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Philly lightweight Hank Lundy
breezed through eight rounds of boxing against Argentine Ezequiel
Fernandez to register his 31st career victory in the main event on
Saturday night at the Pal Center in Hockessin, DE. The bout topped
an eight-bout show promoted by Dee Lee Promotions. With the
unanimous decision win, Lundy improved his pro slate to 31-8-1, 14
KOs and kept alive his dreams of landing another world title shot.
After his hand was raised, Lundy also picked up an additional $500
in cash, which had been advertised as an additional bonus earmarked
for the victor in this "old fashioned prize fight".
Throughout the fight, Lundy
out-boxed his game opponent, who was definitely there to fight but
seriously out matched by Hammerin' Hank's skills. Lundy jabbed and
hustled round after round, building an insurmountable lead as the
bout progressed. Lundy set the tone with a vicious right hand in
round two that backed up Fernandez, but not for long. The visitor
kept chugging forward, but he never found any answers for Lundy's
consistent assault. Fernandez landed stray shots of his own, but
Lundy never seemed bothered by anything incoming.
In round six, Lundy shifted to
a southpaw stance and the switch worked well for him. He peppered
Fernandez with lefty shots, and in the following round he slammed
him with a pair of hard lefts that appeared to hurt the tough South
American. In the final round, the two fighters slugged it out for
most of the three minutes, but again Lundy had the upper hand.
On my scorecard Hank swept all
eight rounds for a 80-72 final tally. Two of the three official
judges (John Gradowski and James Kenny) gave Fernandez a round and
scored the fight 79-73. Judge Adam Friscia saw the fight closer at
78-74. The loss was Fernandez' second in a row and left him with a
record of 28-4-1, 3 KOs, 1 No Contest.
HERNANDEZ STOPS CRAIN
In the semi-wind up bout, Lebanon, PA welterweight Nicholas
Hernandez chopped down Michael Crain of Smyrna, DE in the third
round of their scheduled six. After winning the first two rounds,
southpaw Hernandez cracked fellow-lefty Crain with a right hook that
sent him to the canvas. Crain managed to rise, but was quickly met
with another right hook that sent him crashing again. The moment
Crain hit the deck for the second time, referee David Braslow
immediately ended the fight without a count. The time was 1:34 of
the third. Hernandez improved to 11-4-2, 3 KOs. Crain slid to 3-5, 1
KO.
SMITH BEATS HACKETT IN BATTLE OF VETS
In a four-round battle of road warriors, Dhafir Smith won a
unanimous decision over Greg Hackett in their curious match up. When
the rumor began circling last month that this pair would meet, it
seemed a long shot that the fight would ever happen. Smith had been
dormant for nearly six years - other than his globe-trotting
sparring work. During that gap, one fight after another for Smith
was scratched and it felt like he might never again step in the ring
for real. Despite being busy as a trainer these days, Hackett has
never lost the urge to fight and is willing to face anyone open to
fighting him - that is if he could find a commission to clear him to
fight, given his bumpy record. I guess the theory here was that
these two old pros couldn't hurt each other, and the fight proceeded
without a hitch. The fight was made at cruiserweight with Smith
weighing 195.5 and Hackett at a career-high of 202.4 pounds.
The two veterans came out
carefully in the first. Smith used his jab effectively, and kept the
shorter Hackett at bay. Each time Smith landed a shot, Hackett shook
his head and played to the crowd, sending the message that Smith's
punches had no affect on him. However, Smith kept pumping his jab
and near the end of the first, cracked Hackett with a strong left
hook. Greg again shook his head 'no', as the bell sounded.
The second round was closer,
but Smith still had the edge from my perspective. However, Hackett
revved up the crowd with a Jersey Joe Walcott-style cakewalk and a
collection of clowning tactics. In the third, both landed good
punches but no one was ever hurt or in danger of going down. Smith
closed the show with another solid round in the fourth, and he took
the decision by two shutout tallies of 40-36 by James Kenny and Adam
Friscia. John Gradowski gave Hackett one round, probably the second,
and scored the fight 39-37. Smith improved to 28-25-7, 4 KOs, while
Hackett fell to 3-20-1. In the end, it was an entertaining fight and
not the would-be sparring session or exhibition that I thought it
might be.
HORNE TOPS TUBBS
In a sloppy four round heavyweight bout, southpaw Maurice Horne, of
Middletown, DE remained undefeated, 6-0, 4 KOs, winning a unanimous
decision over Antwan Tubbs of Cincinnati, 5-14, 2 KOs. Horne easily
took the first three rounds before Tubbs pressed the action in the
final round. Tubbs did enough to take the fourth on my card, but all
three official judges, John Gradowski, James Kenny and Adam Friscia,
scored the bout a 40-36 shutout for Horne.
BALDWIN AND RUEDA EVEN AFTER FOUR
Female middleweights Schmelle Baldwin, Newark, DE, 3-1-2, 2 KOs, and
Sarah Rueda, Chickasha, OK, 0-2, fought to a four-round draw. From
my seat, Baldwin won the first two rounds but Rueda rebounded to
take the final two. However, much of the action appeared to play out
in slow motion. Judge James Kenny's score favored Baldwin 39-37, but
he was overruled by the other two judges (Gradowski and Friscia) who
had the fight a 38-38 draw.
BUNCH ROLLS OVER JORDAN
Trenton welterweight Shinard Bunch, 8-1, 7 KOs, met no resistance
from Ronnie Jordan of Cincinnati, 5-10-1, in their scheduled
six-rounder. As expected, Bunch was in control from the start, but
his quick victory came as a surprise given that no critical punch
was apparent. Bunch chased Jordan across the ring, and after an
unremarkable exchange highlighted by a right hand, Jordan backed off
and took a knee. He climbed to his feet but was shaking his head
'no' as he rose. Referee David Braslow attempted to wipe his gloves,
expecting to let the action resume, but Jordan would have none of
it. He resigned from the fight and walked to his corner. The time
was 1:25.
MURRAY WINS DECISION
In a lively light heavyweight fight, Wilmington's David Murray
scored one knockdown and took the unanimous decision over Austin
Marcum of Breeden, WV. Toward the end of the first, both fighters
simultaneously landed rights that wobbled the other. Marcum was the
aggressor and edged the first round on my card. Murray took control
in the second, but Marcum proved to be plenty of trouble. He was not
only tough and capable of taking Murray's hard shots, he kept
charging forward and applying pressure. Occasionally Marcum landed a
hard punch, like in the forth when his right hand appeared to hurt
Murray. However, David responded and dropped Marcum with his own
explosive right hand. Marcum hit the deck and remained motionless on
his back as referee Shawn Clark counted over him. It seemed certain
that he'd be down for the count, but suddenly Marcum literally
jumped to his feet to beat the count.
In the fifth, Marcum threw caution to the wind and wildly charged
Murray, tossing punches. He landed a few, but Murray kept his cool.
The pair traded punches in the final round and closed the fight with
a flourish. All three judges saw the fight 59-54, which matched my
score. Murray raised his record to 10-2-1, 6 KOs; Marcum slipped
below .500, 11-12-1, 5 KOs.
SMALLS HALTS SISTRUNK
Philly welterweight Tahmir Smalls opened the show, winning his
second straight bout (2-0, 2 KOs) with an one-sided TKO of Detroit's
Kaywann Sistrunk, 0-5, in the final round of their scheduled
four-rounder. Smalls swept through the first three rounds with
little problem other than being warned in the first for hitting low.
Sistrunk was feisty in the third. He trash-talked Smalls but wasn't
able to match skills. In the fourth, Smalls cracked Sistrunk to the
body and then landed an immediate right to the chin that sent him to
the canvas. Referee David Braslow stopped the fight without a count
and called it a knockout at 1:38 of round four.
The show attracted a crowd of
about 800. |
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