By: Christopher Roche

Gary Shaw Productions and Showtime teamed up for a special Saturday night edition of “ShoBox: The New Generation” last night in Tacoma, WA. The Labor Day Weekend revelers who tuned in or attended were rewarded.

Nick Charles and Steve Farhood pulled holiday weekend duty out West and called the two bout televised card that saw Russian KO king Victor Oganov get sliced and diced by Colombian veteran Fulgencio Zuniga. Oganov, who entered the ring at 26-0, 26 KO’s, left the ring bleeding and beaten. After having a decent first round, where he scored a technical knockdown by hitting Zuniga into the ropes, Oganov struggled for the balance of the bout.

After a cut above Oganov’s eye was caused by a headbutt, Zuniga continually battered Oganov with uppercuts, jabs and hooks. The bout became target practice, as Oganov did not have an answer for the rangy Zuniga. Oganov finally tasted the canvas in the ninth, as he was laid out flat on his back, but he beat the count. Zuniga then pounded Oganov with several unanswered shots until the referee stepped in and waived the bout off. In a dangerous moment, Oganov was sagging on the ropes defenseless before the bout was halted at 1:25 of round nine. Zuniga, 30, improved to 20-2-1, 17 KO’s, and he picked up the IBO Super Middleweight Title. The 31 year-old Oganov dropped to 26-1, 26 KO’s.

In the co-feature light middleweight prospect James Kirkland of Austin, TX pounded Mohammad Said into submission at 2:32 of round two. Kirkland, 20-0, 17 KO’s, knocked Said down 15 seconds into the fight, but Said hung tough and actually landed a few hard straight rights on the southpaw prospect. The 33 year-old Said, 22-6-1, 14 KO’s, was ultimately outclassed by the 23 year-old Texan, and he was counted out after suffering his third knockdown of the fight in the second round.