Published: October 31, 2009 11:49 pm      

Taylor avenges only loss with unanimous decision

Andres “Taylor Made” Taylor retained his WBC cruiserweight championship belt and avenged the only setback of his professional career on Saturday night at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.

Johnstown’s Taylor won by unanimous decision over Leo Bercier of Great Falls, Mont., in the eight-round main event of the “Fright Night Fights.”

Taylor finished strong in the final three rounds to secure the decision in front of TV cameras from Ringside Boxing Series.

The five-bout card will air on FOX Sports Pittsburgh on Nov. 17 and 29 and

Dec. 1.

“Leo came to fight and prepared well,” said Taylor, who is 11-1-1 with six knockouts. “I appreciate him coming to my hometown and giving me a shot.”

Taylor’s theme for this rematch was “This One is Personal.” Bercier beat Taylor in June in Youngstown, Ohio.

“This was an awesome fight,” said Bercier, who is 8-11-1. “Andres is a very good fighter. He prepared for this fight very well. He was a completely different fighter.”

Two judges scored the fight 78-74 in Taylor’s favor, and the third scored it

79-73.

As has become a tradition at the War Memorial, Taylor entered the arena in spectacular fashion.

A dozen “zombies” lay on a stage set up half an arena away from the ring. As Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” played, the ghouls rose and performed a well-choreographed zombie shuffle until a person who looked one part Michael Jackson impersonator and one part Andres Taylor impersonator sparred with the zombies.

The real Andres Taylor eventually emerged from behind the curtain and made his way to the ring to the cheers of an estimated 1,000 fans.

In the co-main event, Pittsburgh’s Jesse Lubash patiently waited for an opening and then knocked out James Wayka of Mounds View, Minn., at 2:05 of the first round of their welterweight bout.

Lubash, nicknamed “The Future,” is undefeated in 13 fights and has eight knockouts. Wayka is 16-9-1.

“It wasn’t just two minutes. It was six weeks of training,” said Lubash, who entered the ring wearing a Troy Polamalu Steelers jersey with the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane” blaring. “It was a straight right hand off a hook and it caught him perfect.”

The undercard’s four first-round knockouts/TKO’s lasted a combined 8 minutes, 15 seconds. The ringside girls didn’t enter the ring to display the cards numbering the rounds until the main event.

The night began with a bang, as 6-foot-3 Moscow, Russia, heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov won by technical knockout over Ryan Shay of Fort Mills, S.C., at 2:06.

Abdusalamov is 6-0-0 with all six coming by knockout.

“I was landing some power punches and some combinations,” Abdusalamov said through his interpreter.

Undefeated lightweight Terence Crawford of Omaha, Neb., sent Steve Marquez of Fort Morgan, Colo., to the canvas three times before the fight was stopped at 2:35 of the first round.

“I knew once I caught him he was going down,” Crawford said.

Habib Allahverdiev (11-0-0) used an explosive body shot to put down Francisco Rios Gil in 1:29 of the first round of a junior welterweight bout.

“As soon as I landed the punch I knew it was over,” Allahverdiev said through his translator in a post-fight interview that lasted much longer than the actual feature.