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The Playground in
Atlantic City debuted as a boxing venue Saturday night, and
in the main event, heavyweight Chazz Witherspoon, 34-3, 26
KOs, trounced Nick Guivas, 11-3-2, 9 KOs, for a third round
stoppage. Witherspoon had all the advantages in the
scheduled 10-rounder, so it was not fun and games for Guivas at this playground. Seven of the ten bouts on the
new seaside facility’s inaugural show ended early, but the
action was entertaining and well worth watching.
Witherspoon began the
fight with a dose of caution, but by the second round began
opening up against his bullish foe. Chazz established his
jab and started working Guivas’ body effectively. As the
round heated up and the aggressive fighter from Topeka, KS
pressed the action, Witherspoon suddenly went right hand
crazy. He repeatedly plastered Guivas with rights to the body and
to the
head and then uncorked a vicious right uppercut that found
the mark. Guivas felt
every punch.
Witherspoon then
unleashed an overhand right that landed on Guivas’ temple
and knocked him to the canvas. Guivas returned to his feet
and survived the round, but it was clear that he was
outgunned and in danger.
In round three
Witherspoon continued cracking right hands, but then hurt
Guivas with a solid left hook. Sensing the kill, Chazz
unloaded on Guivas and battered him along the ropes until
referee Eric Dali had seen enough. Guivas stayed on his
feet, but took heavy punishment.
The time of the
stoppage was 1:07 of round three. This was Witherspoon’s
fourth straight knockout victory. All four of those fights
were staged by his own promotional company, Silver Spoon Promotions.
SMITH KO2 HADLEY
In the co-feature,
Philadelphian Keenan Smith stretched his undefeated string
to 7-0, 2 KOs, with a hasty knockout of Lavelle Hadley of
Youngstown, OH, 2-1, 2 KOs. Southpaw Smith ran right out
and began belting his opponent from the start. He tasted a
few return shots, but seemed to take them in stride. In
round two, Smith stung Hadley with a combination and then
pulled out all the stops with a fight-ending flurry that
dropped Hadley in his own corner for the full 10-count.
Crumbled in a seated position, Hadley took referee Dali’s
count, aware but unwilling to continue. The time of the KO
was 1:56 of round two.
PASCIOLLA W6 LENNOX
In a sloppy but
hard-fought heavyweight contest, Brick, NJ underdog Dan
Pasciolla, 4-1, outworked a more experienced John Lennox,
13-3, 5 KOs, Carteret, NJ, over six rounds to earn a
surprise split decision victory. Lennox won the first
round, but Pasciolla battled back in round two and marked
Lennox under the left eye. The fighters continued to maul
away at each other with Pasciolla establishing an edge in
the action.
On my card, Pasciolla
took the lead through round four before Lennox rallied to
take the final two rounds. The fight was close, a draw in
fact, on my score sheet. When the official verdict was
read, the bout was first announced as a draw, and the fighters
left the ring thinking there was no winner.
However, after
reviewing the individual scores, it was discovered that
Pasciolla actually led on two of the cards (58-56 and 59-55), while
one judge favored Lennox (58-56). Just before the main
event, Pasciolla was brought back into the ring for a new
announcement that declared Dan the winner.
YOUNG W6 GARCIA
In an over-the-weight
welterweight fight, Pleasantville, NJ’s Anthony Young, 11-1,
5 KOs, took a 6-round unanimous decision against Jonathan
Garcia, 4-15, 1 KO, of Aquadilla, PR. Young dominated the
fight except in round three when the boxers exchanged well. Both were hurt during the heated session, and I gave the
round to Garcia. However, the official
judges, Alan Rubenstein, James Kinney and Pierre Benoist,
all scored the fight a 60-54 shutout for Young.
KELLEHER TKO1 FORD
Junior welterweight
Scott Kelleher made a successful debut against Xzavier Ford,
0-2, of Concord, NC, in a scheduled 4-rounder. Kelleher, of
Philadelphia’s Joe Hand Boxing Gym, stormed right out at the
opening bell and pounded his opponent into submission. After just 1:57, referee Eric Dali stopped the fight and
awarded Kelleher a TKO in his first professional start (1-0,
1 KO).
ELLSWORTH KO3 MUHAMMAD
In a junior
welterweight contest, Sam Ellsworth, 3-0, 3 KOs, beat
southpaw Kashif Muhammad, 0-2, of New York, with a 3rd round
knockout. The fighters split the first two rounds before
Ellsworth, Farmersville, LA, caught Muhammad with a hard
left and a brief burst to the body that put the New Yorker
down. Muhammad stayed down and took the count, nodding all
the way.
CONQUEST KO4 PEREZ
Philly’s Jerome
Conquest scored the first knockout of his 3-1 career - and it was
a spectacular one. After winning the first three rounds
comfortably against a debuting David Perez, Conquest kept
his dominance going in round four with his speedy in-and-out
left-handed style. After pretty much nailing down the round in the
first two minutes, Conquest began showboating in the final
minute, seemingly happy to claim another points win.
However, in the waning
seconds of the fight, a suddenly orthodox Conquest crushed
Perez with a devastating right hand that put the Pittsburgh
fighter on the deck, face down in a heap. The fight was
stopped without a count and the medical team was called. Perez was revived, but it was a scary moment. The end of
the fight came at 2:51 of round four.
ZHILEI KO6 BENSON
In a bloody 6-round
heavyweight bout, Chinese giant Zhang Zhilei, 5-0, 3 KOs,
knocked out Norfolk’s Dennis Benson, 2-7-1, 1 KO, in a messy
but entertaining slugfest. Zhilei won every round, but
Benson was tough and gave the 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist a
test.
In round three, Zhilei
was cut over his left eye and moments later, Benson’s nose
began pouring blood. The fighters battled away as the blood
flowed freely for the remainder of the fight.
Finally in the sixth
and final round, Zhilei hit a fading Benson with a
right-left combination that put him down. Benson looked
exhausted and hurt, his own blood smeared all over his
face. However, he stood up and returned to the battle. Zhilei immediately met him and fired a deadly combination
that overwhelmed Benson. A right sent Benson’s mouthpiece
flying into the crowd and a left hand deposited him on the
floor where he took the full count from referee Sammy Viruet. The time was 56 seconds of round six.
SANCHEZ W4 KITT
Camden junior
middleweight Alex Sanchez won a 4-round unanimous decision
over Pensacola’s Eric Kitt in a good scrap. The rangy Kitt
boxed well, but Sanchez’ power punches allowed him to win
rounds and establish the lead. After four full rounds, the
judges had Sanchez comfortably ahead, 40-36, 40-36 and
39-37. Sanchez raised his record to 6-6-1, 2 KOs, while Kitt slid to 5-2, 2 KOs.
ZHIMIN KO4 NIEVES
In the opening bout on
the card, Wang Zhimin extended his undefeated string to 4-0,
2 KOs, when he scored a knockout over winless Carlos Nieves,
0-8-1, of the Bronx. Zhimin won every round leading up to
the fight’s finish at 2:34 of the fourth and final round. It was a jarring left uppercut that put Nieves down and
out. The referee was Sammy Viruet.
The Playground turned
out to be a fine boxing venue with its intimate setting,
giant playback screen, and wrap-around balcony. The room
was scaled for the modest crowd of 500-600, but could
accommodate more. |
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