Abbott knocks out 'Cabbage' in 1st round
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
David "Tank" Abbott got his revenge with a spectacular first-round knockout of Wesley "Cabbage" Correira in the main event of the Rumble on the Rock 7 mixed martial arts card last night.
A sellout crowd of more than 8,000 at the Blaisdell Arena watched Abbott avenge a loss to Correira two years ago.
Abbott, who is from California, dropped Correira with a right hook to the chin 1 minute, 23 seconds into the first round. Most of the crowd was cheering for Correira before the bout, but gave Abbott a standing ovation after the victory.
Abbott dedicated the victory to his mother, who passed away in 2003. "This time, I wasn't grieving over my mother," said Abbott, 40. "I was just here to kick (butt)."
As expected, the entire 83 seconds of the bout was filled with punches. The fighters exchanged blows throughout before Abbott's winning blow.
Abbott, who was fighting for the first time since his loss to Correira, improved to 9-10. Correira, who is 26 and from Hilo, dropped to 14-8.
After the bout, Abbott said he wanted another rematch with another Hawai'i fighter, Kimo Leopoldo.
Leopoldo, who also beat Abbott two years ago, won his bout last night in the semi-main event.
Leopoldo, who is from Wai'anae, defeated Marcus Royster of California by choke submission 4:18 into the first round.
The 6-foot-3 Leopoldo weighed 240 pounds for the heavyweight bout, and the 6-8 Royster was 321 pounds.
The bout was stopped briefly in the first round and Leopoldo was deducted one point for an illegal head butt.
"He could've took the victory with the head butt and he didn't," Leopoldo said. "That was cool of him. I didn't do it on purpose."
When the bout was continued, Leopoldo worked his way on top of Royster and applied the finishing choke hold.
In other preliminary bouts:
Heavyweight: Ricco Rodriguez (New York) defeated Scott Junk (Hawai'i) by choke submission, 0:42 into second round.
185 pounds: Renato Charuto Verissimo (Hawai'i) defeated Yuichi Nakanishi (Japan) by TKO (stopped due to cut on Nakanishi's head), 2:51 into second round.
155: Shaolin Ribeiro (Brazil) defeated Tetsuji Kato (Japan) by choke submission, 2:32 into third round.
205: Alan Goes (Brazil) defeated Chris West (Hawai'i) by knee-bar submission, 0:41 into first round.
185: Thales Leite (Brazil) defeated Adam Roland (Arizona) by arm-bar submission, 0:49 into first round. 185: Jay Carter (Hawai'i) defeated Josh Versola (Hawai'i) by knockout, 0:51 into first round.
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
