Ardreal Holmes Jr. won a 10-round unanimous decision over Vernon Brown in a junior middleweight fight at the Deadwood Grand in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Holmes, 156 lbs of Flint, MI won by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-95 and is now 12-0. Brown, 157 1/4 of Chicago, IL is 13-2-1.
“I was reborn tonight,” Holmes said. “This performance showed that I still have it in me. I hurt my left hand in the second round. I couldn’t punch how I wanted to. I was in a bunch of pain but I pulled through. Thinking about my family pushed me through the pain.”
“He was the better man tonight,” Brown said. “I give it up to him. He studied me. He knew the punches I was going to throw. His corner kept yelling, ‘Watch the right hook.’ He did knock the wind out of me a couple times with body shots. I had to take a second to recover. In the last round, he was catching me with head shots.
“I need to work on my left hand. I need to be like Manny Pacquiao and work on my left hand because guys know I have power in my right hook. But I’m going down to 147. That’s my true weight.”
De Los Santos Stops Acosta in 2
Edwin De Los Santos scored an explosive 2nd round stoppage over Luis Acosta in the 2nd round of their eight-round lightweight fight,
In round one, De Los Santos landed a right hook that made Acosta’s glove touch the canvas for a knockdown. In round two, De Los Santos landed a huge left that sent Acosta flat on his back, and the fight was stopped immediately at 48 seconds.
De Los Santos, 133 3/4 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 14-1 with 13 knockouts. Acosta, 133 1/2 lbs of Houston, TX is 12-1.
“I’m back,” said De Los Santos, who suffered a loss in his first SHOBOX appearance in January to William Foster III. “Everyone was counting me out after the last fight. They thought I was done after the loss to Foster. But I’m back. This is the kind of statement that I should have made last time. This is a new beginning for me. I thought I was going to catch him later in the fight but the opening came early with the straight left. My preparation was just better this time, I was just more focused and better prepared and this was the result. I’m ready for anyone.”
Marquez Decisions Morales to win Pro debut
Giovanni Marquez made a successful pro debut with a four-round unanimous decision over Nelson Morales in a welterweight bout.
Marquez landed 85 of 280 punches; Morales was 42 of 201.
Marquez, 143 lbs of Houston, TX won by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice and is 1-0. Morales, 144 1/4 lbs of Scranton, PA is 2-1.
“I felt great,” said Marquez. “I hurt my left hand in the second round on a jab. I think I would have been able to stop him if I hadn’t hurt my hand.”
Added Giovanni: “It was a great experience. He was a tough, durable guy, but I feel like I handled everything, the cameras, all the attention pretty well. I started a little slow but after the first round I settled down and fought my fight. I felt fine without the headgear. We kept bumping heads, but he never hurt me. There was a lot of pressure on me, and I was a little nervous in the leadup to the fight, but once I got into the fight I relaxed and I felt comfortable. Overall, it was a great experience.”
“I think I did OK,” said the 30-year-old Dominican Republic-born Morales (2-1) now living in Scranton, Pa. “My strategy was to go in and box. He cut the ring off and applied good pressure. I can’t say too much because it wasn’t the best of me. He was OK. I’ll be back.”
