Pemberton at The Heart of FNF's Action and Drama 7/26/03 By Jason Collins     At 36, Scott Pemberton looked to prove that he still belongs near the top of the super middleweight division by taking on feisty contender Omar Sheika at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Pemberton added some drama to ESPN's Friday Night Fights show by proposing to his girlfriend on national tv before his fight. Pemberton hoped to carry that success into the ring with him as he took on Omar Sheika, who is 10 years his junior.     For the opening moments of the fight, it appeared as if Pemberton would be able to keep Sheika at bay with his left jab. But that ended 1:45 into the second round when Sheika found his way through Pemberton's jab and knocked "The Sandman" to the canvas with a right-left combination. Pemberton survived the remainder of the round and went on to fight well through the middle rounds. Each fighter took his turn getting the better of the fight's many exchanges. During round 5, Sheika managed to fit in a couple words for boxing great Vinny Pazienza, who sat ringside with ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas for a few rounds.     Both super middleweights dished out a considerable amount of punishment consistently for the duration of the fight. Overall, Sheika controlled the early and very late rounds while Pemberton controlled the middle ones. While the exchanges during the final two rounds were furious and two-sided, Sheika appeared to inflict more damage as Pemberton did a fair share of staggering during rounds eleven and twelve. It seemed that if this fight was not going to end in a draw, Sheika might get a split or close unanimous decision. Sheika's knockdown, along with the fact that he was the aggressor for much of the bout, appeared to give him the edge. But when the score sheets were tallied and announced, the judges gave Pemberton the split decision victory in front of his home crowd.     Highlighting the undercard, Gary "Tiger" Balleto returned to Foxwoods to take on Mexican fighter Luis Lizarraga. From the outset, Balleto marched directly toward Lizarraga Yet imposing his will on Lizarrag did not turn out to be as easy as Balleto expected. Lizarraga often surprised Balleto with counterpunches. And though Lizarrago tasted plenty of Balleto's power, he managed to slip punches before having to absorb too many.     Round 4 saw Lizarraga attempt to take control by jumping on Balleto and forcing the action for the first time in the fight. But that effort proved short-lived as Balleto re-grouped and reasserted control just 30 seconds later.     Every time it appeared that Balleto was closing in on Lizarraga, the crafty veteran found a way to elude capture, either by counterpunching or slipping away. As the fight wore on into the middle rounds, it was apparent that Lizarraga lacked any offensive strategy that would enable him to win the fight. The veteran was able to score left jabs and hooks. But Balleto kept Lizarraga backing up for the entire fight with his powerful arsenal of punches. Balleto, the Rhode Island native and fan favorite won a convincing unanimous decision. In beating Lizarraga, Balleto showed that he could dominate one of the division's better trial horses, even though he couldn't quite get the knockout he sought.