Miguel ‘Silky Smooth’ Gonzalez (right) and Tyrone ‘Fists of Fury’ Harris (left) hooked it up at Cene Park in a 135-pound scheduled eight rounder.  Gonzalez brought quite a following from Cleveland and was the fan favorite from the onset.  He did little to hurt his popularity in this fight

In the opening round, the 135-pounders brought a much faster pace than the heavyweight dominated card provided to this point.  Harris did more catching than throwing and Gonzalez was the more active fighter landing a fair percentage of his punches.  Give Gonzalez round one.

In the second round, Gonzalez continued to pressure Harris with a pesky jab.  Harris threw more punches than he had in the first round, but unfortunately, he still caught more than he threw, two rounds to none, Gonzalez.  The third and fourth rounds saw Gonzalez connect several jabs on Harris.  Harris was able to land some shots and the southpaw was hitting Gonzalez, but Silky Smooth was putting together some nifty three and four-punch combinations to hold an edge.

Silky Smooth kept the pressure on through the middle rounds.  Harris was catching shots to the head and then shaking his head like the punches had no effect, which the welts and swelling on his face, proved that they must have some impact.  Harris started scoring big in the seventh round.  While the two fighters were clinched, Gonzalez punched as the ref was separating the fighters.  harris took exception and started swinging wildly and angrily.  One of his haymakers connected sending Gonzalez to his left knee.  The referee scored it a knockdown, and suddenly, this fight was close.

Gonzalez poured it on in the eighth round trying to make up for the points he lost one round earlier on the knockdown.  The judges thought Gonzalez was more dominant than I did.  One judge scored it 78-73, and the other two were at 77-74, in a unanimous decision for the winer, Miguel ‘Silky Smooth’ Gonzalez, who improved to 19-2 with the hard fought win.

*Photos by Ron Stevens