Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
RENO " What was billed as a grudge match between Yerington's Jesse Brinkley and Reno's Joey Gilbert turned into a combination track meet and a bloody, one-sided affair and could rightly be referred to as a "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" Saturday at Reno Events Center.
Brinkley nearly swept all 12 rounds on the scorecards and scored a unanimous-decision victory to successfully defend his WBC-affiliated United States National Boxing Championship (USNBC) super middleweight belt.
The 32-year-old Brinkley, who improved to 33-5 with 22 knockouts, handed Gilbert, 17-2 (13) with 1 no-decision, his first career knockdown. Brinkley landed a right cross that broke Gilbert's nose in the fifth round and sent him to the canvas.
Gilbert was up right away, but his chest and blue and white trunks quickly were covered in gore.
"The best man won," said Brinkley, who weighed 165 pounds, as did Gilbert. "It felt great after all this time to get in there and beat him. I figured he'd get up. I give Joey Gilbert credit, but he ran a lot. I trained to fight, but he trained to run. I'm sorry. I wanted to knock him out, but he ran."
Gilbert entered the ring to resounding boos from the announced crowd of 6,626, while Brinkley " walking to the squared circle to the strains of Pantera's "Walk" " received a standing ovation.
And as the words to the song go, Brinkley did earn respect by showing "a vulgar display of power" mixed in with superior boxing ability.
"The broken nose changed everything," said Gilbert. "I couldn't see and I couldn't breath. I have some things to work on and then I'll think about a rematch."
Brinkley was lukewarm at best at the possibility of a rematch.
"I didn't expect him to box me like that," Brinkley said. "If I fought him a hundred times, I'd beat him a hundred times. He wasn't willing to fight me. I gave him a chance to shut me up. He didn't want to. Now I move on."
Gilbert opened the first round on his bicycle, often running to his left. Brinkley was able to score with left jabs and right hands to the head and body, but was cut over the left eye by an unintentional head butt.
Brinkley stalked Gilbert in the second and was the busier fighter as Gilbert ran to his left and right. Gilbert occasionally came forward in the third, but Brinkley's defense was stellar as he dodged the majority of Gilbert's punches.
After a close fourth round, Brinkley dropped Gilbert in the fifth. By the end of the round Gilbert was blowing clouds of red mist as his nose leaked like a faucet.
"I don't know what this does for my rankings," said Brinkley, who is rated No. 13 by the IBF, "but, yes, I want to pursue a world title at 160 or 168."
Brinkley controlled rounds six through eight with a jackhammer jab. In the seventh the crowd was booing Gilbert for running when Brinkley connected with a huge right as Gilbert's nose poured crimson.
Brinkley relentlessly pursued a fleeing Gilbert who for the most part offered only a flicking left jab.
The pattern continued the final four rounds as Gilbert tried to survive, running mostly to his right as Brinkley pursued, landing a steady barrage of jabs an right hands, while trying and failing to get Gilbert to stand still and fight.
The bout ended with the fighters exchanging punches in the middle of the ring. The two arch-rivals touched gloves after the fight and Gilbert tried to hug Brinkley, who pulled away.
"I give him respect as a fighter," Brinkley said. "He kept on fighting and trying to win."
Judges Burt Clements and Herb Santos scored it 120-107, while Dave Moretti had it 119-108. The Nevada Appeal scored it 120-107 in favor of Brinkley.
In other action, McDermitt middleweight Derek Hinkey, 162, exploded with an overhand right that dropped Ariel Espinoza, 166, then followed up with an eight-punch barrage to score a first-round technical knockout.
The 5-foot-6 Espinoza, of Brooklyn, N.Y., tried to fight out of a defensive shell before the bomb from Hinkey put him down for a six-count. Hinkey was all over Espinoza, who was trying unsuccessfully to slug back as referee Vic Drakulich jumped in to stop it at the 2:10 mark.
Hinkey improved to 7-1 (7), while Espinal fell to 6-7-2 (2).
In the semi-main event, Rafael Valenzuela, 125, of Phoenix, had trouble tracking down slick veteran Yogli Herrera, 125, but rallied to score an eight-round majority decision.
Herrera, now 21-7-1 (15), of Barranquilla, Columbia, looked to control the first four rounds with his side-to-side, in-an-out movement and sharp counters. Though Herb Santos scored it 76-76, he was overruled by Dick Houck (77-75) and Eric Cheek (79-73), who saw it for Valenzuela.
The Nevada Appeal scored it 77-75 in favor of Herrera.
Valenzuela was more aggressive and seemed to take the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, but Herrera looked sharper in the eighth.
With the victory Valenzuela, who was spitting blood from the third round on, improved to 12-1 (6).
In other bouts:
- Former amateur star Stan Martyniouk, 133, of Antelope, Calif., outslicked Scott Furney, 135, of Waterford, Mich., to notch a unanimous four-round decision. All three judges scored it 40-36 in favor of the 2007 National Golden Gloves bronze medalist, who improved to 5-0 (1). The game but outclassed Furney fell to 3-8-1 (1).
- Gabriel Del Real, 147, of Fairfield, Calif., charged out of his corner and dropped Joel Gonzalez, 147, with a pair of body shots to score a knockout 25 seconds into the third round. Del Real improved to 3-0 (2), while Gonzalez, of Las Vegas, slipped to 2-3 (1).
- Yerington's Andrew Rempp, 132, rallied in the fourth and final round to pull out a majority draw against Johnny Mancilla, 132, of Susanville. The 22-year-old Rempp, who is Brinkley's cousin, is now 0-1-1. Mancilla, who was making his pro debut, is 0-0-1.
Mancilla landed hard rights throughout the fight and bloodied Rempp's nose in the third round. Cheek had Mancilla winning 39-37, but Houck and Clements each scored it 38-38.