By John G. Thompson: Hammerin’ Hank Lundy (20-1-1, 10 KO’s) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania earned himself a unanimous decision over Patrick “El Elegante” Lopez (20-4, 12 KO’s) of Venezuela live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series from the famous Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Also in action, local favorite Elvin Ayala dug to the body to for a stoppage victory and Vladine Biosse stopped his opponent with a couple hard straight lefts.
Lundy had lost his NABO lightweight title to John Molina by an eleventh round stoppage in Lundy’s first defense of that title. Lundy had dominated that fight until he became overconfident and started showboating, carrying his hands by his waist. Molina caught him flush, and stopped him before the end of the bout. Lundy has fought once since this first professional loss, winning a tenth round unanimous decision, and claims he has learned from his mistakes. Patrick Lopez represented Venezuela at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. Lopez lost his last bout via third round knockout to Tim Coleman back in October, going down three times in that bout.
Lundy established himself as the quicker man early on, catching Lopez with a beauty of a straight left in the first (though an orthodox fighter, Lundy fought a good part of the match as a southpaw, especially in the early rounds). With just over twenty seconds left in the second round, Lundy landed an amazingly fast straight left and followed it up with a right hook as Lopez went down. The third round was highly entertaining with both men landing.
Lundy clearly won the first five or six rounds, though Lopez started coming on strong in the seventh. Actually, as the round started, guest analyst Dicky Eklund (brother of “Irish” Mickey Ward) predicted that Lopez would get the knockout. This seemed a possibility by the end of the seventh as Lopez was pressuring Lundy, who was bleeding from the right eye. Lopez snapped Lundy’s head back hard in the ninth, and the tide of the fight clearly seemed to have turned.
But Lundy showed his abilities in the tenth and final round, moving well, countering well, and making Lopez pay for every missed shot. To the pleasure of the crowd and everyone watching, they traded at the bell. The judges scored it 99-91, 97-92 (my score), and 95-94 all for Lundy, who displayed not only speed, but showed that he may well have learned important lessons from his sole loss, and the consequences for a lack of discipline in a competitive fight.
Vladine Biosse (11-0, 6 KO’s), a southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island, furthered his career in superb fashion, stopping fellow southpaw Tim “Irish Pride” Connors (10-3, 7 KO’s) in the fifth. Connors lost his last fight to Cuban amateur standout Erislandy Lara in a first round knockout back in November. Tonight was the third stoppage loss for Connors.
Biosse landed several flush counters to the head during an early exchange, foreshadowing things to come. Connors went on the defensive throughout the remainder of the match, but kept his gloves a little low and Biosse tagged his head repeatedly. Biosse caught Connors with a hard left at the start of the second, backing Connors into the ropes, and knocking him down just fourteen seconds into the round with another left which was partially blocked. Biosse went in for the kill as the action continued and Connors chose to fight back rather than hold. Biosse caught him with a huge, looping left which staggered him back, and Biosse pressed him back into a corner. Connors fought his way out, but Biosse landed another hard straight left, which buckled Connors’ legs for a moment. The crowd “ooh’d and ahh’d.” Biosse continued to throw, and Connors could not seem to stop the straight left from connecting with his head. Ringside commentator Joe Tessitore said, “Connors is showing a bit of a chin here in round number two. He’s been hit flush with that left hand numerous times!”
Connors made it to the end of the round and then through the third and fourth rounds. Biosse continued to land punches, though with less frequency and urgency. Then, during an exchange in the fifth, Biosse landed a hard straight left and followed it up immediately with another hard straight left which landed flush. Connors went down from this double left combination, and struggled to get up on the count of eight, clearly on unsteady legs. Referee Eddie Claudio justifiably stopped the fight.
Also in action local fan favorite Elvin Ayala (22-5-1, 10 KO’s) from nearby New Haven, Connecticut pleased the crowd with a stoppage over Joe Gardner (7-2-1, 1 KO) of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Ringside commentator Teddy Atlas nailed Gardner’s shortcomings when he said, “The problem with Gardner is his mind is set on really surviving, and then when he wants to attack, his offence is telegraphed.” And that was essentially the fight. Ayala threw some wide, looping punches early in the bout, which should not have landed but did, and Gardner chose to remain on the defensive. When Gardner did throw punches, Ayala could see them coming.
In the fourth round, the crowd roared as Ayala landed several body shots and Gardner went down. Ayala saw that he was doing damage downstairs and kept throwing with his signature wide, looping punches as the action continued. Gardner made an agonized face that looked like he was giving birth and went down again a second or two after a particularly hard bodyshot. Gardner got up fairly quickly and managed to make it through the round, though the fight was stopped prior to the start of the fifth by the ringside physician, Dr. Schwartz..