ROSADO REBOUNDS, BRUNELLI

DISAPPOINTS, BROWN SICKENED

On Friday, 1/26, Gabe Rosado bounded back from his 1st loss with a quick KO of Chris Overbey in the jr. middleweight semi-windup of a crazy card at the Armory in NE Philly. No matter where he's placed on the lineup, Rosado is always the fighter to see at a Power Productions show.

On this night, King Gabriel looked like himself again, back from that disappointing showing at the Blue Horizon in October 2006. He entered the Armory ring in flashy red and gold, and waited for the opening bell like a bull, digging his feet into the canvas, trudging in place. Rosado's opponent, Chris "Freight Train" Overbey (8-4 / 2 KOs), came to fight. He tried to brawl with the King, and even marked

Gabe's  face a little.  But then suddenly as they came out of a clinch, Rosado tapped Overbey on the side of the head with a right hand. The chopping shot didn't look like much but it flattened Overbey.  He sprawled on the canvas, face down, for the entire ten count.  At "ten" he woke up and tried to jump to his feet but it was too late.  He fell into a neutral corner as Rosado celebrated. The time of the KO was 1:02 in round one.

In the actual main event, heavyweight Dave Brunelli let down his big cheering section (and it was big) with another lackluster performance. His last time out, Brunelli fought on the same Blue Horizon card that produced Rosado's only loss.  Brunelli got a gift decision that night, but unlike Rosado, he did not come to the Armory prepared to make a statement.  He looked in shape, but apparently wasn't, as the last minute trimming of this main event from six rounds to four attested.  His opponent, Levon Warner, now 6-3-2 (1 KO) took him to task throughout. The decision was by majority and Brunelli dropped to 6-2 (3 KOs).

Tommie Speller, aka Big Poppa, made it 2-0 (2 KO) with a first round TKO of Darius Hunter at 1:43 in a scheduled six round super middleweight fight.  Speller swarmed Hunter, cutting him in the process.  As Speller battered Hunter in a corner, the referee jumped in to stop it.  Hunter's blood splattered the press row tables and my notebook. 

In a corker of a preliminary bout, Hammerin' Hank Lundy got up from a knockdown in the first-round to TKO Jesse Francisco in the following round.  The stoppage came at 1:55 and raised Lundy to 4-0 (3 KO), while Francisco's record fell to 1-4 in the jr. welterweight bout scheduled for four rounds. 

The opening bout of the evening was a first for me. When the hulking Salem, NJ heavyweight, Mark "Oak Tree" Brown whacked foe Chuckie Brown with a hard body shot in round four, the later exploded vomit, painting the canvas - but this was no Picasso. Shocked, horrified, and generally grossed-out were the crowd, the officials, the corners, the fighters, and especially the janitor, as we all watched and wondered what would happen in such a situation.  Surprisingly, it wasn't a TKO.  Rather, Oak Tree (8-1 / 3 KOs) took the decision after an extended timeout for clean up.  It was the first bout of the night, so the wiping, mopping, and sweeping were critical.  A good job was done and the card continued.  Chuckie Brown dropped to 6-13-1 with 3 KOs.

The evening also featured a three-round light heavyweight exhibition between Chandler Durham (Yank's son) and Tim Johnson.  Durham's original opponent, Walter Coles, was scratched which forced the exhibition. 

Another odd occurrence was the malfunction of one of the ring's floorboards that delayed both the exhibition and the main event, as the commission and the promoters hustled to repair it. 

The crowd was spotted with boxing notables.  The big fish was Joe Frazier, there to cheer on Chandler Durham and his trainer, Marvis Frazier.  Also on hand were Terrible Tim Witherspoon, Dick Turner (who worked Levon Warner's corner), Willie Gibbs, and Simon "One Punch" Carr.  Carr, usually resplendent in furs and bling, opted for an almost nerdy look this night - unless he's going to Catholic school.

All-in-all it was a crazy and fun night at the fights in Northeast Philly.  Though they are not reminiscent of the golden days of Philly boxing at the Spectrum, these Power Productions shows have a lot of personality. 

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