Robles Wins IPT Billiards Challenge
by InsidePOOL Staff
Tony Robles triumphed over Karl Boyes at the latest installment of the IPT’s challenge match, held in Los Angeles June 24. Robles, a last-minute replacement for Alex Pagulayan, flew in the same day from New York in order to participate.
Before the eagerly anticipated 8-ball match, however, fans were treated to a straight pool match between John “Mr. 403” Schmidt and the retired Mike Sigel. In their race to 125, Sigel started off strong with a run of 60, but Schmidt retaliated by overtaking him at 73. This was the end of the line for Schmidt, though, for “The Mouth” whizzed through rack after rack without looking back. At the end of the match, Sigel’s high run was 64, with Schmidt’s high run at 59.
The 8-ball bout between Karl “El Guapo” Boyes and Tony Robles was a knockdown, drag-out fight. Boyes, a native of the United Kingdom, was originally scheduled to match up against former world champion Alex Pagulayan, but “The Lion” had troubles with his passport and was unable to make it. In a pinch, Robles was able to fill in, and it couldn’t have been better timing for him, for he has won the last two stops on the Predator 9-Ball Tour, including one this past weekend.
Robles started off in the race to 15 with a 5-2 lead before Boyes took advantage of a couple of misses and moved into a 5-all tie. They traded the next six racks, and then Robles pulled ahead to an 11-8 lead. Robles missed his penultimate stripe, and Boyes cleared his solids. After exchanging the next two games to make it 12-10, Robles missed an acute shot on the 8 ball, and Boyes drew within a rack.
Robles reached the hill after two key errors by Boyes but came up empty on his final break. Boyes opted to play safe, and after trading safeties, Robles broke up the balls by firing the 10 up the rail. An excellent crossbank followed, and then Robles chose to play safe; however, Boyes did have a shot, which he made, and then Boyes cleared the rest of the solids. Unfortunately for Boyes, he scratched on his next break, and with the balls wide open, Robles easily picked through the rack to win 15-12.