Cuban boxers put on a show at Planet Hollywood

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, July 18, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

If the performance of the four Cuban exiles on Friday's "Future of Boxing" ESPN pro fight card at Planet Hollywood can be used as a barometer, the future of the fistic sport looks promising indeed. Beginning with two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux, the Cubans were like the cigars in their former homeland -- as good as advertised.

It was the boxing in present tense part of the card that produced the evening's only surprise.

Breidis Prescott of Columbia, ranked No. 5 by the World Boxing Association, No. 7 by the World Boxing Council, No. 11 by the International Boxing Federation and No. 12 by the World Boxing Organization, failed to make those numbers stand up against tough but unheralded Miguel Vazquez of Mexico in a lightweight main event scheduled for 10 rounds.

Vazquez shrugged off a first-round knockdown to methodically take command of a fight that few gave him any chance of winning. He was awarded a split decision that many at ringside thought should have been unanimous.

Judge Duane Ford scored it 95-94 for Vazquez while Jerry Roth had it 96-93 for the Mexican. Dave Moretti thought Prescott got the better of it, marking his scorecard for the previously unbeaten Colombian, 97-92. The Sun had it 96-93 for Vazquez.

Prescott (21-1, 18 KOs) was coming off an impressive first-round stoppage of Amir Khan in what was supposed to be a tune-up for the highly-touted Englishman. This fight was more or less expected to be a tune-up for the finely-sculpted Prescott, who at a lanky 5-foot-10 surely possesses the body of a champion.

But it was the much less physically imposing Vazquez (25-3, 12 KOs) who fought like a champion.

Prescott scored a flash knockdown in the first round when he caught an off-balance Vazquez with a modest punch along the ropes and continued to dictate the pace during the second and part of the third round. It appeared the Colombian's only strategy was to wing giant right hands to Vazquez's kidneys, but it seemed to be working. It appeared he might win easily.

By the end of the third round, Vazquez started flicking his jab inside those ponderous right hands. He continued to use the jab to take control during the middle rounds. During one sequence in the sixth, Vazquez stuck his jab in Prescott's face and literally followed him from one side of the ring to the other, finally unfurling a big left hand that caught the Colombian square on the chin.

Toward the end of the fight, Vazquez's lower back was cherry red from Prescott's looping right hands. The welt under Prescott's left eye looked light it hurt a lot more.

After the fight, Prescott told his manager Tony Gonzales that he never felt comfortable.

"This is a minor setback," Gonzales said. "Next fight out, we're going to come right back at the KO Drug Games in Panama on Sept. 5 and get right back in the top five in the world."

Rigondeaux easily was the most impressive of the Cubans, stopping Roberto Guillen with a vicious left body shot at 2:57 of the first round. Fellow former Cuban national team members Erislandy Lara, Yudel Johnson and Yordanis Despaigne also won their bouts, much to the delight of a crowd of 1,855 that included Mike Tyson and a throng of Cuban loyalists who shouted "Cu-ba! Cu-ba! Cu-ba!" virtually every time one of defectors landed a punch in anger.