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Undefeated super bantamweight prospect Jose Nieves of Puerto Rico remained unbeaten after completely outclassing former title challenger Alberto Ontiveros of Mexico at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. The main event of ESPN’s Tuesday Night Fights series between Nieves and Ontiveros proved to be a mismatch. Nieves was clearly the faster, busier, more accurate, and harder punching man in the ring.
In the opening round of a bout scheduled for ten, the southpaw Ontiveros was unable to cut off the ring while Nieves boxed beautifully from the outside. Using his speed and accuracy, the Puerto Rican landed straight punches almost at will. The second through fifth rounds saw more of the same, Ontiveros ineffectively following an elusive Nieves who landed crisp shots from a distance and tied up on the inside. Adding to Ontiveros’ confusion was the fact that Nieves switched stances from orthodox to southpaw fluidly throughout the match.
In the sixth episode Ontiveros made more of an effort to close the distance between the two fighters. In one instance both fighters went down after getting tangled up during a clinch. Near the end of the stanza Nieves was caught with a right hand that seemed to hurt him a bit. Unfortunately for Ontiveros, he was unable to capitalize on his greatest moment of the fight. For the remainder of the round Nieves used quick lateral movement and clinches to avoid any more punishment, while landing some punches of his own.
In the seventh and eighth, Nieves seemed content fighting on the inside. His solid defense helped him deflect many of the Mexican’s wild shots, and his precision helped him land solid blows to his overmatched opponent’s head and body. The eighth round was clearly Nieves’ best. His straight punches were snapping Ontiveros’ head back and making the rugged veteran look unsteady on his feet. In the end, a right hook sent Ontiveros stumbling into the ropes. The tired and hurt former title challenger looked at the referee and waved the fight off just as his back touched the ropes. It seems the referee or the corner should have stopped it sooner as Ontiveros was taking far too many punches.
The fight was officially a TKO victory for the Puerto Rican prospect, Jose Nieves. The win ups his record to 11-0-2 (8). Alberto Ontiveros, who moved to Tijuana, Mexico in an effort to better prepare himself for this bout, falls to 19-10-5 (17). He has now lost six of his last seven fights.
The undercard showcased another unbeaten Puerto Rican prospect. Middleweight Carlos Quintana faced late replacement Kemal Kolonevic of the former Yugoslavia in an eight round affair. Kolonevic accepted the fight on three days notice and had fought a mere three times since November of 2001 due to managerial problems. In what appeared to be another mismatch, Quintana clearly dominated his infrequently punching opponent.
The southpaw Quintana found his range early, throwing punches from a variety of angles to the head and body in the first round. The Puerto Rican was able to box from the outside and keep Kolonevic at bay. For his part, Kolonevic threw and missed a variety of wild shots.
To the delight of the Puerto Rican crowd in attendance, Quintana chose to come out for the third round more aggressively. Kolonevic was stunned by a body shot that caused him to cover up without firing back against a Quintana flurry in this round.
Kolonevic hit the canvas in the fourth, not from a punch but from having his head pushed down by the taller Quintana. Naturally, this was not ruled a knockdown. Still, the punishment continued. Attacking the body and head consistently, Quintana was able to unload a barrage of punches in this round. Kolonevic seemed satisfied in fighting blindly off the ropes.
The eighth and final round elicited some emotion from the crowd as Kolonevic was stunned by a combination headbutt and blow to the body. Quintana immediately attempted to follow-up and finish the obviously weary Kolonevic to no avail. Kolonevic seemed able to withstand Quintana’s power and the fight went to the scorecards.
The scores read 80-72 twice and 79-73, all for Carlos Quintana who appears to be ready for better opposition. The win takes him to 18-0 (13). The loss leaves Kolonevic with a record of 8-2-2 (4). Quintana has reportedly stated that he wants to face fellow Puerto Rican Kermit Cintron.
In what was arguably the most exciting fight of the evening, previously unbeaten Allen Conyers, who is trained by Buddy McGirt, lost a unanimous decision to Delvin Rodriguez. The six round bout began with the referee instructing the fighters and their teams to switch corners. Apparently, each had not started in their assigned corners and the boxers had been introduced incorrectly.
From the beginning, Conyers was the faster of the two. Rodriguez was able to match Conyers’ power but not his speed. Nonetheless, Conyers seemed to jump to an early lead by outboxing a very game Rodriquez who was stunned in the second round by a lunging left hook that landed squarely on his chin. The third round brought the crowd to its feet as both fighters exchanged heavy shots.
The obvious turning point occurred in the fourth round when Rodriguez began to land left to the body, left to the head combinations. While Conyers had the quicker hands, Rodriguez seemed to have the heavier fists.
In what is surely a round to remember, the fifth stole the spotlight of the entire event. The round began with both fighters trading hard shots. Conyers appeared to be fresher as Rodriguez was breathing from his mouth. During one of their highly entertaining exchanges, Rodriguez landed a straight right that was followed by two left hooks to the head. Conyers went reeling back and fell through the ropes, out of the ring, and onto the Civic Center floor. As the referee counted, Conyers gained his footing, used the stairs to climb back onto the ring and then through the ropes. This all occurred before the referee reached the count of ten. To the approval of those in attendance, the fight continued and Conyers survived the round.
Calling on his ring experience Buddy McGirt 'inadvertently' spilled his bucket of ice in the corner, forcing the start of the sixth and final round to be delayed while he cleaned it up. The accident bought his hurt fighter some time. Rodriguez used the final round to land big shots during some of the exchanges. Conyers had his moments but resorted to leaning heavily on Rodriguez while he was against the ropes. When the final bell sounded, Rodriguez raised his arms in victory and smiled exuberantly. All judges scored the bout 59-54 in favor of Delvin Rodriguez. Allen Conyers, who is the cousin of the late rapper Big Punisher, suffers his first defeat and falls to 8-1 (6), while Rodriguez increases his record to 12-1-1 (6).
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2004
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By Victor Garcia (August 26, 2004) 
