Highly ranked junior middleweight contender Willie “The Great” Nelson, 23-1-1-(13 KO’s) scored a hard earned decision over Mexico’s Luis Grejeda, 17-4-2-(13 KO’s). Nelson was in control over the first two round but was badly stunned by a volley of punches from Grejeda. Nelson recovered and controlled most of the rounds simply by being more aggressive. Grejeda was successful whenever he got aggressive but was strangely reluctant to let his hands go. Grejeda almost found his “get out jail free card” when he cracked Nelson with a perfectly timed right uppercut. Referee Jay Nady robbed Grejeda of a two-point round by failing to recognize the ropes held Nelson up. Nelson, after getting a scolding from trainer Jack Lowe, used his jab and movement to likely sweep the last two rounds. Nelson won by scores of 98-92 on all cards.
Super middleweight Jason “Monstruo” Escalera, 15-2-1-(12 KO’s), scored an eight round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Norbert Nemesapati, 14-1-0-(13 KO’s). Nemesapati got off to a blazing start and badly stunned the still cold Escalera in the first round. Escalera, however, quickly showed that he was the superior boxer by giving the hyped Nemesapati a brutal pasting for the remaining seven rounds, including a scoring a knockdown in round three. The 18-year-old Nemesapati took horrendous punishment and his corner probably did him a disservice by not throwing in the towel at some point. Final scores were 78-73, 78-72, 79-72 all for Escalera
In his pro debut, 2008 Olympic silver medalist Zhang Zhilei scored a ridiculous 17 second stoppage over Curtis Lee Tate. The fight was an absolute farce that was made even worse when the instant replay showed that Zhilei’s knockout punch actually landed on Tate’s shoulder. If the Nevada commission has any scruples they will hold Tate’s check for lack of effort.
