Previous Story
‘Boom’ quickly dispatches Wusstig
Roman “Boom” Alvarez, second left, poses with Frank “The Crank” Camacho, left, and other supporters at the conclusion of Trench Warz 18: Rock & Rumble last Friday night at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort.
(Contributed Photo)
Alvarez was in the semi-main event in the 14-match fight card that had Frank “The Crank” Camacho making his comeback bout in seven years, when he faced Korean Jae Woong Kim. (Details of the Camacho-Kim bout will be reported in Saipan Trbune’s Tuesday edition).
Alvarez waited for a long time to face Wusstig, but he ended their duel quickly as the former needed only 26 seconds in the first round to score the knockout win.
Determination and fire were seen in Alvarez’s eyes as he made it a personal goal to reclaim the featherweight strap after Wusstig defeated his cousin, Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez, via split decision in Trench Warz 15: Supremacy on Dec. 11, 2011.
Roman, despite facing the reigning champ, showed that he’s not intimidated by Wusstig’s height advantage as he even engaged the defending champ into a stare down that further fired up the home crowd. Wusstig stands 5’9” while Alvarez is 5’6”.
Roman was the clear aggressor right from the opening bell, quickly pressing on to attack Wusstig’s defense and that somehow threw the deposed champ out of his game plan.
A Roman left straight staggered Wusstig and like a shark that smelled blood, the Trench Tech fighter pushed further, forcing his opponent to fall back first on the canvass. He pounced on the moment, mounting his opponent and rapidly rained a flurry of punches.
Pandemonium erupted when fight referee Tony D’Angelo stopped the fight as the veteran third man on the ring immediately intervened after seeing Wusstig could no longer withstand Roman’s attacks.
“That was a technical knockout. I saw his [Wusstig] eyes rolled out where the only thing that you saw is the white. He was knocked out and only awaken by another punch by Roman,” said D’Angelo after the fight.
Wusstig’s lost his second title defense after he also defeated Roman’s stablemate Jessie Fassi two years ago.
Roman remained undefeated after four fights, two of which were recorded in the Pacific Xtreme Combat. He scored a knockout win by head kick against Jay Taijeron in the first round of their bout in PXC 40 last year and earned a unanimous decision win over McKlane Alfred in PXC 42 early this year.
“Hats off to Rob, he’s a great fighter that’s why I really need to be at my best. I trained hard for this with the end goal of bringing the title back on Saipan,” said Roman, who is open and ready to a rematch if ever Wusstig wants one.
“He took it away from my sparring partner and brother, Shane, that’s why I was really determined to beat him. I just pressed on with the attack and went straight for the kill. I broke my left arm in the process,” he added.
Wusstig dropped to 4-8 and suffered his third straight defeat. He hasn’t won since beating Thaddeus Malbreaux via guillotine choke in PXC 30 on March 30, 2012.
His two other losses were against Nate Quiniola Thorell (unanimous decision) in PXC 36 last year and Mark Striegl by submission scarf hold arm-lock with 1:38 left in the first round in PXC 33 on Sept. 1, 2012. (Jon Perez)
