Shane wins in main event substitute

Shane Alvarez, top, hammers Korean opponent Park Jeon Seung during the main event fight in Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown last Friday night at the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe. (Jon Perez)

Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez suddenly found himself fighting in the main event of Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown after cousin Roman “Sonic Boom” Alvarez’s scheduled bout was cancelled following the last minute withdrawal of the latter’s opponent.

And Shane did not disappoint his Saipan fans, as he defeated visiting Korean challenger Park Jeon Seung via arm bar submission less than three minutes into the first of their five-round non-title bout last Friday night at the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe. Shane showed that he was hungry for a win after losing via unanimous decision in his last fight more than a year ago against Japan’s Michito Abe (16-7, 3 knockouts) in Pacific Xtreme Combat 56 at the University of Guam Field House in Mangilao, Guam.

The 5-foo-9 Shane used his height and reach advantage against Park, who is about four inches shorter than the local bet. But what he lacked in height, Park compensated with his guts as he managed to sneak in solid shots to Shane in the early in the first round.

Shane, after finally getting his rhythm, slowly became the aggressor and kept pressuring Park, who was forced to defend himself against Pikaboo’s relentless attacks. An accidental kick by Park to Shane’s groin area halted the fight as referee Mike Ulloa gave the latter some time to recover from the unintentional blow.

When the fight resumed, Shane pressed on and took down Park. The Trench Tech fighter tried to work his way to forcing his Korean foe to submission, while Park attempted to squeeze out of Shane’s stranglehold and even managed to put the local bet into a headlock. Shane got out of Park’s headlock after it was not properly executed and then pushed his opponent down on the floor and started hammering away. Park, however, defended against his opponent’s attacks anew.

Despite Park’s refusal to quit, Shane remained patient and when the Korean’s defense opened up, the Saipan bet got hold of his opponent’s left arm, leaving the visiting fighter with no choice but to tap out at the 2:56 mark of the first round.

Shane improved to 13-5 after the win, his sixth by submission, with three of his other victories coming by way of knockout and four by decision.

“[Park] is one tough fighter and I have to give everything that I’ve learned from my training against him. It was really a close call when he took me down, but I managed to get my composure back,” said Shane, who has a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

“I had some good kicks against him during our stand ups. He had a nice kick, but sadly I jumped in order to deflect it and he hit me in the groin. It was totally unintentional and things like that happen,” added Shane on the accidental low blow from Park.