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By: William Holmes
Bally’s Casino put on their last show of the summer with Peltz Boxing Promotions as Teon Kennedy continues his campaign in the junior lightweight division as he took on Joselito Collado in the main event of the evening.
As usual, Bally’s Casino had a good turnout for boxing with Peltz Promotions. The first bout of the night was between Mark Rideout (3-0) and Aaron Lenoard (0-0-1) in the heavyweight division. Neither Rideout or Leonard looked to be in impressive shape, but Rideout is an undefeated prospect.
Even though Rideout was the clear favorite going into this bout, he was stunned in the middle of the first round with a short left hook by Leonard. Neither fighter showed any ability to defend and an entertaining first round ensued.
Rideout, however, was more composed in the second round and put his combinations together well. He hurt Leonard with a straight right hand and then knocked him down with a short left hook. Leonard was able to get back to his feet, but the bout was ended after Rideout unloaded an unanswered combination on his opponent, forcing the referee to stop the bout.
Mark Rideout remained undefeated with a TKO at 1:27 of the second round.
Carlos Nieves (0-4) and Nathaniel Rivas (0-0) met next in the junior welterweight division. Despite the fact this was his professional debut, Rivas looked extremely comfortable inside the ring and was able to dictate the opening round by using his reach and accurate jab. He sent Nieves to the mat in the second round with a right-left uppercut combination.
Rivas continued to control the action and pace of the bout throughout the rest of the fight. The referee did miss two possibly low blows in the third round, and in the fourth round the only thing Nieves was able to do was cover up and try to survive.
Rivas won the decision comfortably with scores of 40-35, 40-33, 40-35.
The next bout was between Dave Valykeo (2-0) and Brian Donohue (2-4-1) in the cruiserweight division.
Valykeo was popped by Donohue in the first round with two overhand rights. It was a close round that Donohue should have won. Valykeo was having difficulty in the second round finding his range, but his attacks to the body of Donohue were starting to visibly affect his opponent. Valykeo started to really settle in the third round, and was touching Donohue a lot with his double jab. Valykeo hurt Donohue in the fourth round with a wild right hook and his punches were doing more damage.
The final scores were 38-38, 39-37, and 39-37 for Dave Valykeo.
The next bout was between Jose Javier Calderon (4-2) and Rafael Montalvo (2-4) in the welterweight division. Calderon looked small inside the ring for a welterweight. He was applying the pressure early on, but Montalvo was doing an effective job of countering his opponent and fighting with his back to the ropes.
It was a close fight until fourth round, when Montalvo hurt Calderon with a right uppercut. He followed that up with a left hook and another right uppercut that forced Calderon to try and tie up, but both fighters wound up falling to the floor. The round ended almost immediately after both fighters got back to their collective feet.
Unfortunately for Calderon, he was still on shaky legs at the beginning of the fifth round. Montalvo countered Calderon with a combination that sent him to the floor. He appeared to motion to his corner to stop the fight, and the bout was waved off by the referee.
Montalvo defeated Calderon by TKO at 0:53 of the fifth round.
DeCarlo Perez (10-2-1) and Jamar Freeman (9-1-2) met next in the junior middleweight division. Perez is a native of Atlantic City and he had a decent amount of support in the crowd. Freeman was the slightly taller fighter, but Perez was the more active fighter. Freeman spent most of the fight looking for the counter and had Perez hurt in the third round with a short right hook. Perez threw two punches after the bell rang, but missed both of those punches.
After the third round, Perez began to focus more on his jab with an occasional hook to the body. Freeman was not as active as Perez but was still able to land his straight right hand. There was good action in the seventh round, as both fighters let their hands go, but Perez appeared to get the better of Freeman. Another close round followed in the eighth, and the judges scored it 77-75, 78-74, and 77-75 for DeCarlo Perez. ,
The main event of the evening was between Joselito Collado (13-2) and Teon Kennedy (18-2-2) in the junior lightweight division.
Kennedy was the bigger fighter, the more experienced fighter, and the favorite. Collado, however, shocked Teon in the first round with a hard overhand right. Kennedy was able to recover, but Collado did a good job early by coming over the top of Kennedy’s jab with an overhand right.
Kennedy began to settle down in the second round and focused more on the body of Collado. He was using his double jab and chasing Collado from corner to corner. Collado, however, didn’t look hurt by Kennedy’s punches, and caused a cut over Kennedy’s left eye in the third round.
Kennedy was warned in the sixth round for a low blow, but he really began to turn the fight in his favor after that. He landed a very solid left hook at the end of the left round and had his best round of the night in the eighth round, when he repeatedly trapped Collado in the corner. Kennedy’s uppercuts were hurting Collado in the ninth round and the last round featured a lot of inside fighting.
The judges scored it 96-94, 98-92, and 96-94 for Teon Kennedy.
In swing bout action, Anthony Burgin (4-0) and Jose Del Valle (1-2-2) met in the junior lightweight division. Burgin showed why he was a successful amateur fighter by pounding Del Valle for all four rounds. The final scores were 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37.
The last bout of the night was between Michael Sunkett (1-2) and Ismael Garcia (5-0) in the middleweight division. Sunkett knocked Garcia down with a counter right hand in the first, but Garcia was able to bounce back and hurt Sunkett badly in the second round and forced the referee to stop it. The official time of the stoppage was 2:02 of the second round.
