Before Friday night's boxing match at the Fairpark Coliseum, Salt Lake's Tony Montoya Jr. promised at least a third round knockout. After the fight, however, Montoya could only hope for a rematch.
With 25 seconds left in the fifth round, Johnny Bryant of Las Vegas knocked a weary Montoya into the ropes with a vicious right hook that prompted the referee to call the match and gave Bryant the victory with a technical knockout.After the fight, Montoya was disappointed that the referee gave Bryant the TKO decision.
Montoya dropped to 21-7.
"I thought you got three knock downs in a round, but I'm not going to make excuses," Montoya said. "He was a good fighter."
Bryant sent Montoya to the mat twice in the fourth round with stunning combinations of left jabs and pounding right hooks.
After being knocked to the canvas twice in the fourth, Montoya somehow picked himself up and stood Bryant straight up with a crushing right jab to the forehead.
The small, yet rowdy, hometown crowd seemed to re-energize Montoya, who hasn't been in a professional fight for two years, but Bryant was just too tough in the fifth.
"I would love a rematch in August," a very emotional Montoya added.
Tony Montoya Sr., who is his father and manager, thought that the long layoff between fights and not knowing who his opponent would be were big factors in the loss.
"We didn't know what we were up against," Montoya Sr. said. The original opponent canceled and Bryant didn't show up until the morning of the fight. "That's not an excuse though, we'll take the loss. It might be good for Tony to look for a rematch."
Two other Utah fighters also put on their gloves Friday night.
Joe Gomez, a West High graduate, upped his professional record to 2-0 with a unanimous decision over Wayne Greggory.
Gomez used a lot of patience waiting for the light-footed Greggory to let down his guard. In the third and fourth rounds, Gomez tired Greggory with crushing combinations.
"I wanted to work my jabs and not make myself work too hard at first," an excited Gomez said. "I feel great."
Justo Sanchez, from Brigham City, lashed out a good beating on Francisco Arroyo earning another unanimous decision for a local fighter. Sanchez improved his record to 4-4.
In other action, Jimwon Mok, an exchange student from Seoul, South Korea, whipped Charles Goode, Oklahoma City, Okla. Goode not only had a glass chin, but a glass midsection as he fell down three times in the first round.
The most impressive fighter was Ken Pratt of Phoenix who knocked the lights out of Kevin Jones.
Jones' trainer threw in the white towel early in the second round protecting his fighter from serious facial damage.