Baranchyk and Fa remain unbeaten
On the undercard of the Regis Prograis vs Julius Indongo on Showtime from Deadwood, South Dakota, Ivan Baranchyk (17-0,11KO’s) took on Petr Petrov (38-6-2,19KO’s) in a International Boxing Federation (IBF) title elimination bout in the Super Lightweight division.
Less then ten seconds into the fight Baranchyk knocked Petrov down with a jab, the rest of the round was Baranchyk landing the hard shots. The second knocked down came in round two when Baranchyk caught Petrov with a series of punches.
In the third round it was more of the same with Baranchyk dominating the fight as he seemed to knock Petrov down with a body shot, but the referee ruled it a no knock down. Petrov to his credit kept coming forward throwing punches, proving his toughness.
Throughout the fight Baranchyk was able to hurt a very game Petrov with just about anything he landed. In the sixth round Petrov would taste the canvas once again. He tried to stay in the fight but was taking way too much punishment in there.
In the eighth round the referee waved off the contest as Petrov took a lot of punishment giving Baranchyk a TKO victory that puts him in line for a title shot.
Earlier to kick off the telecast Junior Fa (14-0,8KO’s) took on Craig Lewis (14-2-1-1NC,8KO’s) in 8-round heavyweight bout.
Fa came out fast throwing power shots to begin the fight in which seemed to have staggered Lewis. Throughout the first few rounds Fa would repeatedly land his lead right hand but failed to follow through with substantial combinations of sort.
By the fifth both men looked gassed and would repeatedly hold and lean on each other. Fa jumped in with his right leaving himself wide open, but Lewis failed to capitalize on it. Both guys looked completely wore out by the end of the fight. It seemed so if Fa was looking for the knockout that never came.
In the end Fa got a majority decision (76-76,78-74,79-73) to remain unbeaten. The best description of the young man at this time is that he’s a work in progress.
By: Wilson Urena
