At the Robinson Rancheria in Nice, CA, over PBC in the main event southpaw Cuban Leduan Barthelemy, 13-0 (7), now out of Las Vegas, from the Barthelemy family, after a tough eight rounds stopped Dominican Reynaldo Blanco, 14-4 (8), at 1:30 of the ninth round when Blanco’s corner threw in the towel shortly after Blanco was dropped.

The much taller Barthelemy dominated the first round as Blanco dropped down to 130 from his usual 135 on two weeks notice and used his right hand when possible. In the second and third rounds Blanco became the aggressor back Barthelemy up in a close round. In the fourth round it was Barthelemy being the aggressor hurting Blanco with a counter right hand to the head. Blanco’s right eye was starting to swell.

In the fifth and sixth rounds Barthelemy continued countering as Blanco was the aggressor throwing right hands against the southpaw. In the seventh round after an even six rounds Barthelemy kept setting up Blanco with a long jab and hook hurt Blanco. It looked like Blanco’s corner was not letting him out for the ninth but out came Blanco for the ninth round. Barthelemy dropped Blanco with a right hook to the chin. His corner waved to him to stay down but up he was at eight. It wasn’t seconds before Blanco’s corner threw in the towel at 1:30 of the ninth round.

In the semi-final as expected it was a war with southpaw Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis, 12-1 (5), of Wilmington, DE, won a split decision over Mark Hernandez, 9-1 (2), of Fresno, CA, over ten rounds of action.

In the opening round though only having two knockouts in his nine wins Hernandez showed power with right uppercuts while Davis forced the action driving Hernandez into a neutral corner setting the stage for the entire fight. In the second round Hernandez came back in this round and near the end of the round rocked Davis with a left hook and a pair of right uppercuts. In the third round Davis outpunched Hernandez three to one but Hernandez had power on his right uppercuts. The corner of Davis in his trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards out of Philadelphia kept warning him about the uppercuts from Hernandez. In the fourth and fifth round Davis put on a vicious display of body shots that were breaking down Hernandez.

In the sixth round Hernandez was landing some left hooks to the head of Davis while being pushed into a neutral corner. Davis continued working the body taking several warnings from referee Dan Stell. In the seventh round in what looked like a border line shot from Davis referee Stell stopped the action and took a point from Davis. Davis did enough to earn a 9-9 round. In the eighth round Davis continued outworking Hernandez who was slowed down with a barrage of body shots. In the ninth round which was a first for both fighters Davis continued to keep Hernandez on the ropes outworking him but on several occasions would be hit with a right uppercut or left hook both to the chin. In the tenth and final round halfway through Hernandez rocked Davis with a counter right to the chin forcing Davis to hold on. Hernandez was not able to take advantage though taking the round.

Scores were 96-93 for Davis, 95-94 for Hernandez and 96-93 for Davis while this writer had it 97-92 for Davis.