Sergiy’s jab, the definitive part of his arsenal, appeared so effective and sharp that it could surely 
challenge anyone not named Klitschko.
The 12-round main event became a one-sided affair with “The Razor” cutting into “The Rock” time and time again with his laser-like jab and overall ring generalship. After a year and a half hiatus, if there was any ring rust for Dzinziruk to shake off, it disintegrated in the first couple of feel-out rounds. Dawson, the younger and shorter opponent, just couldn’t get past his foe’s jab though he continued to try. After Sergiy’s perfect aim kept finding it’s target, referee Jose Cobian called a halt to the contest at 2:12 of the 10th round.
After the TKO was announced, I spoke with slugger Alfredo Angulo, who had been watching intently at ringside. The two light middleweights have a couple of things in common: both represented their countries in the Olympics and both have fought Joel Julio. Angulo clashed with Julio just last month scoring a KO in the 11th round. For Dzinziruk, his November 2008 fight against the Colombian boxer (which Sergiy won by unanimous decision) was the very last bout before his layoff.
I asked “Perro” his thoughts on a possible matchup? “I will fight him, no problem,” he replied. Was he impressed with the Ukrainian’s performance? Angulo just shrugged. Chatting with the heavy hitter further about possible future fights, he repeated he’d fight anyone. But he didn’t give much thought to any rematch against Kermit Cintron. He was not impressed with Cintron’s performance in the ring against Paul Williams, joking that Kermit didn’t accidently fly through the ropes that maybe he jumped. We also talked about this weekend’s Vazquez-Marquez showdown with the Yonnhy Perez-Abner Mares undercard. Predicting a winner of the bantamweights proved a difficult one for Angulo. He’s close to both Perez and Mares 
(they all lived together while first coming to L.A.) so it’s impossible for him to choose. But he did add, “Abner is my best friend.”
Feared in the ring, “Perro” is a gentlemen outside the ropes–and becoming quite the style maker too. While he took time to greet some fans the flashbulbs bounced off his bling for the night–a bone shaped bracelet with “El Perro” spelled out in sparkly stones. Will “Perro” tackle the European “Razor”? Of course, styles makes fights but it could be a good one to watch “The Razor” try and slice into “El Perro.”
We’ll all have to watch and see. But last weekend, this intimate venue at Chumash was the perfect place to watch boxing; not a bad seat in the house. And for those traveling a ways to the venue, a bonus is seeing the scenic route through Santa Barbara, Solvang and Cachuma Lake.
Check out these pics from a night of boxing at Chumash. And see you at the fights!
Rest of the fight results:
Lateef Kayode vs. Jose Luis Herrera: Kayode wins by KO at 2:02 of Round 2
Dean Byrne vs. Justo Sanchez: Byrne scores TKO victory at 2:18 of Round 5
Luis Rosa vs. Jairo Delgado: Rosa declared winner by UD 40-35
Gabriel “Gapo” Tolmajyan vs. John Wampash: “Gapo” fights to a 40-36 UD
Michael Anderson vs. Joshua Rodriguez: Anderson quickly wins by TKO at 1:12 in the first round
For additional coverage: Click here.
Photos by Ray Flores and Michele Chong