Saratoga’s Night of Future Champions

Not sure if this card had many future champions of major belts, but it did offer a lot of excitement. Lisa Elovich and Paul Brown of Pugnacious Promotion put on an excellent card for the fans at the Saratoga City Center in Saratoga Springs. The venue was packed with a great atmosphere, just in time for the start of the horse racing season. They had some former boxers in the crowd as well, with Joe Mesi and Gary Wilcox, just to name a few.

The main event saw Darrel “King David” Madison up his record to (14-1, 3 KO’s) winning a eight round split decision over fellow New York rival Nagy Aguilera (13-2, 8 KO’s). Madison boxed a smart fight, causing the early aggression of Aguilera to work against him. Madison showed good movement and quick hands to counter shot his opponent. At the end of the fight Madison appeared to be the fresher man and sealed the fight in the later rounds. The scores were 77-75 and 79-73 for Madison, while Aguilera might have got to much benefit in rounds with ineffective aggression, winning 77-75 on the third card. I had the fight scored 78-74 for Madison at ringside. With the win Madison retained his New York Heavyweight title. An interview to follow soon for “King David”, where he will tell us his future plans and thoughts on the fight.

In the co-main event, local favorite Michael Faragon (7-0, 2 KO’s) won a UD over Alberto Amaro (4-4, 4 KO’s). Faragon came out of the gate strong winning the first four rounds. He had a good variety of punches and applied good pressure to his opponent. Faragon seemed to gas out a little bit in the last two rounds, but his early work was more than enough to seal the victory. The scores were 60-54, and 58-56 twice for Faragon. I scored the fight 59-55 for Faragon.

In what could have been the most exciting fight of the night, was unfortunately cut short with a clash of heads in the third round, sending the fight to a no decision. Terrell Nelson (8-8, 4 KO’s) came out of the gates strong against his opponent Shannon Miller (16-4, 9 KO’s), landing some heavy shots on his foe. The second round swung back into the favor of Miller, who came back with some fire power of his own. An exciting flurry from Miller when Nelson was on the ropes helped him win the round. In the third round the fighters heads came together, with Miller getting a nasty cut from the clash. After the ringside doctor looked at Miller, he decided to wave off the fight at 52 seconds. Nelson seemed more then displeased with the stoppage, as he jumped around in his corner in disgust. I for one wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch.

Brian Miller (4-0, 1 KO) came out to the legendary song “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath. Then he proceeded to get dropped in the first round by Manny Cotrich (1-4, 1 KO) from a right hook. Note to Miller, you can’t come out to a song that powerful and get dropped in a minute. To Miller’s credit, he got up off the floor and won the fight via a split decision. The first two rounds Cotrich took control of the fight with his better hand speed and movement. The pressure and conditioning of Miller took over in the third round as he started to get to his opponent more often in the fight. Final scores were 58-55, 57-56 for Miller, while Cotrich took the third card 57-56. I had no problem with the decision, scoring the fight 57-56 for Miller.

In some other action of the night, Shawn Miller (1-0, 1 KO) had a successful debut, stopping Zaid Malik at 56 seconds of the fourth round. Shawn Miller happens to be the brother of Shannon Miller, who was also on the card. After shaking off the early jitters of a pro debut, Miller came on strong to stop his opponent. Another fight making his pro debut, Wazell Ellison (1-0, 1 KO), made easy work of Alex Cooper (0-2).

Overall it was another successful card for Pugnacious Promotions. Hopefully they will not only continue to do more shows at the start of the race season at Saratoga, but they will decide to put on more cards as well in the New York area.