Earlier tonight, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing presented this week’s edition of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” from the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. Headlining the card was the much anticipated jr. middleweight showdown between Delvin Rodriguez and Pawel Wolak. The fight had boxing insiders buzzing with excitement as soon as it was announced, and it ended up living up to the hype and some.
The two warriors wasted no time in getting things going as Wolak came out pressuring Rodriguez from the opening bell, looking to swarm the former welterweight world title challenger, and break him down with his constant pressure. Rodriguez kept his cool though, and boxed beautiful from the outside, landing hard three and four punch combinations behind a stiff jab, and devastating lead right uppercut.
As each round progressed, Wolak continued to up the pressure, but the more he seemed to pressure, the more combinations Rodriguez landed. Wolak would excite the crowd by bull-rushing Rodriguez to the ropes, but then Rodriguez would answer with hard combinations that snapped Wolak’s head back, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
By the middle of the fight, the packed house in attendance was on their feet, each side chearing for their fighter. Just as the fighters would trade shots back and forth inside the ring, the crowd would go back and forth between chants of “Pawel Pawel” and “Delvin Delvin” on the outside.
Wolak’s face began to show severe swelling in the 6th, with his right eye becoming grotesquely swollen. The ringside doctor kept a close look at the eye between rounds, but allowed Wolak to continue.
Each and every round had great two-way action, with both fighters looking to land that one big punch that would close the show.
In the 10th and final round with Wolak still pressuring, Rodriguez rocked him with a hard left hook. Wolak rocked back on his heals and Rodriguez jumped all over him. The round ended with Rodriguez and Wolak exchanging bombs in the middle of the ring, ending what was clearly a fight of the year candidate.
The crowd waited anxiously as the judges card’s were tallied. The first judge scored the bout 97-93 for Rodriguez, with the other two judges scoring the fight dead even at 95-95, for the majority draw.
It was yet another bitter sweet decision for Rodriguez, as he seemingly once again came up on the end of a controversial decision, but seemed to put the jr. middleweight division on notice that he is a force to be reckoned with. With the decision Rodriguez record now stands at 25-5-3, 14KO’s while Wolak’s is 29-1-1, 19KO’s.
In the co-feature bout of the evening, Raymond “Tito” Serrano improved to a perfect 16-0 with a hard fought decision over Daniel Sostre.
Serrano, fighting for the first time below the welterweight limit, used his superior boxing ability, and punching power to outwork Sostre for much of the fight.
Sostre, to his credit, landed some looping shots, but Serrano was too sharp and too strong, ultimately winning the eight round decision by scores of 78-74, 78-74, 77-75.
With the win Serrano improved to a perfect 16-0, 8KO’s, while Sostre drops to 11-4-1, 4KO’s.
ROONEY KNOCKOUTS VERA
In the first bout of the evening, Star Boxing’s Publicist, anstar boxingd the son of world renowned trainer, Kevin Rooney, Kevin “Kid” Rooney scored a devastating first round knockout over Elmer Vera in their four round jr. middleweight contest.
Rooney came out looking to measure Vera with his jab, as Vera charged forward winging wild punches.
Near the end of the round Rooney staggered Vera with a hard left hook. Sensing his opponent was hurt, Rooney jumped all over him, landing a hard right hand that sent his opponent reeling. Just as the bell was sounding to end the round, Rooney landed a vicious overhard right that sent Vera down in a heap. Vera attempted to get to his feet, but fell again, causing the referee to call a halt to the contest at 3:00 of the first round. With the win Rooney improves to 2-0, 1KO, while Vera drops to 0-2.
UNDERCARD RESULTS
Gamache W4 Rogelio Sanchez
Lionel Thompson W4 Reggie LaCrete
Magdaleno decisions Perez; Ramos edges Kevlishvili
LAS VEGAS (July 15, 2011) – Diego Magdaleno took one step further toward contender status by scoring a unanimous decision victory by the scores of 99-90, 98-90 and 98-91 over Alejandro Perez on the 10th anniversary edition of ShoBox: The New Generation. In the co-feature, Casey Ramos won a split decision over Georgi Kevlishvili with scores of 77-75 and 78-74 in favor of Ramos and 77-75 for Kevlishvili from Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas.
Magdaleno (20-0, 7 KOs), of Las Vegas, entered the ring this evening to a cacophonous ovation, ready to pursue his 20th career win. Perez (15-3-1, 10 KOs), of Salinas, Calif., attempted to quiet the pro-Magdaleno crowd by scoring a flash knockdown with a counter right in the first round that surprised everyone in attendance. Unhurt, Magdaleno bounced back up and fought impressively to end the round.
Perez stalled his own momentum in the second with repeated low blows that resulted in a point deduction by referee Robert Byrd.
In an exciting fourth round, the 25-year-old Perez was cut above the eye and began to run out of answers for the first southpaw foe of his career. Magdaleno rolled through the rest of the fight by dictating the pace, connecting with effective punches and throwing more combinations. In the late rounds, Perez showed little more than heart as he was relegated to throwing slow bombs from long range with little effect.
In the Top Rank-promoted main event, Magdaleno rocked Perez a few times in the later rounds but Perez was determined to stay on his feet before letting the judges hand him his third career defeat in the 10-round Super Featherweight affair.
Ramos (14-0, 4 KOs), of Austin, Tex., seemed to easily outpoint Kevlishvili (8-3, 3 KOs), a late substitute for Joselito Collado, in the night’s opening bout before the scores were announced and Patricia Morse Jarman had him losing 77-75. Nevada judges Tim Cheatem and Al Lefkowitz scored the bout for Ramos 77-75 and 78-74, respectively.
Displaying his hand speed, 5-foot-6 Ramos controlled the pace throughout the eight-round super featherweight bout. Kevlishvili started slow but landed some lefts on Ramos to keep the match competitive early on. Ramos suffered a cut in the third round following a clash of heads but the 21-year-old remained cool, a great sign for an upcoming prospect.
SHOWTIME analyst Steve Farhood called Ramos a “rhythm fighter” as he bounced on his feet to set up his next punch. The 5-foot-7, 30-year-old Kevlishvili connected on big single shots at times but his power was not great enough to derail the pace-setting Ramos for the eight rounds.
The 10th anniversary telecast dedicated to the late Nick Charles will replay Tuesday, July 19 at 11 p.m. ET/PT and will be available On Demand from July 18 through July 31.
Curt Menefee called the blow by blow action alongside expert analyst Farhood. Gordon Hall is the executive producer of ShoBox with Richard Gaughan producing the Rick Phillips directing.
N.J.S.A.C.B. Commissioner Praised by Boxing Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz
After a video review of the Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara bout by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (N.J.S.A.C.B.) with the judges, Commissioner Aaron M. Davis had this to say in a letter to Golden Boy Promotions and Goossen Tutor Promotions: “This agency has placed all three judges on indefinite suspension. Further, all three judges will be required to undergo additional training prior to their return to professional boxing judging. Any contestant who enters a ring or cage in our state deserves the best officiating that we can provide. Because we have a rich history of boxing and combat sports in New Jersey, we aspire to consistently improve in our officiating and strive to learn from this situation.”
A statement that Sampson Lewkowicz has praised and thanked the N.J.S.A.C.B., Commissioner Aaron M. Davis for having made. In the past, post fight statements made by various sanctioning bodies & boxing commissioners after questionable decisions such as “the judges had a bad night.” have been inexcusable. Perhaps this sets the precedent for other sanctioning bodies to take action against questionable decisions by judges. Even current Middleweight Champion, Sergio Martinez was subject to poor officiating on various occasions. What is often lost amidst all the criticism of the recent poor judging is the fact that those decisions affect a boxer’s career and families.
In a statement from Sampson Lewkowicz: “We are proud to see the commitment and steps that Commissioner Aaron M. Davis has taken to thrust such an important and necessary issue such as fair scoring in boxing in order to maintain the public trust in the sport that we love. I would like to take this moment to thank and glorify Commissioner Davis for the actions he took.”