LAREDO, Texas (April 9, 2011) – In a night that saw three undefeated prospects lose their perfect records on ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME®, Dyah Davis upset super middleweight prospect Marcus Johnson via unanimous decision by the scores of 98-91 twice and 96-93. In the co-feature bouts, New York’s Gabriel Bracero handed Danny O’Connor his first loss via unanimous decision by the scores of 80-72 two times and 79-73, while Vincent Arroyo knocked down Willie Nelson three times en route to a majority decision with scores 74-74 and 75-73 twice.
After insisting throughout fight week that his team devised a plan to beat Houston’s Johnson (20-1, 15 KOs), Davis (19-2-1, 9 KOs) backed up his words with a unanimous decision upset. From the first bell, Davis used the classic stick-and-move approach to upset Johnson’s rhythm. By acting as a moving target, Davis disabled Johnson’s ability to settle in to the fight and land his signature left hook.
As ShoBox fans have seen from Johnson in the past, he fought Davis cautiously in the early rounds to time his opponent’s punches – but was never able to execute his game plan or build momentum. Though clearly the bigger puncher, Johnson made no adjustments to the problems Davis presented and the fight stayed close through eight rounds. In the ninth, Davis landed a perfectly placed right hand to the body that forced Johnson to take a knee – the first time he’d been down in his career. The 10-8 round put pressure on Johnson to finish strong in the tenth but he was unable to knock out Davis and lost the first fight of his pro career.
In an “0 must go” matchup between unbeaten fighters, Bracero (15-0, 1 KO) protected his untouched loss column with a convincing unanimous decision victory over O’Connor (14-1, 3 KOs). With neither fighter possessing knockout power, the two junior welterweights exchanged toe-to-toe for most of the contest. Bracero, however, threw the more effective punches. Drawing blood from O’Connor’s nose in the fourth, the 30-year-old Bracero applied constant pressure throughout each round, showing more poise and consistency than his 25-year-old opponent. By fight’s end, Bracero won almost every round on the judge’s scorecards for an important victory on a national stage.
In the night’s opening bout, Arroyo (11-1, 7 KOs), from Amherst, N.Y., vanquished the undefeated record of Nelson (16-1-1, 10 KOs) with a dramatic majority decision. Though Nelson, 23, controlled parts of the fight, Arroyo produced all the headlines in the eight-round welterweight contest. Immediately after having a point deducted for holding, Arroyo sprang back into action by dropping Nelson with a left hook. Nelson rebounded well for the next few rounds before Arroyo rocked him with another left hook in the sixth. Popping up before referee Rafael Ramos reached a ten count, Nelson was clearly in a daze. Arroyo scored one more knockdown in the seventh round with a right hand before winning the fight on two judges’ scorecards, with the other judge scoring the fight a draw.
The telecast will replay on Thursday, April 14 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and be available On Demand from April 11 through April 24.
Promoted by DiBella Entertainment, the “Rumble on the Rio” originated from the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas.
Curt Menefee called the ShoBox action from ringside with Steve Farhood serving as expert analyst. Gordon Hall is the executive producer of ShoBox with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.
For information on SHOWTIME Sports Programming, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries, complete telecast information and more, please go the new SHOWTIME Sports website at http://www.sho.com/sports.
Adamek – McBride Weights
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
LIVE ON PPV
*Bouts subject to change
RED BLUE
4 Rounds – Welterweights
Shakir Aquel Dunn vs. Vinny O’Brien
Newark, NJ East Hanover, NJ
Pro Debut 1-0, 1 KO
WT: 145 TKS: Black/Red WT: 146 -1/2 TKS: White/Blue
6 Rounds – Jr. Welterweights
Jose “Mangu” Peralta vs. Eber Luis Perez
Jersey City, NJ Bolivar, Colombia
5-1, 3 KO’s 10-16-1 , 8 KO’s
WT: 142 TKS: Red WT: 136 TKS: Green/White
6 Rounds – Featherweights
Josellito Collado vs. Rafael Lora
Queens, NY Irvington, NJ
11-0, 3 KO’s 11-3, 5 KO’s
WT: 128 TKS: Black/Red/Silver WT: 128-1/2 TKS: Black/White
8 Rounds – Light Heavyweights
Ray Smith vs. Andrzej Fonfara
Little Rock, AK Warsaw, Poland
9-5, 3 KO’s 16-2, 7 KO’s
WT: 179 TKS: Red/White WT: 175 TKS: Black
8 Rounds – Welterweights
Sadam Ali vs. Javier Perez
Brooklyn, NY Ponce, Puerto Rico
11-0, 6 KO’s 8-4, 5 KO’s
WT: 149-1/2 TKS: Red/White/Blue/Black WT: 146-1/2 TKS: Red/White
12 Rounds – IBF International/NABO Heavyweight Championship
Tomasz Adamek vs. Kevin McBride
Gilowice, Poland Clones, Ireland
43-1, 28 KO’s 35-8-1, 29 KO’s
WT: 215 TKS: Black/Orange WT: 285 TKS: Green/White
Hervey defeats Campbell
LINCOLN, R.I. (April 8, 2011) – Tony “Lionheart” Hervey considered himself the underdog entering Friday night’s showdown against lightweight contender Mike “The Beast” Campbell, but looked every bit like the favorite in the main event of “Cage Of Pain” at the Twin River Event Center.
Hervey silenced the hometown, crowd knocking out Campbell (9-4, 6 KOs) with a vicious left hook to the chin three minutes and 31 seconds into the opening round.
Campbell fell to the canvas with his hands laying flat by his side as Hervey (13-9, 10 KOs) landed three more lefts to the head before the referee stopped the bout.
“You might hate me and ridicule me, and that’s fine,” Hervey said, “but I worked extremely hard for this. I’ve had six losses in two years. Mike might be your champion, but that’s OK. He’ll come back from this. I did what I had to do. My family is my pride and I had them here with me tonight.”
“Cage Of Pain,” presented by Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports, also featured a thrilling victory by Pawtucket, R.I., middleweight Todd “The Hulk” Chattelle (8-6, 7 KOs), who outlasted Jeff “Scary Nickname” Nader (4-4) of Plymouth, Mass., via a 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 split decision. Framingham, Mass., firefighter Adam Quitt (1-2) earned his first professional win in the final bout of his career by beating Hector Sanchez (0-3) of Woonsocket, R.I., on a night in which Quitt fought in honor of late mixed martial arts fighter Doug Bolanes Jr.
Campbell entered Friday’s main event in search of his second consecutive victory after beating Mike Medrano on Feb. 25 at Twin River, but Hervey turned the tide in an otherwise dominant round by Campbell by landing a left hand that momentarily knocked his opponent unconscious before he hit the canvas.
Chattelle earned his victory by dominating Nader on the ground despite Nader’s attempt to trade punches in the early rounds. Chattelle has now won back-to-back bouts dating back to his Feb. 25 victory over Woody Weatherby.
“That’s a tough dude right there,” Chattelle said of Nader. “I felt like I had those first two rounds, but I messed up the last one. He caught me with a shot toward the end.”
Earlier in the week, Nader said Chattelle’s ground game wasn’t as sharp as his, which he felt gave him the advantage entering Friday’s middleweight co-feature.
“I guess I do know how to fight on the ground, huh?” Chattelle said afterward.
Quitt came out aggressive and finished off Sanchez with a guillotine 3:11 into the opening round, bringing the crowd to its feet. Quitt, who was on call the night Bolanes Jr. died in an automobile accident in March, donated all of his proceeds from Friday’s fight to the Douglas Bolanes Jr. Organization.
“This is for the town of Framingham,” Quitt said. “This is for the Bolanes family and all of the kids in Framingham who admired Doug. I’m 35 years old now. This is it for me, but this is a new beginning for the young kids in this sport. Start right, train hard, and one day you’ll become a champion like Doug.”
Lightweight Brendan Rooney (1-0) of Milford, Conn., kicked off the action with an impressive win in his professional debut against fellow amateur standout Jon Marcheterre (0-1) of Southbridge, Mass. A recent third-place finisher at the 2011 NAGA New England Grappling Championships at Twin River, Rooney caught Marcheterre in a Peruvian Necktie 2:55 into the opening round to earn the submission. The second bout of the night between Justin Switzer (1-2) of Woonsocket, R.I., and Billy Walsh (1-6) of South Burlington, Vt., also ended in the opening round when Switzer scored the TKO victory – the first of his career – with a flurry of punches at the 2:16 mark. Switzer had lost each of his first two bouts by submission to standouts Tyson Chartier and Jimmy Davidson prior to Friday’s win.
After two quick bouts to start the show, welterweights Darrius Heyliger (2-0) of Team Bombsquad in Courtland, N.Y., and Pierre Pierry (2-2) of Brockton, Mass., engaged in a grueling, technical bout with Heyliger escaping with a 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 unanimous decision victory. A member of Team Bombsquad, which coached current UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones at the start of his career – Heylinger got off to a slow start, but dominated in the second and third rounds. Pierry, who hadn’t fought in 11 months prior to Friday, lost control of the bout with two failed takedowns in each of the last two rounds.
Welterweights John Manley (6-1) of Uxbridge, Mass., and Jason Trzewieczynski (4-6) of Lancaster, N.Y., picked up where the previous fight left off as Manley utilized his dominant ground game to earn a unanimous 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 victory.