By Joe Harrison

Hitz Boxing produced an action-packed evening at “Belvedere Bash” as WBF light middleweight champion Henry Coyle (17-2, 12 KOs) defeated Damon Antoine (9-38-2, 4 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision at the Belvedere Banquet in Elk Grove, IL. It was Coyle’s sixth consecutive victory as he looks to continue his climb up the 154-pound ranks.

From the start, Coyle was rocking Antoine with his punches. Antoine threw punches downstairs, but he was countered to his face repeatedly as Coyle pressed the action. Antoine continued to fight back, but Coyle covered up and blocked most of the punches.

Throughout the second round, Coyle searched for openings as he threw a left hand to the body followed by a right hand to the face, and vice versa, always finding ways to connect. Antoine attempted to strike back, but still had difficulty landing his punches.

During the middle rounds, Coyle continued to land with straight punches and hooks upstairs. Antoine showed a lot of heart as he continued to take the punches and fight back hard.

As the contest was coming to an end, Coyle proceeded to punish Antoine, but he could not finish him off even as fatigue settled in and the clinching increased. In the end, the scores were read as 80-71, and 80-72 twice, all for Coyle.

Also, super bantamweights Sergio Montes De Oca (6-1, 1 KO) and Salvador Perez (2-1-1, 1 KO) fought to a four-round majority draw in a battle filled with fireworks. Both boxers came out swinging as Perez was rocked a few times from punches, but he answered back with some crushing blows to the face of De Oca. Perez also took a knee following a low blow which momentarily delayed the action.

De Oca controlled the action in the second round, moving forward and landing combinations. Perez, on the other hand, would circle out of the way and crack De Oca with a hook to the chin. They began to violently exchange punches again as the round came to an end.

During rounds three and four, De Oca forced the action as he struck Perez with more combinations. Perez threw fewer punches and was countered effectively when he did throw punches. In an act of frustration, Perez went after De Oca in the closing seconds and continued to swing after the sound of the final bell. One score was 39-37 for De Oca while the other two scores were 38-38.

In addition, heavyweight prospect Elijah McCall (10-1-1, 9 KOs), son of former heavyweight champ Oliver McCall, scored a second-round TKO over Travis Fulton (17-29, 17 KOs). McCall stalked Fulton around the ring and threw his jab. Once he had Fulton against the ropes, McCall would begin throwing combos and hooks, but Fulton clinched in an effort to avoid danger.

In the second round, Fulton continued to clinch whenever McCall got in close. Referee Geno Rodriguez eventually had a point deducted from Fulton for excessive holding. Immediately, McCall went after Fulton swinging with left and right hooks. Fulton staggered and went to clinch again, prompting Rodriguez to call of the contest, declaring McCall the winner by TKO. The stoppage came at the time of 2:10.

Also on the card, super middleweight Simon Buettener (1-0, 1 KO) defeated Jadell “Jacob” Wells (0-3) by a first-round TKO. Buettner was on the attack from the start although his aggression translated into clinching and roughhousing. Buettner threw another series of punches when suddenly a left hook caught the cheek of Wells and dropped him to the canvas. Wells beat the count, but referee Gerald Scott did not think he was fit to continue and the contest was waved off at the time of 2:15.

A four-round bout between super middleweights Gerald Taylor (5-3-2, 2 KOs) and PJ Cajigas (0-0-1) ended in unanimous draw. A left hook dropped Cajigas in round one and a right uppercut dropped Taylor in round two. In the end, all three scores were 37-37.