'Big Sky' plummets to earth at Planet Hollywood
Grant has a “Fields” day, scores third round KO; Casamayor edges win over Leyva

Ringside report and photos by Chris Cozzone

Turning Tye Field’s “Field of Dreams” into “The Killing Fields,” and having a field day doing so, “Big” Michael Grant plummeted “Big Sky” to earth last night at Planet Hollywood.

The last time Las Vegas felt such a tremor was in 2008, when Monte Barrett chopped down Fields in less than a round. This time around, Field’s free-fall drop and splatter on the canvas happened in two-and-change rounds.

The ten-round, 530-pound, 13-foot-3-inch matchup of past-prime contenders headlined an eight-bout-reduced-to-four card promoted by Sterling McPherson and Ron Johnson, which was, for some reason, made available on Pay-Per-View. Though Grant-Fields ended early – not entirely unexpected by ringsiders – the co-main, between former champ Joel Casamayor and gutsy Mexican Miguel Leyva, gave the estimated crowd of 1,000 their money’s worth.

For Fields and Grant, it was a clash at the crossroads, both fighters having had a taste at the big-time, in between endless set-up fights with journeymen and lesser mortals in respective local smokers. Against each another, a win would edge the victor toward a top tenner.

Through the first two rounds, Fields was certainly the hungrier of the two. Somewhat oafish and defenseless, he thumped into Grant like an oversized bumper car during the first two rounds, using his right jab and keeping his opponent on the defense. Two not-so-straight lefts landed on Grant in the first, having little impact.

For Grant, it was obvious what he was waiting for – the opportunity to crash land a counter right hand. He landed two in the second round. The first, a test run, easily found its mark, and the second clearly stunned Fields, bloodying his beak. Fields backed off, but recovered in the last minute to make a game attempt to steal the round with an all-out attack on Grant.

Grant knew what he had to do, and he did it in round three. Baiting Fields, he waited for “Big Sky” to make a big mistake – which is not such a rare occurrence. After the first minute, Grant saw his opening, letting loose a big right that toppled Fields to the floor, cross-eyed and tangle-footed.

Fields attempted to get up, but referee Joe Cortez waved it off when he failed to shake off the damage. Official time was 1:06.

“I was waiting for my opening and I knew I’d get him with the right or left,” said Grant, now 47-4, 35 KOs. “I knew if I went to his body, his hands would drop and I’d go headhunting.”

With the loss, Fields, likely heading back to minor leagues for another string of wins over lesser foes, falls to 45-3, 41 KOs.

Little Leyvarage for Casamayor

In the co-main event, former champ Joel Casamayor had a less-than-easy time with once-loss Mexican Manuel Leyva, who took the fight on relatively short notice after “Mighty” Mike Anchondo backed off with an injury.

Having never fought in the U.S. before, and with almost all of his wins over set-ups with losing records, Leyva was a mystery. But he delivered, not only on action, but with a gutsy performance that saw at least one judge ruling it in his favor.

Round one was tactical, Leyva foxtrotting around the ring and Casamayor the aggressor. In the second, Leyva evened the score by working his jab, his southpaw stance and movement a challenge for the former champ.

Big lefts from Casamayor earned him the third, but lead lefts from Leyva, again, leveled the playing field in the fourth.

Casamayor went to work in the fifth, keeping Leyva on the run. He had him hurt with a body shot – most likely, it was south of the border – and, a minute later, put his opponent down with a left to the belly, scoring the only knockdown of the fight.

The two exchanged toe-to-toe for the first time, in round six, but Casamayor’s lefthand tags put the round in his pocket. Another body shot in the seventh stunned Leyva again, and an uppercut nearly beheaded him, but the Mexican fought back, weathering the Cuban’s missiles.

Round eight saw the best action of the night. Though Casamayor landed cleaner, and oftentimes had his opponent miss his wild swings, Leyva was able to find a home for several lefts. Continuing a desperate aggression through the ninth, Leyva had his best round, trapping Casamayor in the neutral corner where he landed up and downstairs.

Casamayor resorted to two sneaky headbutts in the tenth – for which he was warned – and had to clinch several times to stave off Leyva’s final rallies.

At the end of ten, the judges were split: 95-94 for Leyva, and 97-92, 96-93 for Casamayor. Fightnews saw a close fight, six rounds to four, for Casamayor, 96-93.

Casamayor, coming off a loss to Robert Guerrero, ups his record to 38-5-1, 22 KOs, while Leyva, though losing and now 20-2, 12 KOs, makes a name for himself, at least in Vegas.

Blowing baubles

What happens when you match up two fighters who’ve both lost two of their last three fights?

Title fight!

“Fighting” for one of the vending machine Sulaiman especials, this one the WBC USNBC cruiserweight bauble, Aaron Williams (21-3-1, 14 KOs) needed to do very against overmatched Kentuckian Shane Steele (7-4, 5 KOs).

It was clearly a mismatch from the opening bell. Stalking Steele, Williams jabbed to set up his right and, just into the third minute, landed what he needed. Steele draped himself over Williams – we all thought he was clinching – but when Williams backed up, Steele turned to putty, dropping into the ropes and onto the canvas.

Though Steele made the count, Williams went for the kill and after a couple more shots, ref Cortez halted the one-sided slaughter, official time 2:27.

Cojanu debut spoilt

2004 Romanian Olympian Razvan Cojanu (0-1) had his pro debut spoiled by Alvaro Morales (6-9-5, 0 KOs), of Las Vegas.

Though an Olympian, Cojanu was certainly clumsy, easy to hit, and ill-prepared for the crafty, cagey, tubby, chubby Morales. Though his punches might not shatter the shell of the proverbial egg, Morales clinched and pestered the frustrated Cojanu through four rounds.

Though rallying in the third and fourth, Cojanu was not able to convince two of the three judges to, at least, give him a draw. One judge did – 38-38 – while the other two, as well as this writer, saw Morales the happy victor, 39-37.

Bonus pics