By: Thomas Scherr — The ESPN Co-Feature was a battle of local fighters featuring Tommy Karpency from Adah, Pa and Rayco Saunders from Pittsburgh. The first round was a tale of two halves. Saunders came out firing early and landed multiple right hands upstairs, but slowed down in the second half of the round. Tommy controlled the second half with a southpaw jab and left hook. In the second Tommy kept his momentum going, clearly outworking Saunders with crisp combination punching as Saunders kept coming forward but rarely threw leather..
The third round may have been turning point for the fight. Tommy twice hit Saunders low, causing long breaks. Both shots were borderline and while I never saw the referee take a point away, it is clear from the final scoring that they must have. Due to the long breaks very little happened in the round, but what action occurred favored Saunders.
In the fourth round both fighters took time off. Tommy seemed to land better as he fought from the outside and hit Rayco when he moved forward. In round 5, Saunders landed a big right early, most likely his best of the fight. Karpency looked sloppy in the round and slipped on the ring a few times. Saunders won the round.
Rounds 6 through 8 were mirror images of each other, with Saunders coming forward and landing more punches on the inside, while Tommy chose to use the ring, fight from the outside, and catch Rayco while he was coming in. I favored Karpency’s effective movement and combinations over Saunders aggression in all three rounds
The judges all scored the fight 76-75 for Saunders, implying a point deduction which I never saw administered by the referee. I saw the fight 77-75 for Tommy (with no point deduction) and believe the judges scored the fight a draw without the point deduction.
Minto Destroys Poole
The Main Event featured local contender Brian Minto against John Poore. On paper the fight was one sided in favor of Minto, and in the ring it was no different. Minto put Poole on the canvas three times in the first round, first hurting Poole with a right hand and later peppering him with a barrage of hooks and uppercuts.
After 4 straight first round knockouts for Minto, it is clear he needs to find a higher level of competition. Minto is less than 6’, so he should avoid the monster heavyweights (like Valuev and Klitchko) but he could still be involved in some very interesting and meaningful fights. I think Minto makes a great potential opponent for former Cruiserweight champ David Haye, but I would also be interested in seeing Brain fight other top contenders like Alexander Povetkin, Calvin Brock, or Eddie Chambers.