New York State Heavyweight champion Darrel “King David” Madison is willing to fight anyone at any time, but has repeatedly been rebuffed. As a southpaw with good boxing ability and a strong amateur record, matchmakers have been heartbreakers, as Madison’s aspirations to fight the best is yet to come. After last night’s impressive performance at the Yonkers PAL Gym, it’s perfectly understandable why Madison has been turned down time and time again as an opponent.
Madison of Central Islip, improved to 15-1 (4 KO’s) after battering Providence, RI based gatekeeper Robert Wiggins over two one sided rounds. With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, Madison entered the ring in multi-colored checkered trunks and a brand new game plan. Madison previously boxed his way to skillful decision victories, which weren’t always entertaining, but the Irish style trunks seemingly turned him into a new fighter.
Madison came out unusually aggressive in the opening round, tagging Wiggins with a number of right hooks and body shots to take the first three minutes of the fight with ease. The former amateur standout went back to work in the second, buzzing Wiggins on a number of occasions with a heavy onslaught of punches. Madison was ready for more, with a group of his fans cheering him at ringside, but Wiggins wasn’t. The latter surprisingly remained on his stool after the second round and was met by a chorus of boos for doing so.
“I have been in the gym with him before and am surprised he quit”, Madison said after the fight. “Now I want a fight with (unbeaten Harlem based) Tor Hamer. He has a big mouth so let’s see if he can back it up!”
Wiggins falls to 20-8-1 (12 KO’s) with the defeat.
The co-feature pitted a counter puncher against an opponent who simply didn’t punch. O’Shea Brothers Boxing newly signed light heavyweight prospect Ronson “Perfectly” Frank scored an eight round shut out decision over Raynard Darden of Detroit, MI. Frank took his time in the early going, waiting for opportunities to counter, but Darden didn’t give him the chance simply because he didn’t move his hands.
Frank stepped up his punch output beginning in the third round, using a nice southpaw jab, body blows and right hooks. Darden was decked hard in the fourth with a nice check hook, but the hardcore veteran did a good job of surviving throughout the contest. Scores were 80-71 on all three cards.
Brooklyn’s Frank improves to 14-0 (7 KO’s), while Darden, who had longtime friend and Dibella Entertainment matchmaker Joe Quiambo assisting in his corner, falls to 11-22-1 (4 KO’s).
In the fight of the night, local featherweight Nydia Feliciano and Jennifer Han battled to an entertaining six round draw. Han, who entered the ring with a deceptive 0-1 record, had good ring generalship and worked behind a peppering jab. The hard charging Feliciano, who has a Juan Diaz type style, pressured Han, and found success with combinations in close quarters. Neither fighter cared much about avoiding punches, thus many clean shots landed in one of the most entertaining woman’s fights in recent memory. Scores were 59-55 Han, 58-56 Feliciano and 57-57, forcing the draw.
The Bronx based Feliciano remains unbeaten at 2-0-2. Han returns to El Paso, TX with a 0-1-1 record. 15Rounds scored the closely contested bout 58-56 for Han. On an interesting note, one of Feliciano’s cornermen shouted instructions while talking on his cell phone during the fourth and fifth rounds. Perhaps he was telling one of his confidants about the entertaining bout just inches away?
Crowd favorite Lambros “Linheart” Karaolides, 6-0 (4 KO’s) pounded out a one-sided six round decision over Medford, NY’s Ashantie Hendrickson in a junior middleweight contest. Karaolides, an Astoria based Cypriot outpunched his game opponent from bell to bell. Scores were 60-54 and 59-55 twice. Hendrickson falls to 1-6.
If boxing was UFC, Brooklyn light heavyweight Ariel Espinal would have received a nice bonus on his check for knockout of the evening. Espinal, a true fighter at heart, stepped into the squared circle on 24 hours notice with unbeaten Hajro Sujak. Espinal was less than two weeks removed from his last bout, a fourth round TKO over Anthony Pietrantonio, in Atlantic City and wasn’t in the best of shape. Like the majority of out of shape fighters, Espinal was looking to end the fight early. Success!
Espinal scored a jaw dropping second round KO over Sujak with a monstrous overhand right. Sujak crashed to the canvas and the referee Ricky Gonzalez took more time than necessary to direct Espinal to the neutral corner ala Lucian Bute-Librado Andrade. It made little difference. Gonzalez eventually began to count and Sujak bravely stood up, but only to fall a split second later. Time of stoppage was 2:59.
Espinal improves to 8-13-3 (4 KO’s), while The Bronx’ Sujak drops to 5-1 (2 KO’s).
Good looking bantamweight prospect Raul Lopez of The Bronx forced Puerto Rico’s Reinaldo Cintron to quit on his stool following the opening round. Lopez and Cintron mixed it up early, but the latter got dropped by a hard left hook to the body about 2:30 in. Lopez gunned for a knockout, throwing a terrific body combination, but his badly hurt opponent managed to get out of the round on his feet. Cintron’s corner threw in the towel shortly after the round ended, as their fighter had enough.
Lopez, who received praise as a sparring partner for world champion Carlos Tamara, ups his record to 3-0-1 (3 KO’s). Cintron heads home with a 1-2 professional ledger.
In the opening bout of the evening, former New York Golden Gloves champion Chazz McDowell shut out iron chinned Mexican Filberto Nieto over four rounds at junior lightweight. McDowell hit the defensively inept Nieto with everything he had, but Nieto had no quit in him. McDowell, of Yonkers, improves to 2-0 (1 KO). Nieto falls to 1-6.
The “St. Patty’s Day Brawl” was promoted by O’Shea Brothers Promotions, who have put together a string of scintillating club shows in recent months. Their next card is slated for April 2 at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn.
