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By: William Holmes
The Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut was the host site for tonight’s ShoBox card and featured two televised bouts. DiBella Entertainment was the lead promoter for tonight’s card.
The first bout of the night was an eight round contest between Frank Galarza (13-0) and Sebastien Bouchard (8-0) in the junior middleweight division.
Bouchard was shorter than Galarza in both height and reach, but has significant more amateur experience than Galarza.
Galarza started off the first round by throwing multiple jabs in an attempt to find his range. Bouchard was able to touch Galarza with a right hand in the first but it barely landed. Galarza was controlling the first round with his jab.
Galarza continued to move Bouchard around the ring with his jabs and was able to catch Bouchard whenever he came forward. Galarza opened up the third round with a two punch combination and right cross to the body. He was landing the harder punches while Bouchard was missing wildly. Galarza looked comfortable in the third.
Galarza’s jab kept Bouchard at a safe distance in the fourth round while Bouchard’s punches were bouncing off the shoulder of Galarza. Galarza connected with a good looking hook to the body/right uppercut to the chin combination. Galarza was landing the harder combinations and the fourth round featured a good exchange at the end of the round.
Galarza appeared to begin to step off the gas pedal in the fifth round but he was still landing good combinations. He was circling towards Bouchard’s power hand in the sixth, but still anded more punches.
Both boxers were warned by the referee for low blows, but Galarza had a point taken away from him in the final round for an obvious low blow. Galarza suffered a cut by his right eye in the last round, but that may have been caused by a head butt.
The final scores were 77-74, 77-74, and 78-73 in favor of Galarza.
The main event of the night was between Joel Diaz Jr. (15-0) and Tyler Asselstine (14-1) in the junior lightweight division. Both boxers were similar in height and reach but Joel Diaz Jr. was five years younger.
Asselstine slipped early in the first round and was later stunned by Diaz with a hard left hook. Diaz was landing solid punches against the southpaw but Asselstine was able to stay on his feet.
Asselstine connected with a solid left in the opening moments of the second round, but Diaz recovered nicely and answered with combinations to the body and head. Asselstine spit out his mouthpiece in the second and was a little short with his shots. Diaz was effectively moving Asselstine around the ring with his hard shots and ended the second with a stinging uppercut.
In the third round Diaz continued to out box the game Asselstine. Diaz’s corner stated to him before the round that Asselstine was going to be a human punching bag but that he had to work for it. Asselstine was getting tagged with more punches than Diaz, but he was still able to land a few shots of his own.
In the fourth round most of Asselstine’s punches were not landing cleanly and were bouncing off the arms and shoulders of Diaz. Diaz’s lead right hand won him the fourth.
Asselstine came out more aggressive in the fifth round but Diaz still countered Asselstine effectively. Asselstine lost his mouthpiece again in the fifth round. By the sixth round Asselstine’s face was showing signs of bruising from the assault of Diaz and he lost a point in the seventh round for losing his mouthpiece again.
Asselstine’s best round of the night was the eighth round when he stunned Diaz and cut Diaz over his left eye. However, the cut appeared to have been caused by a head butt.
It was obvious that Asselstine needed a knockout in the final two rounds to pull out a victory but he was unable to. Diaz came close to knocking Asselstine down in the final round with a left to the body, but Asselstine was able to stay on his feet.
Diaz remained undefeated with scores of 97-92 on all three scorecards.
