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In the scheduled eight-round main event, Saturday night at the 2300 Arena, Dylan Price, Sicklerville, NJ, repeated his previous knockout victory over Elias Joaquino, but did it much more quickly the second time around. The solid gold prospect was impressive in breaking down his opponent and needed less than two rounds to score a TKO. When they first met in November of 2019, Price finished Joaquino in the sixth. Price came out swinging in the rematch. Price was smooth and slick and extremely busy, landing from every angle, but particularly effective with uppercuts and body blows. Price switched from orthodox to southpaw, and landed easily from both sides. Joaquin managed his own right uppercut and left hook in round one, but his offense made only a cameo appearance.
Price picked right up in round two. By this time his punches were coming in a blur. An extended flurry punctuated with a right uppercut dropped Joaquino for the first time. Elias took Benjy Esteves' eight count and bravely returned to the fight, but it was a lost cause for the visitor. Price met him and resumed the beating. A pair of body punches froze Joaquino in his tracks and a thrashing overhand right dropped him a second time. Esteves halted the fight immediately. The time was 1:33 of round two. Price looked terrific - and so fast - in the fight, but the result was no surprise. This was an easy match for him. He passed the test well and did the job quicker, but he needs better opposition. I understand that he's had some difficulty getting fights, but he's too good to keep feeding on guys like this. The victory improved Price's record to 13-0, with 10 KOs and 1 No Decision, and earned him the NBA Intercontinental bantamweight regional title belt. This was his second rematch, having recently beating Samuel Gutierrez for the second time too. Joaquino lost for the fourth time in a row and returned to the Philippines with a 12-6-2, 6 KO record.
Once the action began, southpaw Smith consistently landed to the body and ripped jabs and right uppercuts to Avila's head. Smith easily won the first three rounds before referee Benjy Esteves surprisingly jumped in and stopped the fight at 1:51 of the fourth. It was not a dramatic finish. Smith was landing almost everything he threw, and Avila, with a trickle of blood from his nostril, wasn't fighting back. But Avila did not look particularly hurt. So Esteves' proactive stoppage was to prevent any severe damage to the Mexican visitor. Smith looked sharp and strong in his comeback win and boosted his pro record to 11-1, 7 KOs. Avila fell to 3-8, 1 KO.
Apolinaris, a southpaw, won the opening round with sheer aggression and one series that appeared to hurt Parker along the ropes. However, Parker took over in round two. He landed good punches with both hands and worked Apolinaris' body. In the third round, Parker continued to control the action. However, the fight was competitive, and Apolinaris did not appear very damaged. None the less, as Esteves separated the fighters, the New Yorker's corner caught Benjy's eye and he immediately signaled the end of the fight. Parker, Pennsauken, NJ, raised his record to 2-0, 1 KO. Apolinaris, 1-1, lost for the first time. The lightweight fight was scheduled for four rounds.
The five-bout card was streamed live by BXNGTV.com for a $14.99 Pay-Per-View price. With COVID-19 restrictions, only a small crowd was permitted to attend live in South Philly. Promoter Dave Price has promoted some shows under his DandD banner, but this was his first show staged as Price Promotions. The company plans to return to the 2300 Arena in July. |
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