|
DAWEJKO WINS BLOODY BATTLE |
||||
|
|
In a rare Tuesday evening boxing show, Marshall Kauffman’s King’s Promotions presented a five-bout card headlined by popular heavyweight Joey Dawejko. “The Tank” won his six-round main event with a blood-stained unanimous decision over Colby Madison of Baltimore.
At the opening bell, Joey jumped out to a quick start to the bout. Always looking for the early knockout, Dawejko hammered Madison with four clubbing overhand rights throughout the round. Madison, five inches taller but about ten pounds lighter than Joey, took the incoming shots with minimal wobble. Still, it certainly looked like the fight would be over soon. However, Madison survived the first round as well as the second, absorbing a few more hard rights.
The tipping point in most Dawejko fights usually occurs around the second or third round. With ten of his thirteen career knockouts coming in the first round (and none after round four), it seems Dawejko’s opponents can survive to the final bell if they can make it out of the third round. So, things in this fight were about to get interesting.
In round three, Dawejko put on the pressure, punching often and bloodying Madison’s nose. Colby fought back and his punches started to raise a welt under Joey’s left eye. Dawejko looked a little winded, but his offense had Madison’s blood flowing freely. This was the closest round of the fight. Although it was a tough call, I gave the round to Dawejko by a hair.
Starting in the fourth round, the fight – and Madison – became a bloody mess. Blood covered his face and spewed all over Dawejko’s arms and torso. As Joey chopped away, it looked like Madison was weakening. He was clearly in pain and distracted by the blood flow. Joey landed a hard right and then a left hook that hurt Madison later in the round. Meanwhile, Dawejko’s eye got puffier.
By the fifth, Dawejko was breathing with an open mouth, but still punching and moving forward. The action slowed a bit as Madison wore down too. Dawejko landed several good rights and a couple left hooks. Madison fought through the blood and cracked Dawejko with a hard left hook of his own. Dawejko's eye had stabilized and the swelling never got any worse.
In the final round, Dawejko remained in control, brushing off a good right by Madison and landing more power shots on his bloody foe. As the round wound down, Dawejko blasted Madison with a final left hook that sent Colby stumbling back into a neutral corner. Tired from the punches he absorbed all night and clearly drained and flustered by the constant bleeding he endured Madison appeared ready to fall. However, the bell rang to end the fight.
There was no drama waiting for the decision. It was clear that Joey had dominated the fight. The only question was whether Dawejko had scored a shutout or if the judges would give Madison the third round. Either way, this was an entertaining and grueling night’s work by both boxers.
The three judges, Steve Weisfeld, Tony Lundy, and Dave Braslow all scored the fight for Dawejko by a comfortable 59-55 (five rounds to one) tally. Madison won round three. My score was 60-54 for Joey. The referee was Shawn Clark.
The victory was Joey’s third in a row and improved his pro record to 24-10-4, 13 KOs. It was a good win that keeps Dawejko’s career going. Madison showed durability and courage and left with a record of 11-5-2, 7 KOs. He is a frequent visitor to Philly and will always be welcomed back.
The fight offered steady action throughout. But it almost ended in round one. Roudly whacked O’Callaghan with a pair of right hands that sent the Philadelphian to the canvas. He survived and the fight continued. Lolo won the second round with showy power punches before O’Callaghan rallied to win the third. The final three rounds were all competitive, close skirmishes. Lolo landed more combinations, but O’Callaghan scored forcefully with single shots. O’Callaghan closed the fight strongly, hurting Lolo in the final round with a hard right hand. Lolo wobbled, but O’Callaghan ran out of time to capitalize on his best punch of the night.
The three judges (Steve Weisfeld, Tony Lundy, and Dewey LaRosa) all had the fight 57-56 in favor of Lolo. I agreed that Lolo won the fight, but my score was much wider. Clearly O’Callaghan won the final two rounds on the official cards while I gave them to Lolo by a slight margin. Perhaps my scoring is rusty given my recent ringside inactivity. In any case, Lolo earned the win and improved to 6-1-2, 3 KOs. O’Callaghan fell to 5-2-1, 2 KOs. This was another good fight, and I would not mind seeing a rematch. The referee was Eric Dali.
The fight started on script. Zwicharowski stormed out at the opening bell and started throwing punches. He backed Floyd to the ropes repeatedly and hit Vincent numerous times with wild shots. The pattern continued in round two and Tyler seemed poised for his second win.
However, in round three, Floyd nailed Tyler with a hard right hand that sent the undefeated fighter down. He made it to his feet and when the action resumed, Zwicharowski swarmed Floyd. He pressed him to the ropes and fired countless power punches as Floyd tried to cover up. Not all of Tyler's shots landed, but the attack continued long enough for several of the punches to make it through Floyd's high guard. But suddenly, Floyd corked Tyler with a short, left uppercut. Zwicharowski’s head snapped back and he fell to the canvas again, with just seconds left in the round.
Zwicharowski climbed to his feet as the round ended. However, when referee Shawn Clark checked him, the fighter shook his head “no.” Clark called off the fight at 3:00 of round three. Floyd won for the first time in twelve fights, and improved to 5-15-1, 3 KOs. For Zwicharowski, 1-1, 1 KO, it was a hard lesson and a tough loss.
The battle was close, but Burgos landed a little more often and a little more sharply. Arnold landed a good right at the bell to end the second round. It was his best punch of the fight. But Burgos mixed effective body work with head shots to stay in control most of the way. Each time he landed, Burgos was met with strong return punches from Arnold, but Tyree was taking more punishment overall.
In the final round, Burgos dropped Arnold with a left hook that punctuated his excellent performance. Arnold survived and fought to the final bell. The judges (Steve Weisfeld, Dave Braslow, and Dewey LaRosa) all scored the fight 40-35 for Burgos. My score matched theirs. Burgos raised his record to 4-6-2, 1 KO, while Arnold lost his third in a row and slid to 1-6. The referee was Eric Dali.
The show opened with a three-round amateur exhibition between female flyweights Natalie Dove, of Philadelphia, and Lia Lewandowski, of Berlin, NJ. The action warmed up the crowd and was conducted without the services of a referee. It was the first time I had ever seen that, even in an exhibition. This was the fourth boxing show at Live! Casino since its 2021 debut as a fight venue. The event center was scaled for a crowd of about 850 and by the time the main event started probably 700 of those seats were filled. King's Promotions returns to Philadelphia on May 20th with a show at the 2300 Arena. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
