Cooper, Rakoczy win in Lemoore!

April 19, 2008

By David Robinett at ringside
Photos: Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor

A lively crowd hoping to see reigning women’s WBC strawweight champion and local girl Carina “La Reina” Moreno defend her title and fight for the vacant WIBA minimumweight belt as well had to settle instead for simply an entertaining night of boxing last night from the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California.

Moreno (17-1, 5 KOs) was scheduled to fight in the main event against South Korean Dan-Bi Kim (4-0, 1KO), however before the fight it was discovered that Kim, who was listed on fight records as being 19 years old, was listed as only 17 years old on her travel visa, and therefore ineligible to fight professionally in the United States. There was not enough time prior to the card to resolve the discrepancy so the parties erred on the side of caution and cancelled the bout.

Despite the gaffe, the fans in attendance were treated to several competitive bouts featuring local veterans and amateur standouts making their professional debuts.

Rakoczy Cruises Past Serrano!

In the de facto main event, another local girl, former women’s lightweight champion Jessica “Ragin” Rakoczy (29-3, 10 KOs) cruised to an easy eight-round unanimous decision win over Cindy “Check Mate” Serrano (15-3-1, 7 KOs) in a women’s lightweight bout. All three judges scored it a shutout for Rakoczy, 80-72, however the fight was competitive early on until Rakoczy stepped it up and pulled away over the second half of the fight.

Early in the first round it was Serrano who got off to the quick start, getting inside and landing several impressive shots to the body. Rakoczy, a skilled boxer-puncher who is at her best when working from the outside, was unable to keep Serrano at the end of her jab and official scores notwithstanding, did little to blunt Serrano’s early aggression.

In round two, Serrano started to mix in some combinations from the outside with her body work, but this seemed to provide the opening Rakoczy needed to establish some space between the two to work her jab. The second round was close as well but the less Serrano tried to get inside, the more effective Rakoczy was becoming working in the center of the ring.

The fighters started round three trading jabs, which was the beginning of the end for Serrano. Serrano was landing her jab followed by the occasional hook to the head, but Rakoczy’s jab and counterpunching from the outside is her bread and butter, and she was simply landing the same punches as Serrano but more of them and heavier. As Rakoczy started to find her rhythm, it also become harder for Serrano to get inside past Rakoczy’s jab, all but eliminating any chance of Serrano stealing back the momentum.

The remaining rounds followed the same pattern of Rakoczy boxing tactically from the outside, keeping Serrano at bay and piling up points. At her best, Rakoczy resembles the tactical version of Juan Manual Marquez or Vernon Forrest, tall, rangy and effective, and one of the best in the women’s game, if not terribly exciting. However the hometown crowd appreciated Rakoczy’s professional effort, and applauded warmly as the scores were announced.

The “Black Kobra” Gets His Revenge!

In another fight of note, former kickboxing champion and part-time mixed martial artist Dewey “The Black Kobra” Cooper avenged his only professional boxing defeat, overcoming the game but limited “Mad” Mike Alderete by unanimous decision, 78-74, 78-74, and 77-75 in an eight-round cruiserweight bout.

Last September Alderete took a majority decision over the then-undefeated Cooper in Lemoore in an upset that even surprised Alderete.

“The first time we fought, I didn’t know who he was” said Alderete. “But after I beat him, I looked him up on YouTube and watched some of his [MMA] fights and said to myself, ‘Whoa, I just beat this guy?’”

However this time there would be no repeat upset as after an even first round, Cooper figured out the limited attack of Alderete, whose forward-moving clubbing style was effective at times, but for the most part the southpaw Cooper was able to box around Alderete’s attack and pepper him with an array of jabs, hooks, and some very impressive body work. In one highlight-reel sequence in the third round, Cooper trapped Alderete in a corner and landed ten consecutive digging right hooks to the body, several of which glanced off Alderete’s tucked elbow, but that nevertheless drew a rise from the crowd and several oohs and aahs during the replay between rounds.

Despite the relatively one-sided nature of the bout, fans were treated to a breathtaking final round, when the two fighters dropped their hands and went toe-to-toe for nearly the full three minutes. Both fighters were rocked, albeit neither badly hurt, and took turns pounding each other while the crowd cheered wildly. After the fight, Cooper acknowledged his opponent,

“You gotta give Mike credit,” said Cooper. “He fought his ass off. I thought I won the first fight [in September] easy, but this fight was a lot tougher.” Alderete said after the fight that he thought he broke his right hand in the first round. Both fighters said they would be willing to have a rubber match as soon as possible. With the win, Cooper improves to 16-1-2, 10 KOs, while Alderete drops to 6-3, 3 KOs.

Alafa Survives Phillips In Debut!

It was an inauspicious debut for longtime amateur star Aaron Alafa, who got up from a second-round knockdown to win a questionable split decision over 0-4 Harvey Phillips in a four-round bantamweight bout. Alafa, a two-time U.S. Olympic team alternate and former Golden Gloves champion, won by scores of 38-37 twice, while the third judge scored the bout for Phillips 39-36.

Alafa, from nearby Visalia, California, was greeted warmly by the crowd but seemed to have a severe case of first-fight jitters. He wasn’t overmatched against Phillips, but at times Alafa fought so wildly that he wasn’t just smothering his punches, he was charging in so fast to attack Phillips that he couldn’t get his punches off, coupled with several slips and unintentional headbutts caused largely by his inability to settle down early.

All Phillips could do was try and stand back and counter Alafa when the opportunity presented itself, which he did throughout the bout, particularly in the second round when he caught Alafa with a short right hook as Alafa was charging in that sent him to the canvas.

Alafa was not hurt and rose quickly, but now Phillips was brimming with confidence, and started to mix in a little showboating in between counterpunching the frenetic Alafa. Finally by the fourth round Alafa started to relax slightly and was able to land a few effective jabs and straight hands to take the round from Phillips. Nevertheless, that two judges gave three of the four rounds to Alafa was generous, to say the least, leaving hard-luck loser Phillips searching elsewhere for his first win.

Other Action from Lemoore

Another amateur standout making his professional debut, heavyweight Theron Johnson from Chicago, won a tough unanimous decision over Canadian Rudolf Pierre Louis (3-3, O KOs), 40-35 on all three judges’ scorecards. Not surprising with fighters this early in their careers, neither Johnson nor Louis was particularly accurate early on, with both fighters smothering many of their punches and much of the first two rounds spent wrestling inside as each fighter looked to get into a comfort zone.

Despite the wrestling early on, Johnson was the more effective of the two fighters in the first two rounds, able to land a few jabs before landing in a clinch, and also sneaking in a couple of good body shots while inside. However by rounds three and four Johnson started to get into a rhythm, clinching less and circling Louis with an effective jab. Johnson punctuated his victory with a short right hook midway through round four that sent a tired Louis stumbling back to the ropes. An exhausted Louis also had a point taken away by the referee in round four for excessive holding, resulting in the final five-point margin for Johnson which belied the difficulty of the physical early rounds.

In other action James Ventry (5-4, 4KOs) obliterated Jason Varnell (2-4, 0 KOs) by first round knockout in a four-round lightweight bout. After badly hurting Varnell with a right hook to the body seconds into the fight, Ventry dropped Varnell a minute later with another right hook to the body. Varnell barely beat the count only to be dropped seconds later, this time by a left hook to the body by Ventry that left Varnell on the canvas for the full count at 1:23 of the opening stanza.

In the opening bout of the evening, Oakland’s Tony Hirsch easily outboxed Mexico’s Raymundo Ortega, winning a unanimous decision 40-36, 39-37, and 39-37 in a four-round middleweight bout.

The six-bout card was promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, LLC, in association with the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino.