By Dick Landis: Tommy Hill’s Red Leather Sports staged its second fight card of the year Saturday evening at the Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center in Charlotte. The show featured five pro boxing bouts and three amateur mixed martial arts contests. In attendance was the former world rated, heavyweight contender, Calvin Brock who was interviewed brieftly in the ring before the evening’s action got underway.
Brock indicated that he will fight again.. Following surgery for a detacted retina – he awaits medical clearance – it was rumored that his ring career was over. Apparently, however, Brock plans to resume his career and climb the ratings ladder once again. He last fought Eddie Chambers in November of 2007 and lost a close split decision to Chambers in a heavyweight elimination battle. One year before that fight, Brock received a shot at world title holder Wladimir Klitschko but was KO’d by the champion in the seventh. The 35 year old Brock currently stands at 31-2, 23 KOs.
Calvin Brock also escorted young lightweight sensation Dominic “IL Lion” DeSanto into the ring Saturday evening. DeSanto, fighting up a class, always draws a large contingent of fans. The strong, swift, southpaw didn’t disappoint them when he unleashed a barrage of left-right hooks and uppercuts to the body and head of Wilson, NC.’s Anthony Woodard to earn a stoppage at 1:04 of the first round. DeSanto of Spencer, NC. upped his record to 5-0-1, 5 KOs. His sights are set on fighting again in New York and Connecticut.
Three other scheduled four rounders saw exciting action as well. At super middleweight, Geneva, NY.’s Nick “Machine Gun” Brinson cornered and nailed Donnie Moore with a solid right cross that gave Brinson a quick night’s work at 1:07 of the first round. Brinson now has five wins, no defeats, and one draw. Moore slipped to 0-2. In another “quickie” Baltimore’s jr. welterweight Emmanuel Taylor (5-0) fired a volumn of body and head shots so intense that he knocked down and eventually stopped Greenville, NC.’s Michael Taylor (2-4) all within 49 seconds of round one.
A scheduled four round featherweight bout turned into an unexpected clash when tiny 5’4 but rugged Andrew Barnes (Wilson, NC.) gave 5’11 Richard Rivers more than he expected to handle. Rivers never used his height and reach to good effect. Instead, he allowed the hard charging Barnes to get inside and make a fight of it. In the end, Rivers of Newark, NJ. did just enough to win a decision (2-0). Barnes fell to 0-2. There was one scheduled six round jr. middleweight fight pitting Albemarle, NC.’s Gary Lynch versus Baltimore’s Cecil McCalla. From the start it was a brawl but, in time, McCalla started using his height and reach advantage to fend-off the shorter Lynch, who had to be satisfied with jumping in to score, but often was countered by the hooks and uppercuts from McCalla. Lynch was down twice in the fourth but survived only to lose a decision to McCalla (11-0). Lynch (4-1) lost his mouthpiece so many times (lost a point) during the fight that ringsiders stopped counting.
There were three amateur MMA fights (3 rounds each): At 175 lbs. Jody Merriman of Greensboro, NC. picked up his second win against no defeats when he applied a triangle choke hold submission to Vincent Alberico (1-1) of Asheville, NC. at 2:37 of the first stanza. At 142 lbs. Varon Webb of Jacksonville, NC. was making his MMA debut against Justin Vaughan of Monroe, NC. Vaughan had two wins to his credit and appeared somewhat surprised by the sheer strength of the newcomer. What Webb might have lacked in fighting savvy, he made up for it with a display of physical power. In the end, Webb gained his first win with a split decision over Vaughan. Finally, at 135 lbs. Matt Coakley of Raleigh, NC. earned a hard fought decision over Kevin “the Hammer” Hulin. Coakley is now 4-1, while Hulin of Silver Valley, NC falls to 4-2.
The next Red Leather Sports promotion will be The Spring Classic (boxing/MMA) April 10 in Charlotte.