VERA STOPS LEE IN THRILLING UPSET!

By Joseph Davey (ringside)

(Ledyard, Connecticut 3-21-08) After all the hype surrounding Andy Lee, I’ll be the first to come out and admit that I expected his fight tonight with Contender alum Brian Vera to be a blowout. Vera, don’t forget, was starched in 2 rounds by hard hitting but limited Jaidon Codrington. Surely Lee, the so-called heir apparent of the middleweight division would have no trouble with him. How wrong I (and I’m sure most everyone else) was. The fight opened well enough for Lee as he kept Vera at a distance with his southpaw jab and circled eventually running Vera into a straight left that shook him up and forced him into a corner. Another straight left caught Vera and dropped him to a knee and seemed to signal the beginning of the end for him. As the first round ended it seemed only a matter of time before Vera would fall again under Lee’s technically sound shots. Yet in round 2 Vera came out fighting and landed some good left hooks and hard straight right hands that caught Lee with regularity. At the end of the round Lee actually looked surprised that Vera was putting up a fight. It proved to be only the beginning of what was to be an all out slugfest as Vera and Lee both threw caution to the wind and winged shots at each other. The fight progressed with a back and forth swing as Lee would land a jab straight left and Vera would land an overhand right. Lee was seemingly landing the crisper shots but Vera’s overhand rights were clubbing and powerful and began to cut up Lee’s face. The fight was seemingly up for grabs going into the seventh (with perhaps a slight edge to Lee) but two huge right hands from Vera put Lee on wobbly legs and changed the course of the bout. Vera saw his opportunity and seized it firing off perhaps 30 unanswered punches, many of which landed on the chin of Lee. With blood flowing from multiple cuts and Vera still firing away Lee suddenly tried to mount and offense and was actually in the process of fighting back with straight lefts when referee Tony Chiarantano decided to stop the fight. Not many would have argued had Chiarantano stopped the fight when Lee was taking unanswered shots in the corner but because Lee was fighting back the crowd booed loudly at the end. Either way, Lee was thoroughly beaten up and in trouble when the fight was halted. Time of the stoppage was 2:17. With the win Vera is now (16-1 10KOs) while Lee drops to (15-1 12KOs.)

Up and coming super middleweight prospect Aaron Pryor Jr. (9-0 6KOs) narrowly overcame tough and determined Alphonso Williams (10-4 8KOs) to win a close 8 round unanimous decision. At the opening bell Williams came out with bad intentions and literally ran across the ring to deliver a left hook that had Pryor in serious trouble. Williams tried his best to take Pryor out by winging left and right hooks as Pryor was along the ropes but none connected solidly enough to put the hurt Pryor down. After weathering the storm, Pryor began to pop out jab right hand combos that were to be his most effective and oft used punches over the rest of the bout. For two rounds Pryor looked to be in control as he moved, jabbed and connected with a number of flush right hands on the chin of Williams. Yet in round 4, Pryor’s punch output slowed a bit and Williams started to close the gap and land a few left hooks. Round 5 saw more movement and less punching from Pryor which caused an obviously frustrated Williams to dance around and play the crowd. Pryor did land some flush right hands on the onrushing Williams but was coming close to losing rounds solely because of his reluctance to punch. Round 7 was perhaps Williams best as he had Pryor in trouble again courtesy of a flush counter hook. Pryor recovered and managed to close strong in round 8 as the two fighters traded toe to toe until the bell. Scores of 76-75 77-74 and 79-73 were all (deservedly) in favor of Pryor. Despite winning the fight, Pryor looked vulnerable and raised more than a few questions about his chin.

Manchester, Connecticut junior lightweight Matt Remillard (13-0 7KOs) outclassed Miami, Florida’s Jesus Perez (25-19-3 14Kos) over the course of 4 rounds. Remillard dropped Perez in the first with a quick counter left hook and thoroughly dominated the rest of the fight with jab right hand combos and left hooks. Perez tried to mount an offense but for the most part couldn’t get through Remillard’s guard. Scores were 40-35 (twice) and 39-36

Local light heavyweight prospect Brain Macy (3-0 1KO) of Ledyard, Connecticut retained his unbeaten record with a close unanimous decision win over Toms River, New Jersey’s Rafal Jastrezbski (0-6-1 0KO.) Macy came out strong and drove back Jastrezbski with hard left hooks to the body and head, mixing in the occasional straight right to throw Jastrezbski off balance. Midway through round 2 Macy was able to connect solidly with a short right hand on the inside which dropped Jastrezbski to the canvas. Jastrezbski was able to escape the round and even began to fight back as Macy appeared to have punched himself out. Perhaps inspired to for broke after the knockdown, Jastrezbski threw with reckless abandon for the remaining two rounds and caught Macy on numerous with lead right hands. At the final bell, Macy looked to be the more exhausted fighter but won a unanimous decision by scores of 38-37 (twice) and 39-36 with the knockdown being the deciding factor.

The first bout of the evening pitted Stamford Connecticut welterweight Francisco Palacios (2-3-4 1KO) against London England’s Vineash Rungea (2-11-2 0KO.) For the most part the fight was uninspiring due in large part to the inability of either man to hurt the other. Palacios did manage to land a number of lead right hands over the course of the bout that forced Rungea back, but it was due more to balance issues than power. Rungea had his moments though and was able to connect with jabs and left uppercuts to the body which earned him two rounds on one judges score card. Ultimately it was Palacios who landed the cleaner, harder shots which allowed him to prevail by scores of 38-38 39-37 (twice)