Photos by Andrew Potter/Salita Promotions
Undefeated lightweight sensation and San Diego-based rising prospect Jonny Mansour thrilled the more than 3,200 fans in attendance at Fox Theatre – a boxing event record at the historic theatre – with a sensational knockout of Ernest Bustos Saturday in the co-main event on Wynn Records Network. Comerica Bank is the exclusive presenting partner of the Fox Theatre.
With the crowd chanting “Jonny” as he was walked to the ring by Detroit rap star 42 Dugg, former amateur standout Mansour (8-0, 3 KOs) put on a clinic, flooring Bustos (6-3, 2 KOs), three times en route to a second round KO (1:47).
In the waning seconds of the first, the 26-year-old floored Bustos with a flush left hook to the chin, with the Texas native slow to get up and barely beating the count. San Diego’s Mansour kept the pressure in the second, dropping Bustos again with a clean body shot midway through the round. Once again Bustos was slow to get up, and moments later Mansour landed a right-left combo followed by a picture perfect right to body, dropping his opponent for the third and final time as the referee waved off the fight.
“I want to thank all my fans,” Mansour said. “I put in so much work every single fight. My fight camps take a lot of dedication. This fight goes out to all my people in Detroit. I promised my mother that one day I would be a world champion, and tonight I am one step closer to that promise. I might have to move to Detroit. I will be back.
“That was an 11 out of 10 performance tonight. Yesterday he tried to say I wasn’t ‘about that life,’ but I’ve been putting in work since I was eight years old—I don’t need to run my mouth because my hands speak for themselves. I wanted the knockout, and when I told him to get back up, he didn’t want any more of it.”
This was the second consecutive packed house for Salita Promotions in the month of August after a sensational crowd supported the GWOAT Claressa Shields on Aug. 15 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The more than 3,000 paid attendees at Fox Theatre for the Salita Promotions and Ballo and Mansour’s G2G Promotions event, in association with Wynn Records, were treated to a thrilling night of boxing at the nearly 100-year-old historic theatre.
“It’s been a great month for us, along with Wynn Records, here in Detroit with G2G Promotions, Jonny and JuJu, and in Atlanta with Claressa,” said Dmitriy Salita, President of Salita Promotions. “We were able to put on two shows for capacity audiences in less than two weeks in two great American cities. We’ve been working to build Detroit back into a major hub for world class boxing and tonight we proved that it is truly back.”
World-ranked heavyweight contender Brandon Moore outworked former world title challenger Byrant Jennings en route to a unanimous decision victory, scored 99-91, 98-92 twice.
Moore (20-1, 10 KOs) was by far the more active fighter from the opening bell, jabbing to keep his 41-year-old opponent at bay. Jennings appeared to be sitting and waiting to land the big one that never came, as Moore continued to fight from the outside and lean on his reach and size advantage to frustrate Jennings. An accidental headbutt opened a gushing cut under Moore’s left eye in the sixth, followed by another one in the 10th and final round above the same eye.
Throughout the bout, Jennings was game but struggled to pull the trigger, as Moore pocketed rounds and Jennings appeared to struggle to keep up with the output of his much younger opponent.
Undefeated blue chip super featherweight prospect and former amateur standout JuJu Ballo won a dominating shutout unanimous decision over Julian Gomez-Clemons in front of his Chaldean faithful at Fox Theatre. The convincing win was scored 60-54 by all three judges.
San Diego’s Ballo controlled the distance from the opening bell, fighting at range and coming inside to pick apart Gomez-Clemons despite a significant size and reach disadvantage. Ballo (4-0) did his best work from the outside, landing sharp jabs and power hooks, tiring his opponent with his superior movement and footwork. The 23-year-old improved as the fight went on, landing his sharpest punch of the fight in the final round – a left hook to Gomez-Clemons’ (2-2, 2 KOs) head that had the crowd erupt to their feet.
After the bell, Ballo’s father Jack, lifted his son in a triumphant victory walk around the ring as thousands of fans cheered “JuJu.”
“First of all, I want to thank God,” Ballo said. “Second of all, how’re all my Habibi’s doing tonight? I feel great; I’m 4-0, and I wanted to go for the knockout. The knockout didn’t come my way this time, but man, I felt great. I showcased my skills in front of a great Detroit audience.”
“I’m putting the 126-lb division on notice. This isn’t even my best yet. This goes out to all my Chaldeans in the house. I proved once again why you can’t sleep on my skills—that was a solid 8.5 performance against a really tough competitor. I wanted to get the knockout, but he wasn’t a pushover. I controlled the range, barely got touched all night, and got some great learning rounds in while taking care of business.”
Undefeated Flint heavyweight Sardius Simmons (10-0, 6 KOs) scored a highlight-reel second-round TKO of Detrailous Webster (9-6, 5 KOs). Webster hurt Simmons badly in the second, sending him stumbling back into the ropes. Simmons didn’t let off the gas, landing a flush right hook that sent Webster tumbling back into the ropes of the neutral corner. With blood gushing from his nose, the referee immediately stopped the bout at 1:55.
Michigan favorite and SuperBad Boxing Gym fighter Jasmine Hampton (3-0, 2 KOs) won an eight-round unanimous decision over Gloria Munguilla (8-4), scored 78-74, 80-72, 78-74.
Local favorite Hussam Al Mashadi (16-1, 12 KOs) narrowly edged a game Seantorious Martin (12-2, 7 KOs) via eight-round unanimous decision in a back-and-forth fight, scored 78-74, 79-73, 77-75.
In a matchup of undefeated bantamweight prospects in the opening bout on Wynn Records Network, Richard Fernandez (5-0-1, 3 KOs) and Joshua Moreno (4-0-1, 3 KOs) fought to a split-draw in six round an action-packed fight, scored 56-68 for Moreno, 58-56 for Fernandez and 57-57.
In the final non-televised bout, local favorite and undefeated super lightweight prospect Lance Smith (8-0, 5 KOs) won a near-shutout unanimous decision over Marlin Sims (9-5, 4 KOs) scored 60-54, 60-54, 59-55.
Undefeated super lightweight prospect Savannah Tini (8-0, 2 KOs) won a shutout eight-round unanimous decision victory over veteran Calista Silgado (22-21-4, 16 KOs), score 80-72 on all three judges scorecards.
In the opening bout of the evening, G2G Promotions undefeated lightweight prospect Sai Maldonado (3-0, 2 KOs) went the distance for the first time in his career in a four-round unanimous decision over Dmytrko Kruhalskyi (0-1) scored 40-36, 39-37 twice.
