Emerging super middleweight prospect Vladine Biosse of Providence, RI scored the biggest win of his fledgling career tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena, knocking out former junior middleweight titlist Santiago Samaniego in the third round.
Samaniego, despite once holding a WBA title, was years removed from his best (he has only 1 win since 2002) but still represented a significant step up in class for the 28 year old Biosse. 30 of Samaniego’s 37 wins were by knockout, so at the very least he had a proverbial “punchers chance” coming into the bout. None of Samaniego’s achievements seemed to matter to Biosse though and from the opening bell, he stalked his opponent around the ring behind a southpaw jab; occasionally putting a straight left behind it for good measure. Biosse cut down the ring well and quickly had Samaniego along the ropes where he strafed him with two fisted combinations; firing them from different angles to keep Samaniego guessing. By the second round it was obvious that Samaniego had little chance against his younger opponent and despite his best efforts, Samaniego’s punches were simply too slow to come close to connecting with the ever-moving Biosse. Throughout the second round, Biosse continually utilized angles to turn Samaniego to the ropes where he would punish him with both hands. 25 seconds into the third, a flurry from Biosse dropped Samaniego along the ropes. Samaniego rose looking more tired than shaken and moved away from his pursuer to avoid more punishment. Biosse showed poise and didn’t go for broke on the follow up. He patiently waited for his moment, forced Biosse to the ropes and unleashed a left uppercut that dropped Samaniego to the canvas. Clearly out-classed and with no hope of winning, Samaniego took the full ten count while on one knee. Biosse has a lot to be proud of with the win and displayed that he is now ready to begin taking on the tougher challengers in the super middleweight division. The win improves his record to 10-0 5KOs. Samaniego, who looked about 10 pounds too heavy, ought to seriously consider his future as a professional fighter. His latest loss leaves him at 37-13-1 30KOs but with only 1 win in the last 9 years, his days as an effective fighter are clearly behind him.
Eight months after being KO’d in one round by rising middleweight prospect David Lemieux, New Haven CT’s Elvin Ayala got back into the win column with a 6 round unanimous decision over Indianapolis, IN’s Mustafah Johnson. Ayala controlled most of the bout from the outside, utilizing a crisp jab to keep Johnson at bay. Ayala also mixed in left hooks to good effect and was able to slip most of what Johnson threw back in return. The fight progressed in much the same way until the 4th round when Johnson was able to catch up to Ayala and force his back to the ropes. In response Ayala began fighting more and boxing less, opening up with stinging left hooks and using angles to spin Johnson onto the ropes. Johnson was game and continued to press the action, but Ayala proved too fast and accurate for Johnson to mount any significant offense. When the scorecards were read, it was no surprise all three favored Ayala by scores of 60-54. Although Johnson was a soft touch, Ayala deserved an easy win after the nature of his knockout loss to Lemieux. Ayala is now 21-5 9KOs. Johnson drops to 8-10-1.
Prior to the 4 round middleweight bout between New Haven CT’s Greg McCoy and Pawtucket, RI’s Thomas Falowo, the ring announcer warned the crowd: “Watch out. This fight just might steal the show.” The statement couldn’t have been more accurate. The 4 rounds between McCoy and Falowo had everything the crowd had paid to see: non-stop back and forth action, big punches and a definitive winner. At the opening bell, both fighters charged from their corners throwing (and landing) every punch in the book. Hooks, uppercuts, straight right hands; every punch either fighter threw landed and on multiple occasions both fighter looked to be on shaky legs. The crowd was on their feet at the end of the first and though the action in round 2 was no less impressive, Falowo began to out-land McCoy. As the round progressed, McCoy began to steadily tire and his punches had less and less effect on Falowo, who began to press the action and land hard right hands. By the 4th, McCoy was still fighting back valiantly but it was clear he was all but spent. Falowo backed him into the ropes and hurt him with an overhand right. Sensing the end was near, Falowo poured out everything he had and landed 10 plus unanswered punches before referee Dick Flaherty jumped in and stopped it at 1 minute 40 seconds of the fourth round. With an impressive display of stamina, Falowo picked up his second professional win and now stands at 2-0 2KOs. McCoy drops to 2-2-1 1KO but no doubt did well to secure a good pay day in his next fight with his incredible display of heart.
If there were an award for punch of the night, it would belong to Hartford, CT’s Javier Flores. Flores, who was matched against Rochester NY welterweight Marcus Hall, was being out-boxed though much of the first 2 of a scheduled 4 rounds when he began to launch left uppercuts that landed hard on the chin of Hall. As Hall was backing up to escape them, he became trapped against the ropes and ate another crunching lead left uppercut that dropped him to the floor. Referee Eddie Cotton didn’t bother with a count and called the fight at 2 minutes 5 seconds of the second round. With the impressive display of power, Flores bumped his record up to 5-0 5KOs. Hall, who fought well up until the stoppage, drops to 4-3-1 2KOs.
In an ugly bout, welterweight Sean Eklund of Lowell, MA was able to muscle his way to a 4 round unanimous decision over Springfield, MA’s Noel Garcia. From the opening bell both fighters appeared nervous and came at each other winging punches. Neither fighter was able to land anything of note, although Eklund settled in as the aggressor and began to press the action. Each round appeared to be a mirror image of the last, with Eklund pressing forward with wild abandon and Garcia flailing punches when Eklund came in close. With the amount of punches being thrown, it was surprising that very little was landing for either fighter. The difference in the fight was Eklund’s commitment to coming forward and no doubt was the deciding factor on the judges scorecards. At the end of 4, all three judges had it 39-37 in favor of Eklund, improving his record to 8-4 1KO. Garcia notches another loss and stands at 2-7-1 1KO.
Local junior welterweight favorite Edwin Soto (6-0-1 2KOs) of New Haven, CT, easily won a six round unanimous decision over his game opponent from Niagara Falls, NY James Ventry (7-13 4KOs.)
Soto began the fight moving and boxing well, getting in and out with two fisted combos to the body and head of Ventry. Ventry was consistently coming forward but did not utilize a jab and paid the price for not working his way inside; often taking 4 or 5 shots to land one. Soto began to slow in the 4th round and as a result, found himself with his back to the ropes and Ventry looking to tee off on him. Soto responded well though and countered Ventry successfully from the ropes with left hooks to the body and head. Ventry had his best round in the 6th when his shots finally began to find the chin of the tiring Soto. At that point though, it was too little too late and Soto had already secured his victory. Scores at the end gave little credit to Ventry as all three judges scored it a shutout at 60-54.
One of the unfortunate realities of the heavyweight division is that in comparison to every other division in boxing, the skill level of the average practitioner is markedly lower. As I watched heavyweight’s Theron Johnson of Chicago, IL and Billy Mofford of Randolph, MA fight for six rounds, there seemed little reason to question this. Mofford appeared out of shape and seemed to have no game plan outside of throwing single shot hay-makers and praying for a knockout. Johnson easily out-worked Mofford by throwing in combination, but won nearly all of the six rounds on the strength of his overhand right. One of his overhand rights in round two caught Mofford in the nose and caused him to bleed off and on for the rest of the fight. Mofford’s only moment came in the 5th when he managed to connect with a solid right hand that buzzed Johnson momentarily. Johnson shook it off and out-boxed Mofford through the rest of the fight. Scores at the end read 60-54 and 59-55 (twice) in favor of Johnson who improves his record to 5-3 1KO. Mofford slips to 9-2-2 4KOs.
Ledyard, CT middleweight Brian Macy returned from a two year layoff to lose a surprising 4 round split decision to Fort Myers Florida’s JC Peterson. Peterson, who was 0-8 going into the bout, started impressively by dropping an off balance Macy with a left jab to the face early in round one. Over the course of the next 3 rounds, both fighters stood shoulder to shoulder and traded punches to the body and head which made for difficult scoring. The close nature of the bout was reflected by the scorecards at the end: 38-37 for Macy and 38-37 (twice) for Peterson. With the win, Peterson picked up his first professional win and now stands at 1-9. Macy drops his second in a row and falls to 5-2 2KOs.
In the opening bout of the evening, New Haven, CT super bantamweight Luis Rosa (5-0 4KOs) dismantled Cape Coral, Florida’s Justin Goodall (1-2 1KO) in 3 lopsided rounds. Rosa dropped Goodall in the opening 15 seconds with a sweeping left hook, and Goodall appeared all but spent when he rose on shaky legs. He managed to survive Rosa’s follow up barrage and was able to make it through rounds one and two on his bicycle, offering little more than a keep away jab to discourage Rosa. By round 3 Goodall has lost his legs completely and coming out of one of the numerous clinches of the round, Rosa landed a sharp left hook that dropped Goodall flat on his back. Referee Eddie Cotton immediately waved off the fight, stopping it at 1:14 of Round 3 and giving Rosa his 3rd KO victory in a row.
