June marks the beginning of hurricane season and graduation ceremonies in South Florida. Last night at The Seminole Hard Rock Live, a healthy crowd of vocal fans witnessed the pugilistic equivalent of both. The Heavyweight Factory promoted an 8-bout card titled: “Hollywood Fight Night” featuring a rising star, two veterans in search of an elusive world title and two former world champs seeking to regain former glory. The exceptionally-matched fights highlighted a herculean effort from under appreciated boxing matchmaker Johnny Bos. Bos, a member of the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame, worked tirelessly through Friday and into Saturday to secure the right fighters for the right fights.
Heavyweight veteran Cedric “The Boz” Boswell (35-1, 26 KOs) single-handedly defended his NABA and WBC Latino belts against Kertson “Warrior” Manswell (20-3, 15 KOs) in the 10-round main event. The 41-year old Boswell started strongly with chopping right hands to serve notice to his Trinidadian opponent, forcing Manswell to raise his guard and shoulder high in defense. Boswell followed up with a quick 3-punch combination as he started to dictate the pace. Manswell fired back a probing right hand to the body and hooked Boswell’s head in a clinch as the round ended.
The second round saw Boswell land a wicked 3-punch combination as Manswell unwisely turned to referee Frank Santore Jr. to complain of a prior right hand he felt strayed low. “The Boz” followed this up with a swift left hook upstairs. Santore stepped in to warn both men for hitting behind the head. The warning apparently wasn’t heeded as Boswell fired a long right hand that caught Manswell to the back of his head. It appeared Manswell may have turned away from the punch, which caused him to crumple to the canvas. Referee Santore Jr. started a standing-eight count but changed it into a 1-point deduction for Boswell. As action resumed, Boswell fired a stump of a jab to stun Manswell, followed by quick, short combinations to the head. Manswell responded with a clean right uppercut to close the round.
Boswell bid farewell to his right-hand punches in the third round after landing a short right hand to Manswell’s head. “The Boz” pelted Manswell with crisp jabs and meaningful left hooks throughout the stanza. By the fourth round, it became evident Manswell was fighting a one-armed man. Amazingly, Boswell continued to hold his own behind an active jab and left hook. By the seventh round, Manswell seemed to understand his tactical advantage and opened up with strong left hooks of his own. Undeterred, the Detroit native trash-talked the advancing Manswell in the 8th and 9th rounds while peppering him with every left-handed blow in his arsenal.
Boswell circled away to his left in the tenth and continued to give Manswell a verbal and physical lashing. Manswell switched to the southpaw stance to attempt an even greater tactical advantage. Boswell’s lead on the scorecards was too great however as judges awarded him the unanimous decision victory with identical scores of 98-90. After the fight, Boswell confirmed he injured his right shoulder: “Whooping him (Manswell) upside his head.” Having Boswell and fellow heavyweight Jameel McCline in the same room was apparently bad for Boswell’s shoulder, since the injury appeared to be the same rotator cuff tear suffered in his only career blemish: a 10th round TKO loss to McCline. (McCline sat at ringside during last night’s bout.)
The co-main event showcased Detroit native and top-rated light middleweight prospect Domonique “3D” Dolton (11-0, 6 KOs) attempting to move up to middleweight to “graduate” to his first professional career regional belts (The vacant NABA USA and WBC FECARBOX titles). Dolton needed every bit of his Kronk Gym boxing pedigree to hold off a relentless challenge from Lithuanian Donatas Bondorevas (12-3-1, 3KOs) to earn a majority decision victory in his first 10-round bout. Playing the role of matador to the bullish Bondorevas, Dolton dazzled with exceptional footwork and defense throughout the early rounds. Controlling the pace and the distance behind accurate combinations, Dolton opened a cut over the Lithuanian’s left eye in the first.
“3D” continued to stymie Bondorevas with fluid movement and crisp punches as action headed into the sixth round. Dolton fired a left hook to the body which prompted a low blow response from Bondorevas. The punch floored Dolton as he yelped in pain. Taking about forty seconds to recover, Dolton resumed his attack with a right hand/left hook combo to restart the blood flowing from Bondorevas’ cut.
Bondorevas found his range by the seventh behind solid right hands that tested Dolton’s chin and conditioning. The added weight and rounds started to favor the Lithuanian heading into the later rounds and both men slowed their attacks slightly from the furious pace. Bondorevas found an opening for his right uppercut in the eighth and started to stun Dolton before short-circuiting his own attack with another low blow. Again Dolton fell to the canvas and referee Sam Burgos issued Bondorevas his second warning. Dolton walked it off and a brawl started taking shape with the blood flowing from the Lithuanian’s left eye.
Bondorevas lost his head and a point in the ninth as he jumped into Dolton with an attempted flagrant head-butt on a break to force Burgos to administer the 1-point deduction. Dolton regained his earlier form in the tenth to keep the action in the center of the ring with refreshed footwork and defense. Bondorevas still had a surprise for Dolton as he forced him to the ropes behind a left hook to the body and a left uppercut to the head that floored him as the final bell rang. Dolton beat the standing-eight count and awaited the judge’s decision, which came with scores of 95-93 (twice) and 94-94. Dolton’s perfectionist nature came out as he explained: “Some guys have awkward styles. I had to learn how to adjust. I knew I was setting him up but I just had to throw more. Sometimes there are rough fights, but you have to deal with them.”
The action-packed undercard featured IBF #14-ranked super-featherweight Daniel “The Prophet” Attah (26-7-1, 9 KOs) against John “The Real Digg” Trigg (18-36, 6 KOs) in an 8-round contest. Fresh off a disappointing decision loss to Filipino Michael Farenas in California two weeks ago, Attah was determined to notch the win. The Nigerian-born southpaw opened up a cut to Trigg’s forehead in the opening round with blazing right hooks. The game Trigg found openings for left hooks and continued to advance towards Attah, eating combinations for his trouble. “The Prophet” poured on the punches to open a cut over Trigg’s right eye in the second round. Heads came together in the fourth; which exacerbated the cut over Trigg’s right eye, yet he continued to move forward.
Attah continued to hold the speed advantage but felt Trigg’s body shots and overhand rights. Trigg complained to referee Frank Santore about Attah’s clinches in the sixth round. Nothing seemed to slow the tough-as nails Trigg except Attah’s huge left hand leads which repeatedly landed on the increasingly bloody face of Trigg.
Trigg saved his best for last in the eighth, scoring a right hand as Attah backed to the ropes. Sensing an opportunity, Trigg fired another right to send Attah to the floor. Attah vehemently complained of a slip but Santore Jr. applied the standing eight-count as the bout came to a close. Judges scored it 79-73 and 78-73 (twice) for “The Prophet.”
The expected slugfest between former undisputed cruiserweight champion O’Neil “Give ‘Em Hell” Bell (26-4-1, 24 KOs) and WBA light heavyweight world champion Richard “The Destroyer” Hall (30-8, 28 KOs) got the crowd roaring in their 10-round cruiserweight battle. Bell, who recently changed his name to “El Yun El,” landed repeated right hands to Hall’s head in the first half of the opening round. Hall, tentatively measuring his fellow Jamaican opponent, fired a right hook that caught Yun El backing up. Pinning Yun El to the corner, Hall continued his assault and shook off a counter right to land a big left hand. The two men traded heavy shots throughout the second round with Hall scoring straight lefts and uppercuts and Yun El replying with powerful rights. Hall fired a devastating left that snapped Yun El’s head back along the ropes, followed by another that left the former cruiserweight champion defenseless and prompted referee Sam Burgos to jump in and stop the assault at 1:58.
Hall wasted no time calling out undefeated WBO NABO and NABF cruiserweight champion Lateef Kayode (16-0, 14 KOs) afterwards, proclaiming: “Every belt you have belongs to me. Everyone told me to be patient but the time has come for you to grow some balls and fight me. He’s African and I’m Jamaican. Everyone knows this will make a great fight. He needs to grow some balls and quit running from me.”
In a battle of the “Beasts,” local Haitian-American heavyweight Dieuly “The Untamed Beast” Aristilde (9-4, 2 KOs) stopped Darrick “The Beast” Allen (2-9, 2 KOs) by TKO at 1:24 in the second round.
Local crowd favorite Erik “The Viking” Leander (11-1, 8 KOs) notched the eighth first-round knockout of his career by crushing 300-lb David Saulsbury (6-3, 6 KOs) with a right hand, left hook combination at 2:06 of the round. Doctors attended to the prone Saulsbury for minutes after the end of the bout as a precaution. Cuban heavyweight Yasmay “Tiburon” Consuegra (5-0, 3 KOs) maintained his undefeated record with a 3rd round TKO stoppage over Ronny Hale (1-2, 1 KO) at 2:26 of the 3rd round. Super middleweight Tracy “T-Roc” Rollins (2-0, 1 KO) of Chicago earned a unanimous decision victory of southpaw Eddie Gates (2-2, 1 KO) from Detroit in the show’s opening bout. All 3 judges scored the bout 39-36 for Rollins.
