Vera Does It Again Defeating Mora

From the nerve center of Super Bowl weekend Sundance Square in FT. Worth, Texas, at the FT. Worth Convention Center, ESPN presented Friday Night Fights “Super Brawl 2011.” While Texas doesn’t have any participants in this year’s Super Bowl they did have a representative in the main attraction at Super Brawl and he didn’t disappoint. In the 10-round middleweight main event FT. Worth, Texas’ own Brian Vera (18-5, 11KOs) once again played the role of spoiler defeating former WBC light middleweight champion 31-year-old Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (22-2-2, 6KOs), of East L.A., California, by split decision.

Coming into the fight 29-year-old Brian Vera with his rugged come forward style had a couple upset victories on his ledger knocking out Sebastien Demers in three and handing Andy Lee his only loss by 7th round TKO. Vera was looking to go to the well once more while “The Latin Snake” was fighting for the respect he feels he still doesn’t have even after beating hall of famer, the late great Vernon “The Viper” Forrest to capture the WBC light middleweight title and fighting to a lackluster draw in his last outing against another hall of famer in “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

Vera was the aggressor from the outset winning the early rounds with work rate and aggression while Sergio came out slow in a defensive posture and fighting is spurts as he is known to do. Both men were utilizing their jab and Mora’s was more effective but that was all he had going for him early as Vera was connecting with overhand rights and left hooks upstairs.

Mora frequently switched from orthodox to southpaw finding Vera’s face with the lead left while the rest of his success consisted of a steady jab, left hooks to the head and body and a good one-two jab-right hand. “The Latin Snake” spent a good portion of the fight with his back against the ropes being pushed around the ring by the stronger Vera and after three rounds of combat Sergio Mora’s face began to swell. The fight had a fair amount of clinching, mostly by Mora as he fought his way off the ropes in the 4th round by becoming the aggressor but still allowed Vera to connect at a higher rate with lateral movement while boxing. Towards the end of the round Mora connected with his best strikes, a double left hook to the head followed by another downstairs but it wasn’t enough to win the round and going into the 5th Sergio Mora was falling behind.

Mora came back strong in the 5th round going to work on Brian’s torso with rights and lefts and mixed it up well in the 6th boxing from the outside. Sergio has much scar tissue over his left eye and was cut when he was clobbered by a Vera right hand that snapped back Sergio’s head while he was against the ropes.

Mora’s not a heavy puncher so Vera had the luxury of being liberal with his risk taking while coming forward unleashing power punches and it paid dividends. Mora repeatedly acknowledged ESPN commentators Teddy Atlas and Joe Tessitore during the bout with words and gestures and in the 7th round he looked over at the duo and uttered what seemed to be, “Joe watch this.” Following his boastful comments Mora threw a few unsuccessful combinations then was stopped dead in his tracks by a Vera jab so it was all for not.

The 7th round saw Vera continually lung forward with the crown of his head and Sergio complained numerous times to the referee about Brian’s head then shoved Vera backwards after he was cut over his other eye in what was ruled an accidental clash of heads.

Many of the rounds were close and Mora was coming on strong in the second half of the fight connecting with jab after jab as his left hook also zeroed in on the head and body of Vera. Going into the final leg of the scrap Vera was sitting in a nice position to pull off another upset and Mora fought hard taking the 8th and 9th but it was too little too late as the hometown fighter Brian Vera got the nod on the judges score cards with scores of 96-94 Vera, 96-94 Vera and 96-94 Mora, to win a 10-round split decision.

Before the bout Sergio Mora stated, “Somebody do something to shut me up,” and that’s exactly what Brian Vera did at Super Brawl 2011 with pressure, heart and determination as he improves to 18-5 with 11 knockouts. Contender season one winner Sergio Mora now finds himself back at the drawing board as he’s defeated for only the second time falling to 22-2-2 with 6 stoppages.

In the evenings 8-round junior middleweight co-feature undefeated 25-year-old prospect Charles “The Future” Hatley (14-0-1, 11KOs) of Dallas, TX, and 26-year-old San Diego, California fighter Chris “The Last Chapter” Chatman (9-1-1, 4KOs), traded knockdowns at opposite ends of the spectrum en-route to a majority draw.

Charles Hatley was taking a step up in competition in hopes of proving his hype is warranted as he has been in there with relatively soft competition. Charles was coming off an 8-round unanimous decision win over always entertaining Emanuel Augustus who took the fight on a week’s notice. Hatley ran into trouble when he was floored by Augustus in the 2nd round but overcame adversity dropping Emanuel twice in the 3rd on his way to victory. Taking this fight on less than two weeks notice US Navy veteran Chris Chatman is quickly becoming known as an upset practitioner recently conquering two undefeated prospects in Alberto Herrera and Lester Gonzales. Chatman’s only defeat came at the hands of Demetrius Andrade but according to Chris, “Andrade knows he lost that fight.”

Charles was quick out of the gates dropping Chatman in the 1st round with a barrage of rights and lefts but the determined San Diego scrapper survived the round taking numerous power punches on wobbly legs but gallantly fought back when he could have easily clinched.

Chatman regained his composure and came back with a good 2nd round attacking Hatley with aggression trying to overwhelm his opponent who handled the pressure well after punching himself out in the 1st. Hatley continued boxing nicely from the outside using good footwork while switch hitting and landing many rights and lefts up top as well as the left hook to the body. Charles was landing the cleaner effective blows wobbling Chatman again in the 3rd but the compact pugilist from America’s finest city packs a fighters heart and scored with a two-fisted attack up top while working on the body of the quicker Hatley.

The script continued as Hatley used his superior technical skills to box on the outside while Chris Chatman kept stalking and attacking with reckless aggression finding his target more frequently as the rounds went by. Chatman closed the distance down the stretch but Hatley seemed to be in clear control heading into the 8th and final round. Never one to disappoint Chatman set the stage for high drama when he caught Hatley with a counter left in the final round that sent the hometown fighter crashing to the canvas.

Chatman went after his wounded foe with reckless abandoned landing more head shots but Hatley was able to get out of the way of enough blows to survive the round in what was a much closer fight all of a sudden as it went to the judges. When the cards were announced Charles “The Future” Hatley remained undefeated but both men would escape without a loss on this night as it was scored a majority draw with tallies of 77-73 Hatley, and 75-75 twice.

Hatley moves to 14-0-1 with 11 finishes while US Navy veteran Chris “The Last Chapter” Chatman continues to make a name for himself as his record now reads 9-1-1 with 4 knockouts.

In a 4-round bantamweight scrap 18-year-old Dallas, TX, resident Ray Ximenez, Jr. (2-0) made his TV fighting debut in only his second bout defeating overmatched 30-year-old Alfredo Berto (1-4), of Houston, TX, by unanimous decision with scores of 40-36 on all three judges score cards.