Eddie Gomez outpoints Daquan Arnett in first 10 rounder
BROOKLYN – It wasn’t exactly a battle of attrition, but Eddie Gomez, a Bronx junior middleweight prospect, outlasted Daquan Arnett to score a 10-round unanimous decision victory in the co-feature of the Victor Ortiz-Luis Collazo main event at the Barclays Center on Thursday night.
It was the first time that both young boxers had been schedule for a 10-round match and it was the first time that each of them went that distance. JudgeTony Paollilo scored it 98-91 and judges Don Trella and Waleska Roldan scored it 97-92 for Gomez. The Ring scored it 97-92 for Gomez.
Gomez (16-0, 10 knockouts) and Arnett of Orlando, Fla., had met once before as amateurs. And Gomez had won that fight also.
“I feel good. It was my first 10 rounder,” Gomez said. “Arnett was tough, but I knew that going in. But I dropped him with a body shot in the seventh round. I feel like if I had followed it up with a combination, I would have gotten him out of there.”
Indeed Gomez probably could have finished off Arnett had he pressed the issue. But he seemed to punch himself out. The distance seemed to get to both fighters as they appeared to fade down the stretch. But Gomez seemed the busier boxer throughout.
“I’ll be back. He’s up two zip on me. But this isn’t the end for me. It’s just the beginning. I’m going to take this loss and come back stronger,” Arnett said.
In one of the televised bouts featherweight prospect Gary Russell, Jr. (24-0, 14 KOs), of Capitol Heights, Md., stopped Miguel Tamayo, of Obregon, Mexico (14-8-2, 12 KOs), with a devastating KO at 1:04 of the fourth round. Russell landed the perfect right hook on Tamayo’s chin and dropped him on the seat of his pants. Tamayo looked around and made a vain attempt to get to his feet before being counted out by referee Eddie Claudio.
“I feel good. I worked hard for what I wanted and paced ourselves. We got the job done,’’ Russell said. “I felt good and prepared. I trained for six weeks.”
Russell kept himself in position as the mandatory for the WBO featherweight title.
“We need to hurry up and make that happen so I can take Orlando Salido’s belt,” Russell said.
Salido, the WBO champion, will defend the title against Vasly Lomachenko in San Antonio on March 1.
In other key undercard matches, Marcus Browne (9-0, 7 KOs), of Staten Island, scored a six round decision against Kentrell Clairborne (4-9, 3 KOs), of Shreveport, La., in a cruiserweight match. Browne rattled Clairborne a few times during the fight, but couldn’t knock him down.
“That dude had a head made of stone. It was a great learning experience. I feel like I got some good rounds in. I’m learning to be a good distance fighter,” Browne said.
Emmanuel Gonzalez of the Bronx (14-0, 7 KOs) defeated Victor Sanchez of Houston, Texas (5-8-2, 2 KOs) on an eight round unanimous decision in a super featherweight bout… Junior welterweight prospect Zachary Ochoa (6-0, 3 KOs), of Brooklyn, scored a four-round unanimous decision against Jose Valderrama of Manati (3-7, 3 KOs), Puerto Rico… Rafael Vazquez (10-1, 8 KOs), of Brooklyn, stopped Bradley Patraw of St. Paul, Minn., on a TKO at 1:20 of the first round.