Medina earns unanimous decision in title defense

WORLEY — On a night when fans turned out to see Sandpoint native Favio Medina defend his WBC-USNBC welterweight championship, his bout stole the show in front of an estimated 1,600 in the House of Fury on Thursday at the Coeur d’Alene Casino.

Medina (23-2-3) overcame a slow start against Damian Frias (16-4) of Miami to earn a unanimous decision in the main event and retain his welterweight title.

Frias came out fast early on, but Medina was able to control the pace of the bout in the next eight rounds of the scheduled 10-round fight.

“I did all right,” Medina said. “I did enough to win after starting slow in the first two rounds.”

On defending his title, Medina added it was just as good as winning it back in March.

“It feels great,” Medina said. “Winning it is one thing, but defending it is where it’s at.”

In the co-main event, Skyler Anderson (16-1-1) of Newman Lake, Wash., earned a decision after Bobby O’Bannon (8-3) of Mobile, Ala., was unable to continue after the sixth of 10 scheduled rounds.

Anderson, who was knocked down in the fifth round, opened a cut under O’Bannon’s right eye, and went on to earn a unanimous decision in the heavyweight bout.

Shawn Hawk of Sioux Falls, S.D., and Anthony Greenidge of Brooklyn, N.Y., battled eight rounds before an accidental headbutt by Greenidge stopped the bout. Hawk led on all three judges’ cards at the time, and was awarded the victory by unanimous decision.

Paul Mpendo (7-5) of Eugene defeated Dewey Welliver (18-21) of Spokane by unanimous decision in their six-round bout at 154 pounds.

Chris Green (8-5-1 6 KOs) of Denver delivered a right hand to Emerson Chasing Bear (4-1-1) of Rapid City, S.D., 1:51 into the third of six scheduled rounds to earn a knockout in their heavyweight bout.

Spokane’s Kaleb Fisher (4-0-1, 3 KOs) defeated David Quartz (1-1-1) of Portland by technical knockout as their 154-pound bout as stopped 2:25 into the first round.