Former two-division world champion Zab “Super” Judah made a very successful return to his home area as he scored a devastating third round stoppage of former world title challenger Jose Armado Santa Cruz at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Judah began to open it up in round two as he landed a pair of solid straight left hands.
In round three, Judah landed a tremendous left uppercut that sent Santa Cruz to the seat of his pants. When Santa Cruz regained his feet, he was greeted by a barrage of punches that was capped off by a pinpoint straight leftthat drove Santa Cruz to the ropes and forced referee Benji Esteves to stop the bout at 2:33 of round three.
Judah, 141 lbs of Las Vegas, NV via Brooklyn, NY is now 39-6 with twenty-seven knockouts. Santa Cruz, 143 lbs of Lincoln Heights, CA is now 2805.
Brooklyn’s Saddam Ali stayed undefeated with a TKO victory over Philadelphia’s Julius Edmonds.
Ali made easy work out of his counterpart, dominant the fight from the opening bell.
In round 1, Ali sent Edmonds to the canvas with a devastating right uppercut. Edmonds was able to weather the storm for the time being, however, and survive the round.
Round 2 featured more domination by Ali, as he once again sent Edmonds to the canvas. Ali hurt Edmonds with a left hand and as Edmonds was falling backwards, added an uppercut for good measure.
Round 3 last only 1:14 before Eddie Cotton saw fit to stop the bout after Ali hurt his opponent with a left hand and sent him stumbling back into the ropes. — Kyle Kinder
With the win, Ali improves to 9-0, with 5 KOs, while Edmonds falls to 7-8.
In an eight round bout at the Welterweight division, native Newarker Alex Perez scored a unanimous decision victory over Brazlian Edvan Barros to increase his already perfect record to 12-0.
The fight was a tough one for Perez, who was forced to fight at a distance and on the inside.
In the early going, Perez was able to land his right with some frequency. However, as the fight prolonged, it was clear that Barros’s strategy was to keep the fight on the inside.
Not surprisingly, it was on the inside that Barros was most effective, throwing powerful uppercuts to the chin of Perez, forcing his head to snap back.
When Perez did create distance, he proved to be dangerous, as he landed a big left hand in round 4 that clearly hurt his opponent.
In round 6 an overhand right by Barros caught Perez, as he then found himself up against the ropes — a position Barros forced his counterpart into consistently throughout the bout. At the end of the round — as the bell sounded — the two exchanged convincing blows to one another. Barros then attempted, for the second time, to touch gloves with Perez, who purposely failed to acknowledge his opponent.
Round 7 saw Perez in trouble with his back against the ropes and Barros finding success with uppercuts and looping right hands. The tide turned about a minute into the round however, as Perez as able to create some space between he and his opponent and land combination on Perez.
After 8 rounds of action, all three judges scored the bout in favor of the hometown fighter, Perez. The scores were: 77-75, 78-84, and 80-72.
With the win, Perez added to his perfect record, increasing it to 12-0, while Barros fell to 10-10-1. — Kyle Kinder
In a Heavyweight bout scheduled for four rounds, Adam Kownacki scored a second round stoppage over Damon Clement in what amounted to three-plus minute shootout.
Kownacki was in control of the opening moments until he walked into a big left that rocked him back into referee Eddie Cotton, who in-turn ruled a knockdown. Kownacki gathered himself to rock Clement and put him on the seat of his pants with a huge flurry of punches. The round ended with Clement being battered in the corner by twenty unanswered shots. Round two picked up where round one ended with each guy nailing each other all over the ring until a huge right that decked Clement for Cotton’s ten count at forty-two seconds of round two.
Kownacki, 231 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is now 4-0 with all wins coming by knockout. Clement, 243 lbs of Dayton, Ohio is now 0-3.
Jersey City’s Patrick Farrell fought New York City’s Newton Kidd to a majority decision draw in a six round bout in the Cruiserweight division.
Two judges scored the bout even, 57-57, while one judge saw the bout in favor for Kidd, 57-56.
Barbaric exchanges between the two were frequent, both fighters taking a good deal of punishment throughout all six rounds.
Farrell seemingly outworked Kidd in the early rounds, getting the better of the exchanges, but faded towards the later rounds, allowing Kidd to land more frequently.
Late in round 5, during a flurry of wild and wide punches from both fighters, Kidd was able to land a left hook flush on Farrell’s face, causing a cut to open up over the Irish-American’s right eye.
When the bell rang to signal the end of the fight, both fighters were granted a well-deserved round of applause by the Prudential Center crowd, acknowledging the heart both boxer’s exhibited in the bout.–Kyle Kinder
Angel Concepcion remained undefeated by scoring a four round unanimous decision over Shannon Anderson in a Light Heavyweight bout.
Concepcion controlled the action and rocked Anderson twice in round three first wobbling him with a left hook and a big right in the corner in the middle of a furious flurry.
Scores were 40-35, 40-36 and 40-36 for Concepcion, 178 lbs of Newark, NJ and is now 2-0. Anderson, 178 lbs of Coatesville, PA is now 4-2.
In the final bout of the evening, Staten Island, New York’s Nickey Demarco improved his record to 3-2, with a unanimous decision victory over the Bronx’s Jose Guzman, who, with the loss, dropped to 5-8-1.
The first three rounds belonged to Demarco who continually forced Guzman to the ropes.
To his credit, Guzman never gave up and in the fourth round came out firing dangerous punches at his opponent. However, it was not enough to persuade the judges he deserved the win.
All three judges scored the bout in favor of DeMarco: 40-36 and 39-37 twice. — Kyle Kinder
