Tabiti, Hunter Shine in ShoBox Doubleheader

Showtime returned to Las Vegas with another edition of its long-running boxing series ShoBox: The New Generation. It was a cruiserweight doubleheader inside Sam’s Town on the east side of Sin City and both of the favored fighters won their bouts in lopsided fashion.

Andrew “The Beast” Tabiti dominated Keith Tapia over 10 rounds, winning an uneven unanimous decision. Tabiti (13-0, 11 KOs) scored a knockdown in the eighth when Tapia’s glove touched the canvas after an exchange, but the additional point differential in that frame was simply mathematic; “Machine Gun” was way behind on the cards at the point.

In the end, Tabiti was by far the more effective of the two in terms of power punching and speed, and the local fighter wound up winning via tallies of 99-90 and 97-92 (twice). Tapia fell to 17-1 with 11 KOs.

In the co-feature, 2012 U.S. Olympian Michael Hunter also remained unbeaten in the pro ranks as he pitched a virtual shutout against Isiah Thomas (1501, 6 KOs). Hunter (12-0, 8 KOs) boxed beautifully from the start and perplexed his foe throughout, winning an easy unanimous decision with scores of 100-90 (twice) and 99-91.

Super middleweight contender Ronald Gavril (16-1, 12 KOs) took out Juan Camilo Novoa (25-7-1, 23 KOs) after he dropped him with a vicious shot to the guts. After Novoa got back to his feet, “The Thrill” swarmed him until the ref stopped it at the 2:08 mark.

And finally, junior welterweight prospect Sanjarbek Rakhmanov (4-0-1, 3 KOs) and Alfonso Olvera (7-2-1, 3 KOs) fought to a four-round draw. The fight was as close as they come, as indicated by the official scores of 58-56 (Rakhmanov), 58-56 (Olvera) and 57-57.