24.08.07 – By Craig Mastendri: Ted Arneault and the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort presented a Night at the Fights, Thursday evening August 23, 2007 in Chester West Virgina.
The first event of the co-feature was Brian “The Beast” Minto from Butler Pennsylvania taking on Ray Lunsford of Coldwater, Mississippi. Minto was coming of a controversial loss to Luan Krasniqi, and made very short work of Lunsford. Minto was all business when the bell rang, scoring a knockdown off of a short, straight, right around a minute into the fight. Lunsford beat the count but Minto pursued like a man on a mission. They exchanged again and Minto caught him flush with a very nice hook that put a fast and exciting end to the bout. The action was called to a halt by referee Rick Steigerwalt at the one minute and fifty-six second mark of round one. Immediately afterwards, Joe Mesi, who was at ringside came into the ring. Mesi accepted a challenge made by Minto, for a fight between them to be on PPV, at the Harv Auditorium, on the Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino site.
They are shooting for an October timeframe, with October thirteenth as a tentative date scheduled. Minto who is rated fifteenth at Heavyweight by the WBO sees this fight as an opportunity to take the next step forward to a title shot in the division. Minto’s all action style makes crowd-pleasing fights. The Mesi vs Minto match up should deliver excitement to the fans and elevate the winner to the next level. Minto raised his record to 28-2 with 17 KO’s.
The Main Event of the co-feature, pitted Verquan Kimbrough now 18-1-1 7 KO’s in a 135 pound fight versus journeyman Rodney Jones who dropped to 27-7 with 13 KO’s.
Kimbrough, who has had some uneven performances, which included a knockout loss to Jose Gonzalez in 2006, appeared sharp and ready. It was a twelve round title fight for the IBC World lightweight Championship. Kimbrough started fast scoring a first round knockdown off a straight right set up by effective use of his jab. The next several rounds saw Kimbrough use his left hook well, in combination with the jab, and straight right hand. Kimbrough’s speed, reach, and timing were taking their toll. Jones’s nose was bleeding by the fifth round and he hadn’t mounted any significant attack of his own. The pace slowed a bit in rounds six through nine as Jones began to circle from a distance seemingly unsure of how to get into an effective range without being beat to the punch. Until round nine, when a clash of heads caused a cut over Jones’ left eye. That sparked Kimbrough, as the eye became a bulls-eye, for Verquan’s right hand, as he doubled and tripled shots to the target. Jones managed to hang on and survive the twelve rounds, but the judge’s scorecards were unanimous, 119-108, 119-108, and 120-106 all for Kimbrough.
There were four fights on the under-card and most were fairly entertaining. The first was Gonzalee Jones 2-0 0 KO’s of Akron OH versus Terrance Miller 0-1 of Cleveland Oh. Miller scored a knockdown in the second round and appeared to have slightly better technique than his opponent. Yet, the determination and aggression of Jones, who has a Tough-man Contest Background carried him to victory.
Next up was Tommy “The Pride of Uniontown, Pa.” Karpency a light-heavyweight southpaw who fought as a Cruiserweight and moved to 7-0 with 3 KO’s as he faced Eric Asher of Powell, OH, who fell to 4-3 2 KO’s. The two fighters opened up with some nice exchanges in round one and wasted little time getting to it. Karpency was landing his straight left and right hook effectively. Asher was hurt by the same combination early in the second round and referee Rick Steigerwalt made an appropriate stoppage at the 1:22 second mark of round two.
The third fight, featured two HW’s making Pro debuts. Jim Emerick of Butler Pa. versus Billy Greenwalt of Youngstown Oh. If you blinked or turned you’re head you might have missed a short hard right hand that Emerick landed as he bull rushed Greenwalt. The fight being stopped at the 1:47 second mark of round one.
The fourth fight, which pitted Chris Koval 24-3 18 KO’s versus Chad Van Sickle 21-7-3Columbus Oh. Featured two HW’s who were both heavy and appeared to be in “less than ideal” condition. This was the least entertaining fight of the evening. Van Sickle tried to use his 1,2 combination and avoid the more aggressive and much larger Koval as he pursued. There was little in the way of effective blows and the judges ultimately ruled in favor of Koval by split decision, two judges had 58-56 for Koval and one had it 58-56 for Van Sickle.
Afterwards, I was able to speak with Tommy Yankello, trainer for Brian Minto, and his brother Mark Yankello, and Monty Meza-Clay. The Yankello brothers have formed their own promotional company, World Class Fight Promotions. They were excited and looking forward to the Mesi vs Minto event, as well as an upcoming card on September 22, 2007 at the Iceoplex at Southpointe, in Canonsburg Pa., appropriately titled “The New Breed”. The card will feature “Lightning” Rod Salika 1-0 0 KO’s, Tommy Karpency 7-0 3 KO’s, brothers Jimmy Lubash 1-0 1 KO former Pennsylvania Golden Glove Champion and Jesse Lubash 1-0 1 KO former # 2 ranked US amateur and Pennsylvania golden Glove Champion, “The Magic” Juan Mc Pherson 7-0 4 KO’s former Amateur World Champion, and Mike Strauss 1-0 1 KO another former Pennsylvania Golden Glove Champion. Monty Meza Clay 25-1 16 KO’s IBA Supper Featherweight Champion, who is rated number 10 by the WBO, will make an appearance signing autograph’s. I had the opportunity to ask Meza-Clay about his upcoming future and he indicated, that they had been trying to appear on the under card of Manny Pacquiao vs Marco Antonio-Barrera event, against Steven Luevano, but the deal had fallen through. They are still shooting for an October timeframe for his next fight. When asked who he wanted to face next?? Meza-Clay responded “ANY of them, anyone who holds a title in my weight class, no one’s safe. If, ya’ll want excitement? That’s what we’re here to bring.”