The Vancouver Sun - It's time to step up

It's time to step up

The realization has hit Kevin Reynolds like a roundhouse right.

BY THE VANCOUVER SUN

The realization has hit Kevin Reynolds like a roundhouse right.

If he wants to move up, to take his burgeoning boxing talent to the next level, he can't be a part-time fighter.

The personable cruiserweight, who runs a fitness club in the Bentall Four tower in Vancouver, made his first ESPN-televised fight a winning one on Wednesday, scoring a unanimous six-round decision at the River Rock Casino over durable, hard-slugging journeyman Victor Barragan of Oxnard, Calif.

But it was far from an overpowering performance for the 28-year-old Reynolds, a rock solid 200-pounder who improved to 8-1 before a crowd of 1,100 at the casino's intimate show theatre.

On a handful of occasions, Reynolds inexplicably backed himself onto the ropes and let Barragan bomb away.

And he was clearly gassed in the last round, which Barragan won on all the judges' cards.

"I need to get more fights, going more rounds," said Reynolds, who has fought just three times since February, 2007.

"I have to get out of this fighting-twice-a-year habit I have. I've got to be busier."

One of the busiest bouts on the six-fight card was the main event, a spirited battle of top junior middleweights. Colombian native Joel Julio, now fighting out of Miami, scored a unanimous 10-round decision -- 96-94, 96-94 and 97-93 -- over Ishe Smith of Las Vegas to improve to 32-1.

Immediately after the decision was announced, a fan showered Julio with a handful of clean, crisp Canadian $100 bills.

Reynolds and Calgary's Albert Onolonse, a former Nigerian amateur champion, might have had the most to gain financially, however, with their fights included on the ESPN broadcast.

Onolonse improved to 15-0 by scoring a unanimous eight-round decision over Mexican Eddie Sanchez, whom he rocked for a standing eight count with a couple of powerful rights.

Reynolds was somewhat stiff-legged early in his bout and while he landed some damaging punches, Barragan, who came in with an 8-3 record, never stopped pushing forward.

"He was tough, we knew that going in," said Reynolds, who opened a cut over Barragan's left eye and bloodied his nose.

"Those are the type of fights you need, tough guys who are going to stand in front of you. Teach you something."

Reynolds works with long-time trainer Jerry Veerasammy in Vancouver.

But with the help of three benefactors who are clients at his Contenders fitness club, he's been able to go to Las Vegas for brief periods to work with respected American trainer Jesse Reid.

"He needs six to eight fights a year," said the gravelly voiced Reid, who added that the ESPN appearance will get Reynolds some much-needed exposure.

"And seeing him with a real durable fighter, it showed Kevin that he needs more than one week in Las Vegas. He's got to be with better fighters to train with to go to that next step."

All three judges scored it 58-56, but Reynolds cost himself a couple of rounds by retreating to the ropes and letting Barragan pound away while trying to set up a counter attack.

"Sometimes I have a habit, I don't know why, of feeling comfortable on the ropes, countering off of them," said Reynolds.

"I think it set up his rhythm when I did that. But other than that, in the centre of the ring, I thought I handled him."

Reynolds conceded his day job work -- allowing too many green, quasi-fighters slug away while he blocks punches -- has worked into his psyche. He can get too comfortable, he says, in that approach.

"We're going to bring him to Vegas more where he has to work with top-notch guys and he'll stop that because they'll clip him on the ropes," says Reid.

In a non-televised bout involving local fighters, super middleweight Junior Moar of Vancouver improved to 4-2 in his comeback after four years in prison, surviving an early cut from an accidental head butt to win a unanimous six-round decision over James Dearmin of Ladner.

And in the final bout of the night, North Vancouver native Noriko Kariya, fighting in front of her family for the first time, improved to 9-2-1 with a unanimous five-round decision over Jessica Mohs of Oklahoma City in a junior featherweight bout.

n Great Canadian Gaming, owners of the River Rock, will hold its next pro card outdoors at the Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam in August.

gkingston@png.canwest.com

ONLINE: To see a photo gallery and complete coverage of Wednesday's Rumble at the Rock IV, visit: vancouversun.com