Gilbert earns 5th-round KO over Stovall

FALLON - Joey Gilbert knocked out Ivan Stovall with one minute and five seconds remaining in the fifth round to win the main event at Fallon Fights/Rural Rumble '09 Saturday evening at the Churchill County Fairgrounds.

Gilbert knocked Stovall down twice in the round. The first resulted in a 10-second count where Stovall barely stood up in time. Seconds later, Gilbert knocked Stovall down again with a flurry of punches that sent his opponent flying into the ropes. As soon as Stovall hit the floor again, referee Jim Drackulich stopped the bout.

Gilbert was fighting for the first time since losing to Yerington native Jesse Brinkley on Feb. 14 at the Reno Events Center. He credited Brinkley, and what he learned that night, for his victory over Stovall.

"I've got to take my hat off to Jesse Brinkley," Gilbert said. "After he whooped me, he kind of reached out to me and has been a mentor. He said, 'kid, you've got to get in there and bite down and fight, and you're going to feel better for doing it.' And he was right."

Gilbert definitely felt better than Stovall did at the end of the fight.

Gilbert was in control from the start, landing multiple jabs and often forcing Stovall to cover his head to ward off blows. Gilbert put Stovall on the ropes in the second and fourth rounds. Late in the fourth round he landed a

combination that forced Stovall to retreat and gather himself together. He didn't have much time to do it as Gilbert quickly put him on the ropes again.

In the final round, Gilbert landed several sweat-flying blows to Stovall's head before knocking him down with a flurry of punches. Stovall stayed down for eight seconds before climbing back to his feet, but it seemed clear that there was no more fight left in him. It took only another five seconds or so for Gilbert to floor him again.

Gilbert said that Stovall tried to hard to knock him out.

"Every punch he threw was a knockout punch. He wasn't throwing punches to score points, he was punching to knock me out," Gilbert said. "I felt him and walked through him. I remember Jesse saying that you're going to have those shots that wobble you a little bit."

Stovall said that Gilbert was stronger than he expected.

"I was getting caught between jabs," Stovall said. That's what threw me off. I didn't think he would catch me with that many jabs. It was rocking my head back. I think that's when he caught me after that.

"He was stronger than what I thought he'd be. Not faster, just stronger."

There were two boxing and two mixed-martial arts bouts on the undercard. Both boxing bouts ended in draws which left the fans booing.

Theron DeLome fought Johnny Mancilla in the first fight. Things were pretty even in the first three rounds before DeLome appeared to take control in the final round, landing some jabs and combinations that seemed to stun Mancilla. But one judge scored the fight 39-37 for Mancilla, one scored it 39-38 for DeLome, and the third scored a 38-38 tie, resulting in the draw.

Both fighters thought they had won the bout.

"I don't see where they got the draw," DeLorme said. "I thought I won the fight. I thought I doubled him in punches. He didn't hit me with more than four punched the entire fight."

Mancilla's take was different.

"I thought I did enough to win the fight," Mancilla said. "We both came out and fought our hearts out."

Tyler Hinkey and Yohan Banks also fought to a draw. One judge gave Hinkey a slight 39-37 advantage but two others scored it even.

The fight looked more like a dancing class at the beginning as little contact was made in the first minute or so. The first two rounds were pretty even, but Banks seemed to get the better of things in the third and fourth rounds. At one point in the fourth round, Hinkey escaped from a combination of blows and ran away from Banks, giving himself time to regroup. He closed the bout with a combination that put Banks on the ropes.

"He had good head movement, but I got him with a couple shots," Banks said. "I could have done more, so yeah it was a draw. If you come to the house you've got to really hurt the guy or knock him out. I didn't do that."

Hinkey said he hoped he made the fans happy.

"I'm a little bummed out," Hinkey said. "I just couldn't get it done tonight."

A scheduled fight between Hinkey's brother, Derek, and undefeated Bayan Jargal was canceled because of a hand injury suffered by Derek Hinkey in training.

In the MMA bouts, defeated Zeth Martin by tap out at 2:38 of the first round, and Devin Conkling defeated Johnny Martinez on excessive strikes at 2:35 of the opening round.