Miami Gallos Defeat L.A. Matadors in World Series of Boxing Season Finale, 4-1

Thursday night, St. Patrick's Day, the Miami Gallos of the World Series of Boxing were at home in Miami Beach, Fl at The Fillmore Miami Beach. The first-place Los Angeles Matadors were in town after clinching the playoffs the week before. That didn't prevent them from bringing a strong solid team against the Gallos (meaning gamecock in Spanish) for the regular season final matchup for both teams.

Kicking things off with a bang perhaps the biggest upset of the night was Miami Gallos bantamweight Luis Miguel Diaz of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with a record of 1-4, ranked No. 28th, in the league taking on L.A. Matador Fernando Martinez of Argentina with a record of 4-0, ranked No. 3 in the league.

Diaz, a former AIBA Presidents Cup Silver medalist in 2009, had defeated Martinez in 2008 at the AIBA Youth World Championships. Miami Gallos assistant coach Francisco "Angel" Nazario had worked up a game plan that had Diaz sticking and moving throughout the fight frustrating Martinez and winning convincingly, by unanimous decision, final scores were 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46.

Next up was a lightweight matchup between Miami Gallos Roberto Navarro of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ranked No. 27 with a 1-3 record taking on L.A. Matador  Eric Fowler of Houston, TX who was ranked No. 4 with a 4-0 record.

Navarro, who was on the Dominican team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, took the fight to Fowler, almost knocking Fowler down in the third round. The fighters continued exchanging blows with Navarro getting the best of Fowler and winning by split decision by scores of 47-48, 48-47, 48-47.

The third fight of the night, a heavyweight matchup, had the Gallos' Paul Koon (1-0) of Philadelphia taking on L.A. Matador Javier Torres (2-0) of Pico Rivera, Calif. This was Koon's second fight since moving up to heavyweight weighting 213 lbs for the bout. Koon was able to edge out a back-and-forth battle that had him winning the bout 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 securing the Gallos victory, putting them go up 3-0.

The fourth fight of the night was a middleweight rematch which had L.A. Matador Russell Lamour (3-1) of Portland, Oregon defeating Miami Gallos John Joe Joyce (0-1) of Ireland again. Final scores were unanimous for Lamour 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47.

In the final matchup of the night the Gallos' 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medalist at light heavyweight and fan favorite Irish Kenny Egan (1-1) TKO'd Matador Elber Passos of Brazil (1-0) at 2:47 of the second round.

The Miami Gallos finished the season with a 4-2 record at home and 4-8 overall. Head coach Pat Burns stated that they could have won a lot more matches that were split decisions, especially at home. 

Miami Gallos assistant coach Joe Burns feels that they have great group of guys that trains hard and gives their all in the ring and that they will be a force to reckon with next year.

Miami Gallos General Manager Mike Sophia feels that the Gallos did well by beating the L.A. Matadors (the No. 1 team in the Americas conference, finishing 8-4) at home twice, and that the Miami Gallos are the most exciting boxing product in Miami. From tonight's action and covering the Miami Gallos throughout the inaugural season I can't seem to disagree. Miami Gallos boxing equals non-stop boxing action. Can't wait till next year.