Brandon Adams, Vito Gasparyan, John Thompson and Stanyslav Skorokhod progressed to the ESPN Boxcino junior middleweight semi with wins in Friday Nights Quarter Finals at the Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut.
In Quarter number 1, 25 year old Ukrainian Skorokhod (9-0, 7 kos) dominated southpaw Michael Moore (13-1, 6 kos) from Cleveland, Ohio, scoring a four round TKO.
Right hands did the trick. Moore was dropped 29 seconds into the third but survived as Skorkhod went for one big punch. It came in the fourth, a right hand around Moore’s high guard, with referee Mike Ortega stopping it at 1.03.
In the second Quarter, late replacement Thompson (15-1, 5 kos) from Newark, NJ, boxed a smart fight running rings around Californian Ricardo Pinell (10-2-1, 6 kos) taking a deserved shut out verdict.
The 6’1, 25 year old Thompson came in on a days notice after southpaw Cleo Pandarvis failed to make weight and made the most of the opportunity, never giving his plodding opponent a look in. (The change in opponent definitely played a part in Pinnell’s lack luster effort but that is part of boxing – expect the unexpected.)
Quarter number 3 saw Armenian born Vito Gasparyan (15-3-5, 8 kos), now based out of Glendale, California, wear down Guyana’s Simeon Hardy (13-1, 10 kos).
Brooklyn based Hardy looked slick for the six minutes but the gritty Gasparyan’s tenaciousness and superior fitness told as the contest continued. Gasparyan, 28, kept things in close and had Hardy backing up over the final two rounds.
In the final quarter final, last year’s middleweight Boxcino runner up Brandon “The Cannon” Adams (16-1, 11 kos) advanced with an impressive fifth round stoppage of a gallant Alex Perez (18-2, 11 kos with 1 NC).
The 25 year old from Los Angeles looked a good thing to go one further this year. He had an intensity and focus on a knockout from the opening bell, finding a home for the right hand early on. Newark, New Jersey’s Perez , a string-bean southpaw, was forced to spend much of the fight with his back against the ropes trying to weather a two fisted, non- stop storm.
Adams squared up and dug in and never let up. Perez was able to get some distance for a while before another hard right got him back against the ropes. Perez briefly changed righty in the fifth and his fortitude was un-questionable but he was not strong enough.
A short right hand put Perez on the seat of his pants and Referee Harvey Dock waved it half way through the count at 2 minutes 47.
Adams next takes on Gasparyan and Skorokhod faces Thompson in the semi finals on April 3.
