Julaton cruises to second world title

Julaton cruises to second world title

Mark E. Ortega

FightFanNation.com

December 4, 2009

Friday night, in front of 3,943 people at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, Daly City, California's Ana Julaton [6-1-1, KO] added the WBO female super bantamweight title to her IBA belt by thoroughly dominating Donna Biggers [19-9-1, 16 KOs] of Boiling Springs, Colorado over ten lopsided rounds. Julaton enjoyed her victory in front of an even bigger crowd than her previous fight at the Tank against Kelsey Jeffries on September 12^th.

Julaton enjoyed an extensive speed advantage over her opponent from the opening bell. Biggers was never able to close the gap, as she ate combinations from Julaton all fight long. Julaton set the pace in round one behind her jab, which helped open up her right hand. In the second round, a bad cut opened up on Biggers' face, possibly from a headbutt, but she continued to fight on gamely. Even though Biggers was at a tidy disadvantage in almost every way, she kept moving forward, making it far from easy for Julaton even though the scores suggested an easy night. Julaton busted up her opponent with hooks and uppercuts, and continued to snap Biggers' head back with the jab. A case could definitely be made that this fight should have been stopped in the middle rounds as Julaton pulled away. Julaton visibly let up in the ninth and tenth after an onslaught in the eighth didn't put the tough challenger down.

Biggers had a hefty knockout ratio, scoring sixteen of her nineteen wins via kayo, but she was never able to move Julaton with any of her punches throughout the bout.

“It would be nice to unify all the titles but we'll see what would be best to setup big exciting fights to help get a lot more fans involved with female fighting and we'll just go from here,” said Julaton when asked if she has a plan on getting more titles.

Eloy Perez [15-0-2, 4 KOs] of Gilroy, California, took another big step up, dismantling rugged Juan Santiago [11-3-1, 7 KOs] over five rounds before the corner stepped in and stop the bout, earning Perez the WBO NABO super featherweight title in the process. Santiago had more than a few inches in height advantage on Perez, yet Perez was able to dominate on the outside behind his jab. Perez was more than a few touches faster than Santiago, and he could afford to load up on flashy four and five punch combinations that tormented Santiago on the inside. Perez worked to the body very well, doubling up on left hooks both upstairs and downstairs and mixing in uppercuts against the much taller Santiago. This is Perez' most impressive win to date, stopping Santiago who previously knocked out undefeated Ty Barnett in one round.

Perez is the product of the Garcia clan, as he is managed by Kathy Garcia and trained by her husband Max. Perez and his whole team attributed their victory to the late Don Familton, who passed earlier this year. “Don will be with us until we win a world time, and that is when we will let him go and I will let him rest in peace,” said Max. Sam Garcia, assistant trainer and son of Kathy and Max, stated that Perez will return to action on the undercard of the welterweight unification bout between Shane Mosley and Andre Berto on January 30^th.

In an exciting female strawweight rematch, San Jose, California's Melissa McMorrow [3-1-2] battled Gloria Salas [1-3-1, KO] of Riverside, California to a controversial draw in a fight that McMorrow fairly dominated. Each round was close, but McMorrow outworked her tough opponent in every round, throwing four and five punch combinations while her opponent struggled to get off more than a few shots at a time. This was a rematch of a bout last year that McMorrow won widely.

In an action-packed cruiserweight bout, local San Josaian Tony Johnson [4-0, KO] scored a unanimous decision over the game but outmatched Ron Simmons [3-4, 2 KOs] in a four-round bout. The first round was crowd-pleasing with both guys throwing bombs in the center of the ring. Johnson wilted his opponent with an eye-opening right hand early in the round. In the second, Johnson began quickly but soon tired, allowing Simmons to possibly steal the round. Johnson came roaring back in the third, but again allowed Simmons into the fight with less than half a minute remaining in the final round, making this fight much closer than it should have been considering Johnson had his opponent out on his feet in the first round. The official scores of the bout were 40-36 and 39-37 twice.

In the opening bout of the evening, Jonathan Alcantara [2-1-1] of Novato, California earned a split-decision victory over former amateur standout Aaron Alafa [3-2, KO] of Visalia, California in a four-round super bantamweight bout. Alafa had moments where he outboxed his opponent, but Alcantara's aggressiveness proved the difference as he got the victory by scores of 39-37 twice while Alafa won 39-37 on the third judge's card.

The night's card was promoted by Roy Englebrecht, marking the fourth and final Fight Night at the Tank card of the 2009 season. Englebrecht is rumored to return as lead promoter for 2010.