Results From NY City: Andy Dominguez Stays Unbeaten, Sulem Urbina Upset

The junior bantamweight clash topping the Boxing Insider card at Sony Hall in New York City on Wednesday evening had the looks coming in of a showcase for prospect Andy Dominguez.

Foe Marvin Solano, though, performed like he didn’t get the memo about being the B side, because he had the undefeated man looking a wee bit uncertain as the scores were being announced. By tallies of 78-73, 76-75, 78-73, Dominguez had his hand raised, but oh yes, there will be plenty for him to look at and learn from.

The fights screened for free on YouTube and Facebook.

The Mexican Dominguez (8-0 entering, with 6 KOs) lives in Las Vegas, while Solano (24-7 with 8 KOs entering; 1-3 in his last four) is from Nicaragua.

No, the unbeaten man did not know if he’d done enough as the scores were read (Stephanie Trapp photo)

Boxing Insider Promotions is Larry Goldberg, a website publisher who put the show together, his second within a month in NYC.

In the first, Solano wanted to set the tone with his jab. He has half a head over Dominguez, who allowed Solano to be busy, as he built a dataset. That is, until the end of the round, when Dominguez got busier and Solano started to back up more. He did look to land heavy late, to send the message that he’d not get steamrolled.

In round two, Dominguez started out intending to be aggressive. He whacked to the body, as he backed Solano down. Looking back, Dominguez might feel like he was over aggressive at times in the round. But the aggression paid off, when a counter left-right hook registered on Solano in the final minute.

In the third, Dominguez started out stepping to Solano. The Nicaraguan, though, would generally stand tall, and look to answer with counter right. Solano felt like he could handle Dominguez’ power, it looked like. He worked center ring, kept Dominguez at bay with a persistent jab for the first two minutes. In the fourth, Solano kept jabbing, and stepping to his right, so as not to let Dominguez buzzsaw him. He got brave, tossing a shot right hand a few times, he looked pretty confident as a B side midway through four. Dominguez looked like he hasn’t mastered getting inside on a longer, taller guy.

In the fourth, Solano’s right kept working. Dominguez waited and watched way too much, he wasn’t acting like he knew how to get inside and get to work on the taller man. Dominguez’ power shots were the showier, so who knows how judges were seeing this.

In the sixth, Solano whipped left-right-left-right combos, he was often first with his launch. Truly, he acted confident that he had the skill edge, and stamina edge as well. Then Dominguez landed two hard power shots, maybe stealing him the round. In the seventh, we saw Solano slowing down..or no, he snapped Dominguez’ head back, and kept on putting combos together. His stamina looked solid, as he ripped left hooks on Dominguez, as he tried a lead right uppercut, as he acted like he didn’t deserve B side status. Dominguez again landed the one or two hardest power shots of the round. In the eighth, Solano again threw first often. He ripped a four punch combo at the 2:42 mark, and oh my, the ref then took a point at the 2 minute mark. Solano didn’t get pissy and fold, he just kept throwing. The B side kept firing, and had a volume edge, to finish the round. I had Solano winning narrowly.

New Jerseyite Decarlo Perez (19-6-1 entering) met Lebanese Brooklyner Nadim Salloum (9-1 entering; click here to read fine piece on him by Jacob Rodriguez) in a light heavyweight battle. It was a fan friendly rumble, and it was deceptive Salloum who had his hand raised. One judge saw a 76-76 draw, the other two had Salloum ahead, 77-74, 78-75—and I liked the call for Salloum, no doubt.

Salloum has the look of a possible area fan fave

He looks like he’d be less coordinated, and that he’d not be mobile…but Salloum cannot be dismissed out of hand. He showed solid skills and is a fun watch, mark him down as a local attraction who deserves respect for his craft.

In the first, Salloum pumped a busy jab, moving to his left when he wanted to gain space. Perez wanted to get dividends from working the body. He edged forward, while Salloum mostly worked well in retreat. In the second, Salloum proved to be a sharp ring general, and the judges had to like his three punch combos. In the third, Perez flurried and pressed to start the round. Salloum picked up his activity after Perez slowed down.

In the fourth, Perez again started fast, would he fade? The victor has deceptive feet, he calmly picked his spots on the canvas, and kept making himself a hard target. Perez kept up his energy, he might have taken the round, if judges weren’t appreciating the subtle defensive chops of Salloum. To round five—Saloum closed the gap some, he wanted to be busier, so he stayed closer to Perez. The NJ man had good luck to the body, but so did Salloum. A right uppercut from Salloum landed so cleanly, it probably took him the round with just over a minute left.

In round six, Salloum got busier, he wanted to exert harder pressure on Perez, break him down. This like the previous round featured back and forth trades and good volume. In round seven, Salloum popped, moved, stayed in motion, feet and hands. Perez’ tosses usually looked worse in comparison to those from Salloum, because he often threw with his arms. A right cross from Perez jarred Salloum's head at the 50 second mark, that might’ve given him this round. In the eighth, more solid work from Salloum. His defense stayed on point, he kept moving, or when he stood still, he kept that guard high. Perez didn’t let off the pedal, he kept on attacking, doing his best to pierce the Salloum guard. We went to the cards after a solid scrap.

Salloum can’t be judged on surface, he’s got more skills than you might assume (Stephanie Trapp photo)

Junior bantamweight Sulem Urbina (13-2-1 entering) told NYF that she was in tough with Indeya Smith, a Texan who entered at 5-6-2. She didn’t lie, the two ladies went 8 rounds, and it was Smith who had her hand raised after the battle. By scores of 77-75, 79-73, 79-73, Smith got the nod. Yes, props to the judges were being fair and on target.

In the first, the Mexican native Urbina, who had promoter Lou DiBella in her corner, got right to swinging. Smith too started fast, and that resulted in a close round. Smith pressed forward, then Urbina, with a height advantage, started looking to back her up. Urbina had a mobility edge, she’d get off and get out.

In the third, we saw the Arizona resident Urbina use her movement to even better effect, Smith couldn’t find her so easily. In the fourth, Smith came out looking to be busier. She’d gotten less aggressive since the first. We saw blood trickling from the right eye of Urbina, from an accidental clash of heads. Smith again came out heated, in round five. Urbina moved, wanting to keep distance between the two. The right hands from Smith stood out, and she maybe was up 3-2. In the sixth, Smith’s right hand landed often, her hand speed and accuracy were impressive. Urbina went down, off a slip, late in the round.

Urbina deserves whatever post fight meal she wants, foe Smith is sharp and quick

In the seventh Smith came out fiery, she bore in, backed up Urbina. The volume of Smith didn’t drop off, her energy level looked solid. Same for round eight, that blood smeared on Urbina’s right cheek made Smith even bolder. Urbina didn’t fight the last round like she knew maybe that she was down on the cards. To the cards we went…

DiBella, by the way, made sure to congratulate Smith and tell her that she did real good.

Sonya Lamonakis did a good job joining Randy Gordon and Gerry Cooney in the booth for this face-off.

Smith hustled hard, and earned the upset (Trapp photo)

A cousin of Floyd Mayweather, one Anthony Sims Jr, 22-1 entering, battled Atlanta’s Antonio Todd, 14-6 entering, in the second fight of the night, a middleweight scrap. Sims, who didn’t wow a watcher with any one attribute, took a UD8, via scores of 79-73, 80-72, 80-72, and looked to be happy to get rounds in.

The 27 year old Sims, hailing from Indiana, and living in California, started slow in the first. He’d been out of the ring for a year, for the record. Todd holds a career best win over Hugo Centeno, so yes, this one looked on paper and out of the gate a fairly evenly matched pairing.

Sims got the W, in a workmanlike effort (Trapp photo)

In the second, Todd didn’t look out of place, despite his less glossy record. Sims opened it up in the third, placing some hard shots to the body. Sims’ three punch combo late in the round signaled, maybe, that he’d ramping it up even more. In the fourth, a sharp straight right from Sims landed clean, though Todd handled it well.

It felt like Sims would be happy to get rounds in, he wasn’t pressing on the gas as you’d think maybe he could’ve/would’ve. Also, we saw a soft brace on the left knee of Sims, which left us wondering if his movement was affected by an injury. Gerry Cooney on air in round six noted that Sims pawed at the knee periodically.

No doubt, Sims upped his intensity in round seven. He then settled back into a regular rhythm. In the eighth round, Sims again started fast. A butt caused a slice on the left eye of Todd, and he got wobbled at the 1:35 mark, off a right. But Sims bounced, and finished off the round without slamming the accelerator. They went to the cards.

Sims didn’t nearly live up to his nickname, “The Magician,” with a workmanlike showing.

In the show opener, 19-1 Issah Samir, from Ghana, took on 19-0-1 Alejandro Luis Silva, out of Argentina, in a middleweight tango.

The Argentine watches as the man from Ghana can't beat the count. (Photo by Stephanie Trapp)

In round one of a scheduled eight, the 29 year old Silva put Samir on the floor, and he didn’t beat the count. In the house, “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime,” the execrable jingle from Paul McCartney. That would be insult to injury, after seeing Samir come out dry and get rubbed out so quickly. The time of the ending: 2:20.