TUNICA, MS - Ty Barnett (18-1-1, 12 KOs) suffered through a serious injury to his right hand as he pounded out an 8-round unanimous decision over the formidable Tyrese Hendrix (18-2-1, 7 KOs) Saturday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd at The Fitz Casino in Tunica.

The first round saw both fighters feeling each other out with limited action, but the excitement picked up in the second as Hendrix surprised most prognosticators by engaging Barnett on the inside. This made for an entertaining bout for the live audience as the action was fast and furious from the second round on.

Barnett began working behind a stiff jab in the fifth round and was seemingly able to put some control to the fight as he appeared to easily win rounds 5-7 and take a lead on the scorecards that Hendrix could only over come by scoring knockdowns.

The eighth round saw both fighters attempting to stop the other as to not leave it in the judges hands. It appeared to be obvious that the consistent body work from Barnett was taking its toll though, as Hendrix could not seem to sustain a full 3-minute round of action late in the fight.

The judges scored the fight 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 all for Barnett. This writer had the fight scored 77-75 splitting the first four rounds and narrowly giving Hendrix the eighth. It was the command that Barnett took in the middle rounds that won him the fight.

Following the decision, Barnett stated that he was ready to fight the best in the 135-pound division.

"I would like to fight guys like John Molina. I want to fight for regional titles and then world titles. Now is my time, I am not getting any younger," stated Barnett.

In other action, 2008 Bahamian Olympian Taureano Johnson 4-0 (4 KOs) weathered an early onslaught by Louisiana's Roy Ashworth before landing two crushing right uppercuts in succession that laid the tough Ashworth out for the count.

Ringside doctor Jerry Gentry treated Ashworth in the ring as it took him quite a while to gain his composure.

Later, while dining, Ashworth suffered breathing and dizziness issues and was immediately air-lifted to the closest hospital where reports are that he was treated for fractured facial bones and released. Our prayers and thoughts go out to Roy Ashworth and his family on a quick and healthy recovery.

The sell out crowd at The Fitz was Prize Fight Boxing's 88th consecutive sell out of a casino show. The show will be broadcast in it's entirety on Saturday night July 31 on Sportsouth as part of Prize Fight's "Mississippi Fight Night" series.

Undercard Results:
Nathan Bedwell (2-3, 1 KO) KO2 Hoyt Hutchinson (1-1, 1 KO)
Keuntray Henson (2-1) UD4 Rohan Wilson (4-3-1, 2 KOs)
Dedrick Bell (3-2, 2 KOs) UD4 Josh Williams (0-1)