Terrell Gausha Climbs Off Deck To Beat Luis Hernandez

TOLEDO--Terrell Gausha promised to give the Cleveland and Toledo fans a thrill in his 10-round bout with Luis Hernandez. He did just that... but not in way he envisioned.

The 2012 U.S. Olympian eventually landed a unanimous decision win, but had to recover from a 3rd round knockdown to prevail in the PBC on Bounce TV opener Friday evening live from Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.

Gausha (20-0, 9KOs) was in control for most of the evening, but had a brief scare in round three when an overhand right put him on the canvas. Having been in that situation before, the boxing pride of Cleveland shook off the blow and knew what he had to do to regain control.

"It was a clean knockdown, no question but nothing I haven't seen before," Gausha admitted to FightNights.com after the contest. "I was down in a four-round fight and still won (beating William Waters earlier in his career. I had plenty of time here, and knew I'd get back to where I was before the knockdown."

Gausha did just that, hurting Hernandez (15-4, 8KOs) on several occasions but unable to put away the gutty Puerto Rican boxer. Sensing he was falling way behind, Hernandez did his best to make it a dogfight, only for his tactics to result in a point deduction in round seven for excessive low blows.

The bout aired live in supporting capacity to Robert Easter Jr's homecoming title defense versus Luis Cruz, as well as a thrilling bantamweight scrap that saw Zhanat Zhakiyanov rise from two knockdowns to win the bantamweight crown from Cincinnati's Rau'Shee Warren via split decision.

OFF TV

Jamel Herring bounced back from the lone loss of his career in a big way, pummeling Art Hovhannisyan en route to a 3rd round stoppage victory.

Determined to make a statement following his stoppage loss to Denis Shafikov last summer, Herring - a two-tourIraq war hero for the U.S. Marines Corp and team captain of the 2012 U.S. Olympic boxing squad in London - came out throwing punches with intent to harm from the opening bell. Admittedly carrying a chip on his shoulder, the 31-year old southpaw - from Cincinnati by way of Long Island, New York - implemented a dedicated body attack that eventually wore down Hovhannisyan (17-4-3, 9KOs).

The stoppage nearly came in round two, as Hovhannisyan was worn down by the end of the frame and slow to climb off of his stool. He gave Herring three minutes of target practice before his corner decided to call it an evening.

The official time was 3:00 of round three. Herring now moves to 16-1 (9KOs), with the hopes of immediately returning to the contender stage within his next fight or two.

Albert Bell - proudly represented by the local crowd as well as those who traveled from Cleveland - remained unbeaten after a four-round wipeout of Andrew Rodgers. Scores were 40-36 across the board, but barely told the story as Bell (7-0, 2KOs) had his way every second of the contest, putting on the show for the boisterous fans in attendance who cheered his every move.

Opening the evening, local prospect Adrian Wilson (4-1, 2KOs) scored a four-round split decision win over previously unbeaten Rashad Scott. Scores were 38-37 (twice) for Wilson and an announced card of 39-35 for Scott (3-1, 1KO) that was erroneously tallied by John Stewart, who deducted one point from both fighters in round four (the scorecard should have read 40-35). Wilson was docked a point in the final round, which Scott believed should have been the deciding factor; two of the three judges felt otherwise.