In front of an exciting crowd at Bally’s ballroom in Atlantic City, New Jersey, charismatic heavyweight Kevin ‘The Kingpin’ Johnson (21-0-1, 8KOs) continued to prosper throughout the heavyweight ranks with a heavily one-sided third round stoppage win over St. Louis, Missouri’s Matthew Greer (12-4, 11KOs).
Johnson unloaded a series of unanswered hooks to the body and head in round one. By the end of the round, Greer’s face was a bloody mess prompting those at ringside to yell for a corner stoppage. Target practice resumed in round two, yet Greer somehow managed to make it through another round. Johnson was simply way too superior in every department and compartment, landing just about every punch intended to land. Amazingly enough, Greer made his attempt to retaliate, but to no avail as he missed with wild looping overhand rights and repetitively taking unnecessary punishment. Towards the end of the third round, Greer’s corner had seen enough and rightfully threw in the towel. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:26.
ALVAREZ OUTPOINTS CAUTHEN IN ALL-NEW JERSEY WARFARE
In a very closely contested battle between two best welterweights representing the state of New Jersey, Atlantic City’s Shamone Alvarez (20-1, 11KOs) edged out Trenton’s Terrance Cauthen (33-5, 9KOs) over ten entertaining rounds of boxing.
From the beginning, Alvarez wasted no time setting the tempo, throwing popping jabs and focusing on the body. However, Cauthen, a former ’96 Olympic Bronze Medalist was able to utilize his elusive lateral movement to present difficulty for his oncoming rival. The first three rounds were highly competitive. Alvarez had his moments when he was able to back Cauthen up and dig to the body with ripping hooks. Despite both being southpaws, it was Cauthen who managed to fight like one, successfully finding his target by lunging in with swift right hook from the distance. Cauthen also held the edge in countering as he frequently caught Alvarez coming in with deceptive right hand counters to the head, followed up by an authoritative hook to the body.
A drastic turn aided Alvarez in round four when a quick one-two combination dropped Cauthen seconds before the bell. But sensing a bit of urgency, Cauthen recovered in the next round and began to turn it up with rapid combinations to pop Alvarez’s head back. Cauthen continued to exploit his foe’s openings in round seven and eight, but not without the point deduction evoked by repetitive holding.
The last two rounds were again, closely contested, as Alvarez found himself continuing to press the attack and Cauthen looking to counter. The crowd anxiously waited for the scores to be announced, and in the end, Alvarez’s aggression in addition to the knockdown and the point deduction aided to his majority decision victory. Two judges had scored the bout 98-90 and the other judge scoring it even, 94-94. 15rounds.com also saw it 94-94.
STEVEN BLOWS OUT ‘RAZOR’ SMITH
Brooklyn’s super middleweight Curtis ‘Showtime’ Stevens made a quick and explosive work of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Ray Smith (8-3, 2KOs) after a sudden and short blistering combination to the head the rendered Smith nearly senseless in just 48 seconds of the first round. Stevens, who’s on a nice rebound since the disappointing loss to Andre Dirrell in 2007, improves to 19-2, 14KOs.
THE ATLANTIC CITY EXPRESS ROLLS ON
Continuing his comeback trail, the forty one year-old former WBA heavyweight champion Bruce Seldon (39-7, 35KOs) easily walked through unheralded Brad Gregory (11-2, 9KOs) of Wichita, Kansas in two one-sided rounds. Seldon landed a crisp left hook that dropped Gregory for a quick count in the opening seconds. In the second, Seldon resumed and loaded up with two hard shots to the rib-cage, followed by a right hand that sent Gregory reeling to the canvas for the second time. Gregory beat the count, but deemed unfit to continue as the referee stopped the bout at 2:01.
With the win, Seldon secured his November 29th date against another former champion Lamon Brewster in Indianapolis.
OTHER RESULTS
Opening bout of the night saw Puerto Rican heavyweight Alexis Mejias extend his record to 8-1, 3KOs against Baltimore, Maryland’s Bernard ‘Fat Boy’ Brown (6-5, 3KOs) in two rounds. The heavier but slicker Brown was able to control the first round by landing some wide shots, but things quickly turned towards the end of the round when Mejias landed a hard right hand to the head. Just when Brown’s corner urged their fighter to step up and increase the tempo, it was Mejias who took the initiative to land another hard right hand to drop Brown. Brown was able to get up, but appeared heavily dazed, prompting the referee to call the bout to a halt at the :49 mark of the second round.
In light heavyweight action, Atlantic City’s own Lavarn Harvell made a successful second pro debut, leaving Perth Amboy, New Jersey (0-2) win-less. Harvell, who posed a superior upper-body movement with more solid technique and heavier aggression, was able to out-muscle his opponent over four rounds, winning by a unanimous decision. Scores were 40-36 (twice), and 39-37.
Rising welterweight prospect Raymond ‘Tito’ Serrano (8-0, 5KOs) of Philadelphia, remained unblemished with a hard-fought, workman-like decision over an awkward, switch-hitting Shakha Moore (11-12-3, 2KOs) of Norwalk, Connecticut. Serrano was the aggressor early on, focusing his attack to the body and throwing well-timed one-two combinations to the head. In round three, the Philly native was credited with the knockdown when Moore was trapped against the ropes and fell in between. Moore was able to bounce back in rounds four and five when he neutralized his opponent’s offense with effective movement and slick counter-punching. Both combatants gave it all in the sixth and final round, each landing meaningful punches at close quarters. In the end, Serrano’s superior work-rate and accuracy prevailed on the score cards by the way of 60-53, 58-54, and 57-56.
The exciting seven-bout card was promoted by Joe Deguardia’s Star Boxing and streamed via live-cast on GoFightLive.tv. 15 Rounds’ own Marc Abrams was in action at ringside to provide commentary for the web-cast.