Houston home cooking burns local

Charlo fell back on his jab and lateral movement, but Gasparyan kept on him with combinations of body shots, right uppercuts and hooks. Gasparyan was especially adamant that he won the final round and said he was far from alone in the opinion that he won the fight.

“I got in the ring and everybody was booing me,” Gasparyan said. “After the fight, they started cheering for me. People were coming up to me telling me, ‘I’m from Houston, but you’re the one who won the fight, buddy.’ Even Max Kellerman, the HBO commentator, came to the locker room and told me I won the fight.”

Saturday’s loss was Gasparyan’s first fight since a six-round win by unanimous decision over Octavio Narvaez on Dec. 20, 2008 at Hollywood Park Casino.

In the interim, which saw several of his scheduled bouts canceled, Gasparyan began training under former heavyweight contender Justin Fortune after formerly training at the Glendale Fighting Club under Edmond Tarverdyan.

“I would have liked him to fight a little harder, but regardless, he clearly won the fight,” Fortune said of Gasparyan. “He got shafted along with four other fighters.”

The Golden Boy-promoted card featured a total of five Houston-based fighters, all of whom were victorious, including Juan Diaz, who defeated Paul Malignaggi by unanimous decision in the main event to claim the vacant North American Boxing Organization junior welterweight belt despite throwing 286 fewer punches and being outlanded, 191-178.

“It was just a bad, bad blow for boxing,” Fortune said. “[The fans] know the fight and they know who won.”

There may be a silver lining in the bitter loss after all, though, as Gasparyan said he was approached by a representative of Golden Boy following the fight about appearing on an upcoming card at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles in October.