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NAKASH WINS #21 AT BLUE Israeli bull, Ran Nakash won his 21st fight without a loss Friday night at the Blue Horizon, but he had to settle for a tactical 8-round decision against the extremely sturdy-chinned Gary Gomez of Salt Lake City. The fight was the main event of a seven-bout card at the legendary venue promoted by Vernoca Michaels of Blue Horizon Boxing Promotions. The evening's theme was "Breast Cancer Awareness Night" and both fighters wore pink Everlast gloves in commemoration. It was Nakash's tenth visit to Philadelphia, and like the others, he went home with another win on his budding career record (21-0 / 15 KO). But he had to work to do it.
A smallish crowd of about 500 came out for this card, just 21 days since the last Blue Horizon show. |
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They
started the fight very carefully, eyeing each other with a
lot of respect. In the second things heated up a bit when
Gomez landed a good right uppercut that snapped Nakash's
head upward. Ran responded with a hard right of his own. But
the action was not sustained. They circled and pawed and
mixed it up conservatively. After six rounds, the bout was
even. Nakash suffered a nick under his right eye in the
fifth, though he took the round. Gomez won the sixth with
his body work. On our scorecard, Nakash grabbed the last two
rounds to secure the bout 77-75. The official cards saw it
for Nakash by a
wider
margin, 79-73, 78-74, 79-74. The pre-fight talks of
matching Nakash with Adamek (the only man ever to stop the
18-10-1 Gomez) look very premature after this bout. Nakash
won it without question, but struggled in the bout. He
struggled with his stamina and he was repeatedly brought to
attention with stiff shots from Gomez. Before Nakash (who
weighted 208 lbs.) is matched for the cruiserweight title,
he should both prove that he can make the 200-pound weight
limit, as well as get used to fighting there. In his ten
starts at the Blue Horizon over the past three years, Nakash
has weighed under 200 pounds just once, and has come in as
high as 211. 
In
the semi-windup, Jeremiah "Rocky" Graziano, a cruiserweight
visiting from Kansas City, MO, scored the seventh straight
knockout of his career when he swarmed Philly's Andre
Hemphill in the very first round. The quick stoppage was no
surprise to anyone who read Graziano's press release. His
six prior fights all ended quickly - five in the first round
and one in the second. He even posted a 6-second KO in his
pro debut last year. At Wednesday's press conference,
Graziano's opponent was still not determined. Hemphill, a
local warhorse, answered the call in the final 48 hours
before the fight. Going in, Hemphill figured to put up a bit
more resistance than the usual Graziano foe. But in the end,
he fell just like the others. Graziano rushed out of his
corner at the bell with the obvious intention of winning
ASAP. He loaded up with every shot and finally hurt Hemphill
with a left, near the blue corner. Graziano followed up and
Andre slumped into the ropes. Referee Hurley McCall jumped
in to stop it as Hemphill sagged to the canvas. The total
time elapsed in the scheduled four rounder was 2:35. 
Lightweight
Mondre Pope returned to the Blue Horizon to take a six round
split decision against Gerardo Robles of Kansas City, MO.
Robles pressed the action, but Pope ran the table. He won
every round on our card. Two of the judges saw it for Pope
(60-54 & 58-56), while judge Dave Greer had Robles winning
58-56. Pope, of Norfolk, VA, improved to 3-0-1, Robles left
9-7. 
In
the best on-paper-matchup of the night, Darrell Jones won a
four rounder unanimously over Israeli Achmad Tuba in a jr.
middleweight contest. Tuba was wildly aggressive and it
seemed to rattle Jones at the beginning of the fight. But as
they fought on, Jones found his groove and started to handle
Tuba's rushes effectively. In round four, slightly behind on
the scores, Tuba was penalized a point for hitting behind
the head. The costly fine, made it clear even before the
bell
that Jones would get the decision in this tough, close fight
that may have been heading toward a draw. The scores came in
38-37, 38-37 & 40-35. Jones, of North Philly, went to 2-0 (1
KO), and Tuba dropped to 1-1. Tuba's stablemate Oz Goldberg,
1-0, was scheduled to fight on this night also, and made the
trip to Philadelphia. His four round fight was scratched
however, when his opponent, Willie Davis, fell out. It was
to have been Davis' pro debut. Also scratched on this night
was a jr. middleweight bout featuring 3-1 Ardrick Butler.
His opponent also fell out as the bout neared. 
West
Philly's Vaughn Anderson made his pro debut against Joe
Alonso of Bellmawr, NJ, in a four round jr. middleweight
bout. In an entertaining fight, Anderson sporadically used a
good jab, but Alonso managed to fight through it and forced
the fight on the inside. When not jabbing, Anderson has
trouble scoring and keeping his opponent away. The rounds
were close, but Alonso was the clear winner - perhaps of all
four. One judge agreed, scoring it 40-36 for Alonso. Another
gave it to him 39-37. Judge Dave Greer was again the
dissenter, seeing it 39-37 for Anderson. Anderson starts his
career 0-1, while Alonso raises to 2-0. 
Norristown's
Ryan Carson pounded out a four round decision over an
out-gunned Jonathan Ocassio in their jr. lightweight fight.
In round four, Ocassio was exhausted and seemed on the brink
of quitting. At one point, he lost his mouthpiece. His
corner did their best to extend the brief rest period. In
addition to rinsing the mouthpiece, they also tied his
shoelace. The crowd did not like it one bit. When he
returned to the action, he was met by a swarming Carson.
More from fatigue than any particular punch, Ocassio went to
one knee on the canvas. It was clear that he had had enough,
but he bravely got up gritted it out until the final bell.
All the judges gave the round to Carson 10-8 and turned in
overall scores of 40-35. Carson's win made him 2-0. He looks
forward to fighting again on Peltz Boxing's November 20th
card at the Blue. Ocassio, Philadelphia, lost for the fifth
time in a row (0-5). 
The
opening fight of the night saw North Philly's Paul Fernandez
(5-2-1, 3 KO) pitched a shutout over Cincinnati's Quincy
Johnson (0-4-1). Both fighters came out swinging in the
all-action first round. Fernandez landed several hard right
hands to establish the fight's pattern, and cruised through
the remaining rounds. He had an especially good fourth, as
Johnson tired badly. All three judges scored the bout 40-36.