Bully Beats Fulghum

The Bully Beats Fulghum in Las Vegas

By Uppercut Magazine staff

In a super middleweight showdown Bektemir “The Bully” Melikuziev pulled out a victory with a knockdown of fellow Golden Boy fighter Darius Fulghum to win the WBA elimination contest by unanimous decision on Friday.

The knockdown was crucial.

“It was a very important and tough fight,” said Melikuziev.

Indio’s Melikuziev (16-1, 10 Kos) walked into the match with Fulghum (14-1, 12 Kos) with a broken nose and re-injured it but won with a relentless attack in front of a sold out crowd at Virgen Hotels Las Vegas in Las Vegas.

Both Golden Boy super middleweights endured paths that finally led to each other and both unloaded both barrels for all 12 rounds. Back and forth they went with neither able to gain separation.

It looked grim for Fulghum in the third round when Melikuziev targeted the body and unloaded combinations that seemed to overpower the fighter from Houston, Texas. But he rallied at the end of the round.

In the seventh round it didn’t look favorable for Melikuziev when a point was deducted for excessive holding. He was warned earlier by referee Thomas Taylor and the loss of a point could make a difference in a very close match.

Melikuziev, who hails from Uzbekistan, used his agility and jabs out of a southpaw stance to win rounds against the taller Texan. But an uppercut from Fulghum pained the Uzbeki who grimaced. It was a blow to the same broken nose. They also clashed heads.

“We bumped heads multiple times,” said Melikuziev who broke his nose during sparring but felt he could still fight.

During the last three rounds both super middleweights opened up and seldom had more than two feet of space between them. Fulghum was buckled by a straight left from Melikuziev but stayed upright. Fulghum attacked immediately looking for an opening and exchanged freely with Melikuziev. Neither could get a clear advantage.

In the 12th and final round, a furious exchange in the early portion saw Melikuziev catch Fulghum with a wide left and down went the Texan. He immediately beat the count but the knockdown was crucial in the final scoring.

“I got caught being lazy,” said Fulghum. “It’s part of a learning lesson.”

After 12 rounds all three judges scored the fight 114-112 for Melikuziev. The knockdown proved the difference in the score. It gave the Uzbekistan fighter the 12th round by a 10-8 score.

“I dream about a world title,” said Melikuziev. “What could be better.”

Other Bouts

Eric Priest (16-0, 8 Kos)) peppered and pelted Luis Arias (22-5-1, 11 KOs) for 10 rounds with jabs and double jabs that kept the middleweight fight in his favor. After 10 rounds the judges favored Priest by decision.

Both fighters kept the action moving but Priest used the jab to keep Arias from landing the overhand right. It was a technical battle throughout the fight, but Priest was able to land more combos due to that constant jab.

No knockdowns were scored and after 10 rounds two judges scored it 99-90 and another 96-93 all for Priest.

Federico Pacheco (9-0) emerged victorious after a tough heavyweight battle against Calvin Barret (5-3). There were no knockdowns but Barrett was deducted a point for head butts in the fourth. The fight ended in a decision win for Pacheco the younger brother of super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco.

Cayden Griffiths (5-0, 5 Kos) proved too strong for Edgar Gutierrez (3-3) and ended the fight in the fourth round with a left hook. It was evident in the first round that the left hook was a weapon in jolting Gutierrez twice. The fight ended at 1:15 of the fourth with the left hook the weapon of destruction.

Heavyweight Joshua Edwards (2-0) knocked out Alexander Rhodes (2-2) in the first round with double right hands that ended the fight at 2:08.

(Photo by Cris Esqueda/GoldenBoy)