Rances Barthelemy steals a decision win over Arash Usmanee; Jonathan Gonzalez outboxes Pooh Ennis

A very controversial decision capped an exciting 12-round elimination bout for the IBF’s #2 position at super featherweight between Miami-based Cuban Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (18-0, 11 KOs) and previously undefeated Arash Usmanee (20-1, 10 KOs) season debut of ESPN Friday Night Fights, live from Stage 305 in the Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida.

Afghani-Canadian Usmanee closed the show with an amazing eleventh and twelfth round where he stalked, punched and attacked the Cuban Barthelemy relentlessly applying pressure until the final bell. The fight was competitive but I and many ringside reporters had the fight unanimously in favor of Usmanee. I spoke to Teddy Atlas after the fight and he was very upset with the decision and had the fight 117-111 for Usmanee. Barthelmy had a good first few rounds but started squaring up and Usmanee used that to his advantage and closed the gap and scored with great inside punching. As the cards were read the crowd, who was Barthelemy’s home crowd were also shocked by the decision. I had the fight 115-113 to Usmanee, all three judges scored for the Cuban 115-113, 116-112…. in the words of Teddy Atlas… the system is corrupt…

Puerto Rican slugger Jonathan “Mantequilla” Gonzalez 16-0(13KO) won a ten round decision over Derek “Pooh” Ennis. Gonzalez fought great on the outside throughout the fight with great accurate punches at times where he seemed to hit Ennis at will. Gonzalez, the Former Puerto Rican Olympian, is trained by former world champion John David Jackson, kept his composure throughout the fight and kept busy. Philadelphia’s Ennis, who dropped to 23-4(13KO) was able to land a couple big shots per round and found success while infighting, which Gonzalez avoided at good measure. The cards read 95-95, 98-92, 97-93.

Bayamón, Puerto Rico’s Roberto J. Acevedo (7-0, 5 KOs) destroyed Francisco Rios Gil (17-18) 12 KOs of Sonora, Mexico. An obvious physical mismatched produced an obvious underskilled attempt from the Mexican to hang with the bigger and stronger Acevedo.

Miami based Cuban Hairon Socarras 6-0-1(5KO) knocked out Josh Bowels 6-1(1KO) in the third round of their featherweight matchup. Socarras who is just 19, boxed nicely keeping Bowels at the end of his punches landing straight right hands and left hooks on the shorter Harrisburg, PA fighter, Bowel. The end came with a fascinating two punch combination, a left hook and a thunderous overhand right that deposited Bowels to the canvas. Bowels got to his feet but, however unable to continue.

Skilled rising prospect Light Heavyweight Radivoje Kalajdzic 9-0(6KO) won a hard fought unanimous decision over Grover “The Cobra” Young 7-8(4KO). Kalajdic was blistering fast and showed excellent ring generalship commanding the bout from the opening bell. The Bosnian born Kalajdic overwhelmed Young with punches in the third round dropping him twice, once right at the bell. Where the southpaw Young finished strong after the knockdowns, it was far too little too late.

The opening bout of the evening showcased Jeremy Bryan 16-2(7KO) from Patterson New Jersey with a great upset unanimous decision with over Light Welterweight Belarusian Yuri Ramanau 22-3(14KO). Early on Ramanau applied constant pressure tracking Bryan down and keeping his range and touching his counterpart. But it was the former two time amateur national champion Bryan who had a great fight past round 3 doing some nice work fighting from the outside and picking Ramanau off with sharp punches and great be first boxing. A cut over Bryans left eye in round two did not deter the determined New Jersey native, who should be proud of his performance.

Entertaining Cruiserweight Keith “Machine Gun” Tapia 6-0(5KO) destroyed Rafael Valenzuela and put on a great show while doing so….. with his boxing and with his ring antics.. which were humble and fun… I hope this kid goes on to do great things, he has the personality. I spoke with him after the fight and he was determined to take his career to the top. I am a fan.