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Edwin Soto fends off Salim Larbi in CES Boxing's Main Event of a Pro-Am boxing show featuring over five hours of live boxing

By Alex Pierpaoli

Twitter Recap Here

CES Boxing visited the CT woods of Mashantucket last night with a massive fight card from the Fox Theater at Foxwoods Resot Casino. Billed as "The Future of Boxing" the Jimmy Burchfield promoted show featured 14 bouts, seven amateur contests held under the auspices of USA Boxing followed by seven professional. In the Main Event Edwin Soto, 154lbs, of New Haven, CT, defeated Salim Larbi, 154lbs, of Brooklyn, NY, by split decision in a fight where both men traded knockdowns and Soto was absorbing massive punishment in the fight's final seconds. Salim Larbi surprised Soto in round one when he nailed him with an overhand right that crumpled the New Haven boxer. Soto recovered in round two and both men seemed very cautious, wary of each other's power. The next few rounds were very close with both fighters scoring cleanly. In round six Soto caught Larbi with a hard right that sent him reeling back and down on a bit of a delayed reaction. Ref. Mercante Jr. let the fight continue and Soto was unable to finish Larbi off before round's end. In the seventh, Soto controlled the opening half of the round until Larbi connected with a hard uppercut. In the final round with the crowd cheering wildly, Larbi drove Soto into a corner and was slamming him with hard punches with Ref. Mercante looking very closely at the bell. When the scorecards were read the judges saw it 76-74 for Salim Larbi overruled by scores of 75-74 and 76-74 both in favor of Edwin Soto. Interestingly, Judge Don Trella scored the 8th 10-8 for Larbi because Soto was so badly hurt even though he was never off his feet. Had the other judges done the same it would not have altered the outcome in terms of total points.  

With the victory Edwin Soto raised his record to 13-2-2 (5) while Salim Larbi's dropped to 20-10-2 (7). 

Juiseppe Cusumano, 234lbs, of Carini, Sicily, had no answers for the corpulent but speedier and craftier Robert Simms, 237lbs, of Saginaw MI. From the opening bell Robert Simms showed he was far more agile than he looked, boxing behind a sturdy jab and bedeviling Cusumano with lateral movement. Cusumano spent the night reaching for Simms or trying to wrestle out of clinches. Referee Ken Ezzo reprimanded both boxers for too much clutching and talking on more than one occasion but the mixed bag of factors, especially the punishing jab of Simms proved to be far too much for Cusumano to cope with. At the end of six the judges saw it 59-55 and 58-56 x 2 all in favor of the visiting Robert Simms. 

Simms leaves CT with an upset victory and a record of 7-2 (3) while Cusumano is forced to regroup, now 15-2 (13). 

Jimmy Williams, 155lbs, of New Haven, CT, rebounded from an April 20th decision loss with a lopsided victory over Christian Aguirre, 153lbs, of Salt Lake City, UT. Aguirre posed a vigorous but sloppy assault in round one which Williams was able to blunt with straight punches. Aguirre persisted throughout the fight, never really landing cleanly but throwing lots of punches, while mocking and mugging Williams, trying to break his concentration and draw him into a brawl. Williams never obliged keeping a smart, severe angle behind his shoulder to Aguirre, and strafing him with accurate right hand bolts. After six rounds the officials were in agreement seeing Williams the victor by three scores of 60-53. Jimmy "Quiet Storm" Williams returns to his winning ways, now 15-1-1 (5) while Christian Aguirre returns to Salt Lake City at 7-2 (3).   

Marcia Agripino, 121lbs, of New London, CT defeated Kailyn Hansen, 125lbs, of Whittier, CA, by majority decision in a four round female bantamweight bout. Agripino packed the stands with very loud supporters and well-wishers and she did not disappoint them, using straight punches to control the opening round. Hansen made up ground in round two, jolting Agripino with short chopping bolts from the right hand. Agripino, fueled by absorbing punches, came on strong in the second but was smothering her own shots by crowding the shorter-armed Hansen. In the third and fourth Agripino regained her concentration and kept Hansen on the outside where Agripino could use her reach and crack Hansen with the straight right. At the end of four rounds the scorecards were 38-38, overruled by two scores of 39-37 in favor of New London's own, Marcia Agripino.

The thirty-six year old, Agripino picks up her first victory since July of twenty-thirteen and raises her record to 2-1-1. Meanwhile, Kailyn Hansen, just eighteen years old, loses her second, now 0-2. 

Kendrick Ball Jr, 162lbs, of Worcester, MA took quite a shellacking from a determined Alexis Gaytan, 160lbs, of Weslaco, TX. Dropped hard by a right hand in the opening round, Ball Jr showed lots of guts but not a lot of adaptability in lasting the six round distance. Gaytan pressed the action throughout the fight and hurt Ball repeatedly but was never able to finish him. Ball rebounded from the knockdown in round one, winning the second on all three judges scorecards after knocking Gaytan's mouthpiece out with a big left hook. In the fourth, Ball was badly hurt with another overhand right from Gaytan. He never hit the canvas but Gaytan so controlled that round all three judges gave it to him 10-8. At the end of six, the judges saw it 58-54 and 59-53 x 2 all in favor of Alexis Gaytan. 

Gaytan returns to the Lone-Star State, now 4-0 (2), while Ball tastes his first defeat, falling to 9-1-2 (6).

Elvis Figueroa, 169lbs, of New Haven, CT, scored a unanimous decision over Leandro Da Silva of Sao Paolo, Brazil via Woburn, MA. Figueroa opened with punches in bunches thrown with bad intentions and never let-up. Da Silva, an MMA convert in just his second outing as a boxer, was battered but unfazed and kept trying throughout but could never find the range on Figueroa. The work rate and volume of punches thrown by Figueroa kept Da Silva under the gun and unable to mount a successful offense of his own. At the end of four the judges saw it 40-36 and 39-37 x 2 all in favor of Elvis Figueroa.

Figueroa raised his record to 5-0 (2) while Da Silva's drops to 1-2 (1). 

Carlos Marrero III, 133lbs, of Bridgeport, CT, battled Jonathan Rojas, 133lbs, of Newark, NJ to a four round majority decision draw in the night's exciting professional opener. Marrero started strong, landing a hard left hook to the belly of Rojas in the closing seconds of the first. In the second, Rojas landed body shots of his own and rallied as Marrero tired. But with about 40 seconds to go in the third Marrero surged, landing effectively and battling back to win the round, at least in this writer's opinion. In the fourth both men exchanged heavy shots and stirred up the crowd. In the final seconds of the fight Marrero hurt Rojas badly to the body but he refused to go down and finished on his feet. When the scorecards were read one judge saw it 39-37 for Rojas, overruled by the other two who both saw it even at38-38 for a majority draw. 

Carlos Marrero III is now 0-2-1 and Jonathan Rojas is 0-1-1. Don't be surprised to see a rematch of this 4 round gem on a future CES Boxing card.


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or email Alex Pierpaoli at KOFantasyBoxing@gmail.com