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Rivera is effective inside to top Baba

By EDDIE DANIELS edaniels@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2009

TAMPA - At one point Friday night Carlos Rivera's corner wasn't very keen on him fighting inside against veteran Alex Baba.

But after witnessing the damage Rivera caused during that main event match up of Starfight Productions' Fight Night at the A La Carte Pavilion, his corner was converted, shouting in the third round "Go back inside!"

Rivera listened and Baba (26-15-1, 19 KOs) eventually wilted, giving Rivera (16-3-2, 5 KOs) an eight-round, unanimous decision victory.

Marcus Upshaw can thank his long arms for the Florida State middleweight title.

The Jacksonville fighter's reach powered over Ahsandi Gibbs' pressure, knocking the St. Petersburg boxer to the canvas once in the second round and kept him wobbled for the next two rounds. After a right-left combination from Upshaw, a looping left, which sent Gibbs (10-1, 4 KOs) stumbling backwards, referee Dennis DeBon called an end to the fight 26 seconds into the fourth round.

After earning that vacant middleweight title, Upshaw (10-3-2, 4 KOs) wasted little time in calling out a big name: "I want Paul Williams baby. I want Paul Williams. That's who I want."

Heavyweight Wilmer Vazquez (8-0-1, 5 KOs) dominated Otis Tisdale (25-23-1, 15 KOs) in the night's opening bout, collecting a technical knockout 15 seconds into the third round.

In the second round, a right followed by a left sent Tisdale sitting on the ropes. The bout continued following an eight count, but Vazquez ended the fight with a crushing right uppercut followed by a left hook.

Crowd favorite Jenna Shiver of Tampa didn't disappoint in her featherweight bout. Shiver (9-4-1, 2 KOs) jumped on Montréal's Lucia Larcinese (1-4) early and didn't let up, scoring a 60-54 unanimous decision victory.

In what resembled a brawl and at times a wrestling match, Tampa's Nick Iannuzzi (11-0, 7 KOs) beat off a wild Hilario Guzman (8-23-6, 1 KO) via unanimous decision in their cruiserweight matchup.

"It's hard to really box a left hander because they have the advantage and you can't really use your jab," Iannuzzi said. "It's really hard to get to them, so you have resort to the right hand, in a brawling fashion."

Tampa heavyweight Lamar Davis (2-1, 1 KO) used an effective jab to outpoint Bradenton's Robert Burgess (0-2).

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 259-7066.

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