Saipan Tribune

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Lassiter falls short in PXC debut

Trench Tech Purebred's Mylo “Bam-Bam” Lassiter lost his Pacific Xtreme Combat debut, bowing to Roque Martinez of Spike 22 in their heavyweight bout in the PXC 36 held last Friday at the University of Guam Field House.

Lassiter (4-2 win-loss record) survived all three five-minute rounds, but could not sway the judges as Martinez (6-4-1) was awarded a unanimous win in front of his home crowd.

Base on eyewitness accounts, Lassiter started off the fight very strong and likely won the opening round. However the second round was very close and could have went either way, while the last round went hands down to Martinez. Martinez was much bigger than Lassiter and did a good job maintaining the top position in what turned out to be primarily a war on the canvas. The pair battled for grappling and submission positions, while mixing in some ground and pound exchanges.

According to Trench Tech's Cuki Alvarez, who accompanied Lassiter in his corner along with Zeng Zung's Joshua Castro, it was a very close battle.

“We knew going into it that we had to win convincingly and did not want the fight to go to the cards. Ultimately, [Martinez] proved to be the aggressor at the very end and held the top position at the final bell. Still, it was a good fight that had the crowd roaring and we definitely left Guam with more friends than when we arrived,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said Lassiter won the opening round, landing a big leg kick that dropped Martinez before he almost ended the fight with a deep Kimura submission. Alvarez thought the second round was very even as both fighters were busy with numerous position reversals on the mat. Lassiter then started the last round strong, but the home bet showed true guts and willed a stronger finish.

“We have no complaints because often times in a close match like that one, the final round becomes the deciding factor and Martinez did end the match on top with a flurry of punches,” Alvarez said.

Lassiter took the loss like a man and said on his Facebook that although he came up short he did his best for three rounds. He was naturally frustrated of the outcome, but at the same time can still crack a smile and vows to come back even hungrier.

“You win some and you lose some, but either way you always learn something new,” stated Lassiter.

Lassiter stepped into the ring a good 25-lbs lighter than his rival, but remarkably had a ground game strategy anyways coming into the fight.

Alvarez wanted him to start out on his feet and set up a takedown after getting in some early shots from the clinch with Martinez against the fence. However Lassiter's stand-up game was so effective that it caused Martinez to opt for the ground, which the latter did in the form of a big double-leg takedown after bull rushing Lassiter at the beginning of the second round.

From there, they tossed and turned in what was a coin flip of a second exchange and Martinez did a good job securing the win by maintaining a dominant position with aggression at the end.

After his hard fought debut, PXC may invite Lassiter back for a light heavyweight or even middleweight match in the future.

As for Martinez, it is anybody's guess who he will challenge next, as PXC remains mum on the whole Kelvin “The Big Hit” Fitial debacle.

Fitial's name was never even mentioned during the event. He battled Martinez twice and settled for a controversial draw decision in PXC 22 in January 2011 before pummeling the Spike 22 heavyweight in a rematch to earn a bloody technical knockout victory just six months later in PXC 24.

A contract dispute between Fitial and PXC then allegedly took place, though the organization never released an official statement about the issue. PXC never responded to inquiries about the conflict when the story initially broke in June 2012. Fitial's contract became void a year after his win.

Sources say that Fitial was offered a three-fight deal for an undisclosed amount of money, however neither party ever went into the details of the negotiations. Sources also claimed that Fitial was initially paid $5,000 for the PXC 24 rematch with a $2,000 bonus for bagging the win. Payouts for the three-fight deal may have been set at similar amounts, but nothing was confirmed.