York, PA Super Featherweight Eric Nemo thrilled his hometown fans with a dominant six round unanimous decision over southpaw spoiler Stephan Alexander at the elegant Valencia Ballroom last Saturday evening.
Backed by nonstop chants of “Nemo, Nemo”, the local product was effectively aggressive from the opening bell, tagging Alexander in close quarters en route to dropping him with a short left hand in the second. The lanky Alexander attempted to work his way back into the fight by boxing from the outside, but had minimal success.
Despite a significant height disadvantage, Nemo consistently landed flush punches on the inside en route to taking a one sided victory.
Judges Bernard Bruni and Tony Wolfe scored the contest 60-53, while John Gradowski’s tally read 59-54. 15rounds.com also scored it 60-53 in favor of Nemo.
“I knocked him down and controlled the fight. but I didn’t feel like I was that sharp tonight,” Nemo surprisingly said following an adequate performance. “I didn’t train for a tall southpaw and he was very awkward.”
Nemo, whose lone defeat came in 2005 to future world champion Juan Manuel Lopez, improves to 10-1-1 with 5 KO’s. Alexander returns to Norfolk, VA at 4-3 with all four wins coming by knockout.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, tough but predictable welterweight Doel Carrasquillo was unable to capitalize on a rare hometown appearance, dropping an eight round majority decision to rugged Ghanaian Ayi Bruce.
Carrasquillo stood directly in front of Bruce from bell to bell firing hard hooks, but his lack of speed and movement gave his counterpart plenty of opportunities. With a close friend recording the fight near ringside while shouting instructions in his native tongue, Bruce landed the majority of the clean punches and avoided most of Carrasquillo’s return shots.
Scores were 78-74, matching 15rounds’ tally, 77-75 and a questionable 76-76.
“I knew he was a hard puncher, so I kept my hands up and countered him,” said Bruce, who resides in Albany, NY. “He was very tough and is a good fighter.”
Bruce is now 16-3 (11 KO’s). Carrasquillo, of Lancaster, PA, slips to a decisive 14-16-1 with 12 wins by KO.
Pro debutant and York native Jesus Saucedo successfully entered the paid ranks with a crowd pleasing four round UD over a very game Mike Denby. All four rounds of the welterweight contest were fought at a toe to toe pace, with both men throwing power shots as if there were no tomorrow. Although he was outweighed by 4.5 lbs, Saucedo was clearly the stronger puncher and hurt Denby on a few different occasions.
Judges Gradowski, Wolfe and Bruni all scored the bout 39-37.
Denby, of Dover, DE, falls to 3-5-3 (2 KO’s).
Entertaining middleweight Mike Moore of Cleveland, OH kept his perfect record alive following a close four round majority decision over gritty Robert Sockwell of East Stroudsburg, PA. The shorter Moore consistently brought the fight to Sockwell, who fought back valiantly and buzzed Moore with a hook in the third. Moore closed the show in style, dominating the final stanza with an impressive array of punches in close range.
Scores were 39-37 twice and 38-38.
“I saw him yesterday at the weigh in and tried to size him up, but he was a little bit more awkward than I thought he would be,” Moore said after the victory. “I came into the fight in great shape, am looking for my next fight already and am ready for whomever!”
Sockwell falls to 2-2 (2 KO’s).
In the opening bout of the evening, lightweight prospect Julius Leegrand of Cleveland moved to 4-0 with a unanimous decision over fellow Ohioan Eric Ricker. Leegrand worked behind a snappy jab throughout the contest, while mixing in left hooks and straight right hands in a solid showing.
Scores were 40-36 and 39-37 twice.
Leegrand is now 4-0 with 2 KO’s. Toledo’s Ricker slides 3-6.
Headed by Julio Alvarez, who worked double duty as the trainer of Nemo, Carrasquillo and Saucedo, the card served as A&D Promotions’ debut.
