Janelson Bocachica Earns Hard Fought Majority Decision Over Mark Reyes; Vladimir Shishkin Picks Up Win No. 12
Uncasville, Conn. (February 17, 2021) — A pair of undefeated Welterweights topped ShoBox’ second card of 2021. Janelson Figueroa Bocachica hales from Detroit, Mich., and came into the fight having demonstrated good power in stopping 11 of his 16 opponents. Mark Reyes Jr., a Tampa, Fla. native, possesses excellent power too, as 12 of his previous 14 bouts ended inside the distance.
The co-main event featured Detroit-based Russian Super Middleweight Vladimir Shiskin (12-0, 7 KOs) who took on Ghanaian Sena Agbeko (23-2, 18 KOs).
Bocachica and Reyes met in the center of the ring and started exchanging quickly. The shorter, compact Reyes threw punches in short tight sets. He connected with a few left hooks.
The Detroit native’s jab was thrown more meaningfully to open Round 2. An awkward moment occurred early in the round when it appeared a Bocachica punch stopped the action momentarily as Reyes dipped really low to the canvas. Reyes popped back up and fired a left hook to Bocachica’s unguarded body.
Reyes opened Round 3 with a series of powerful punches. In the second minute Bocachica walked to Reyes picking him off with his jab, as the Tampa native caught his breath. Reyes lunged to score with a looping left hook that landed flush on the jaw.
The action hit a lull in the fourth round. Reyes switched to counterpunching while Bocachica seemed to be figuring out the best range for him to engage. The action also came in spurts in Round 5 as Reyes connected with a few counter left hooks with Bocachica stepping to him.
Bocachica’s jab returned in Round 6, but Reyes stayed away, and was rarely there to be hit by a follow-up right hand. The rough play stopped for a while in the opening of Round 7. Several exchanges erupted. Bocachica continued to taunt Reyes, but he often smothered some of the bigger punches he wanted to land.
Reyes set up outside again in Round 8. Bocachica threw single jabs in the first minute. That turned to pawing over the round’s second half. Neither fighter accomplished a lot.
The action picked up in Round 9. Bocachica landed some power punches, but Reyes landed a pair of flush punches in the mid-round that snapped the taller fighter’s head. Bocachica took them well.
Reyes forced the action in the opening minute of the final round. Bocachica spent a lot of time celebrating with his hands raised before landing some left hooks to Reyes’ head over the final minute.
A ShoStats graphic showed a 158-156 lead in total landed punches for Reyes, including a significantly greater number of power punches. Bocachica was credited with a similar lead in landed jabs. In the end the judges delivered a majority decision to Bocachica with cards of 95-95, 96-94 and 97-93.
In the co-main event, Shishkin appeared to have a distinct advantage over Agbeko’s recent inactivity which limited the Nashville, Tenn. resident to just one fight in the past 26 months.
Agbeko’s legs were problematic for Shishkin in the first frame. Shishkin tracked the Ghanaian and needed a moment to adjust to Agbeko’s sudden attacks off of his movement.
An Agbeko punch, a downward right cross, opened a cut above Shishkin’s left eye in Round 2. The two fighters exchanged punches in the center of the ring to open the third round. Shortly after Agbeko was back outside moving from left to right. Shishkin started touching what he could as his opponent’s output declined.
In Round 4 Agbeko continued to punch while on the move. Shishkin worked his jab but managed to step in more often to score with his right hand. Agbeko landed a counter punch or two late in the round.
Shishkin having to chase Agbeko to land punches left the Russian working mostly with his jab to score. Combination punching was sparse for both fighters. Late in the sixth landed a solid right hand, and seconds later whipped a rare left hook to Agbeko’s body.
Going into the final few rounds Shishkin’s cut started to become a major concern. Agbeko’s limited use of his right hand didn’t help to escalate matters regarding the injury.
A bit of a fight finally broke out in the 10th and final round, but few big clean punches landed. The judges returned scores of 98-92 and 100-90 on two cards for a unanimous decision in Shishkin’s favor.
Alejandro Guerrero vs Abraham Montoya
Alejandro Guerrero (12-1, 9 KOs) of Houston, Texas and Mexico’s Abraham Montoya (20-2-1, 14 KOs) squared off in an eight-round lightweight bout. The pair wasted little time getting acquainted – they combined for 235 punches thrown in the first frame.
Guerrero, the shorter fighter, looked a bit more polished with his boxing, but Montoya’s accurate and balanced volume-punching kept the fight highly competitive.
Montoya’s scoring lead ballooned over the first half of the bout. He steadily worked his entire arsenal including hooks to the body, uppercuts and straight right hands. Guerrero struggled with getting inside to unleash any combination punches to disrupt Montoya’s rhythm.
Guerrero, from Houston, Texas, mounted a comeback in rounds 5 and 6, but Montoya overcame a big rally from Guerrero in the sixth to finish the round strong. Montoya rebounded fully in Round 7, peppering Guerrero with a variety of punches from long-range. The action paused after Guerrero’s mouthpiece was dislodged by a punch.
Montoya knocked the mouthpiece out again in the subsequent round. Guerrero started quickly for the final round, but Montoya was still there after some early work. Montoya’s consistent punching gradually quelled Guerrero’s momentum. The Baja California native finished the round with same level of control as the majority of the earlier rounds.
One judge failed to find a victor with all of the fast-flying leather, but his 76-76 card was overruled by 79-73 and 77-75 on the other two in favor of Mexico’s Montoya.
All photos by Amanda Westcott/ShowtimeÂ
