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Mora Going From Pretender to "The Contender" to Big Money Spender?

By ROBERT JONES - Staff Writer FightNightNews
Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora continued his winning ways and his march towards a big money fight on this week's edition for Friday Night Fights.

Mora, who believes he would have gotten this success even without "The Contender," didn't really have any trouble gaining success over his foe for the evening, Eric "The Hit Man" Regan. Regan, a former kickboxing champion, is an unusually tall middleweight, standing at 6' 4". Mora was used to looking at tall opponents across the ring though, because in preparation for this fight he sparred with Kingsly Ikeke, who is also 6' 4".


Mora was on the shortlist of possible challengers for Jermaine Taylor's middleweight championship before Taylor's camp decided they would go with Kassim Ouma. But, that doesn't mean all big money fights will elude him, because just this past week it was announced Ike Quartey is looking for an opponent in the upcoming months. First things first though, and that was to get by Regan.

The size different was immediately noticed as the fight started. While Regan is only four inches taller than Mora, it looked like a lot bigger difference because they only weighed 160 pounds. The first round was nothing more than your typical "feeling out" round, but Mora did do enough to win from the body blows he landed on Regan's skinny frame.

Mora's right hand was the weapon of choice for the second and third rounds. Mora landed it quite a few times in the third round, and if he had more power, only four knockouts coming into the fight, he would have probably ended the fight around here. What Mora lacks in the power department, he more than makes up for in excitement.

Mora is what Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas, the Friday Night Fight announcers, like to call a "TV friendly fighter." Mora, who once licked his own blood off his glove, had another TV friendly moment in the fourth round. After being annoyed by Regan's holding, Mora challenged Regan to fight him by drawing an imaginary line in the mat with his foot, challenging him to "toe the line." Also, if my lip reading skills are correct, he said at that time, "Come fight me, motherf-----," only he didn't use the dashes.

After taking the fourth round, Mora also took the fifth, giving him a clear lead, just halfway through the bout. Just when it looked like Mora may be slowing down just a bit, he unleashed a 10-punch combination that left Regan reeling backward. Once again though, Regan would last the round, mainly by clinching to Mora.

Referee John Schlorle warned Regan for rabbit punching in the sixth round. Mora had complained of this early in the fight, but it seemed like it was more of an accident than on purpose. However, Mora showed his displeasure by hitting Regan on a break, and Mora in return was also warned.

Mora again hit on the break in the seventh, this time landing a harder punch, and was warned for the second time. Regan was holding a lot by this point in the fight, and hadn't really landed a meaningful punch to this point in the fight.

A meaningful punch would be landed on the ninth, but it was a right hand on the jaw of Regan about a minute in. Regan would once again hold on, this was the first time, and the last, that it appeared Regan was really hurt. Mora once again screamed at Regan after another break, this time saying, "Come fight me," while raising his hands in disgust, and rolling his eyes in the direction of the crowd, as if to say, "What's with this guy?"

Mora, who had never fought past the eighth before, found the 10th and final round like a fighter who was getting tired. Interestingly enough, this fight was originally scheduled for 12 rounds, but Mora asked for it to be changed to 10,maybe for concerns about his stamina, and it was. It really wouldn't have made much of a difference though, because Mora was ahead by a considerable margin at this point.

Before the fight Mora said he was a bit nervous because he was fighting in the hometown of Eric Regan. He was afraid a decision would go his way no matter how the fight went. His fears would soon be relieved, when the scorecards were read. Judge Steve English scored it97-93, Ralph McKinigh 97-93 and Steve Morrow 98-92.

Mora goes back to Los Angeles with his perfect record in tact, 19-0 with 4 KO's, while Eric Regan walks back to his house after seeing his record decline to 26-3 with 17 KO's

"The only reason he has a name is because of ‘The Contender,'" is what Carson Jones (12-3 7 KO's) had to say about the success of reality star Alfonso Gomez (15-3-2 6 KO's). 

Gomez was in total control by the end of the second round because of his solid bodywork. Throughout these two rounds, Jones threw a total combined number of one body shot. However, his punches to the head were enough to cause some small swelling around the left eye of Gomez. 

A body shot landed on the liver of Jones, making him almost turn completely away from Gomez halfway through the third round. Jones used his legs to stay out of harms way the remainder of the round.

Otis Griffin, the winner of Oscar De La Hoya's reality show "The Next Great Champ" was victorious in the first fight of the evening. His opponent, Nelson Zepeda, came on late over the final two rounds of the six-rounder, but it wasn't enough to get a decision. The judge's scorecards for the light heavyweight bout read: 60-53, 59-54 and 58-55. Griffin, whose only loss came in his debut, moves to 14-1-2 5 KO's and Zepeda drops to 9-2-1 3 KO's. 
 
 

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