Photo by Chris Cozzone

By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

In his USA debut, previously unbeaten WBC #5/WBA #6/WBO #9/IBF #12 flyweight Hernan ‘Tyson’ Marquez (25-1, 18 KOs) suffered his first defeat against WBA #10/WBO #11 Richie Mepranum (16-2-1, 3 KOs) on Friday night at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, Texas. Marquez was the aggressor as always, but it was the slicker Mepranum who landed the cleaner shots during the exchanges to win a clear ten round unanimous decision by scores of 99-91, 96-94, 98-92.
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In an IBF heavyweight eliminator, former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KOs) scored a second round TKO over Nagy Aguliera (15-3, 10 KOs). After Peter dropped Aguliera with a big right hand, The ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ got the stoppage win with his follow up barrage. Time was 2:24.
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Unbeaten WBC #1/WBA #2/WBO #5 lightweight Anthony Peterson (30-0, 20 KOs) scored a third round KO over Juan Ramon Ramon Cruz (16-7-1, 12 KOs). Peter dropped Cruz in round two and twice in round three before the bout was terminated at the 1:11 mark.
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Unbeaten middleweight Omar Henry (8-0, 7 KOs) needed just 33 seconds to demolish previously unbeaten Francisco Reza (6-1, 5 KOs).