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By: William Holmes
ESPN Friday Night Fights was broadcast from Salem, New Hampshire and featured a crossroads fight between Olusegun Ajose and Hammerin’ Hank Lundy in the junior welterweight division.
The first fight of the night was between Charles Martin (9-0) and Aaron Kinch (5-1-1) in the heavyweight division. Kinch looked out of shape and was the shorter man inside the ring. Martin easily backed Kinch up and was pop shotting Kinch from the outside. Martin scored a knockdown in the third round and Finach was able to survive the round.
Finch began throwing wild hooks in the fourth round, but he was breathing heavy and still affected from the previous round. Martin landed a vicious left uppercut on Kinch that sent him backwards towards the ropes. Martin pummeled Kinch by the ropes as Kinch could do nothing but cover up. The referee waved off the fight and gave Martin the TKO victory.
Charles Martin wins by TKO at 2:55 of the fourth round.
The next bout of the night was between Ryan Kielczweski (16-0) and Miguel Soto (10-0) in the junior lightweight division.
Both fighters were undefeated, but on paper Soto looked to be the more powerful fighter. Every single one of Soto’s fights ended in a knockout victory while Kielczweski had only three knockouts on his record.
Soto was a southpaw and had faced horrible competition. It was readily apparent that he has never faced a fighter with the skills of Kielczweski as he was able to bounce in and out and tag Soto at will. Soto tried to fight like a bull and trap Kielczweski by the corner but was unable to do so.
By the fifth round, Soto’s right eye was swelling up and he was losing the fight. Kielczweski landed a left hook perfectly on the chin of Soto and dropped him face first. Soto was unable to beat the count and Kielczweski won by highlight reel knockout in the fifth round.
The main event was Olusegun Ajose (31-2) and Hammerin’ Hank Lundy (23-3-1) in the junior welterweight division. Ajose was coming off of a loss to Lucas Matthysse and Lundy was coming off two straight losses to Raymundo Beltran and Viktor Postol in the lightweight division.
Both fighters needed a win to stay relevant and a loss for either would have been extremely difficult to bounce back from.
Both Ajose and Lundy fought as a southpaw, which was strange since Lundy usually fights in the orthodox stance.
Lundy showed quick hands in the first hand and Ajose was throwing wild and wide punches. Lunday was landing solid left hands and was more accurate early on.
Ajose had a decent second round, but as the fight progressed he was getting beat up more. Most of Ajose’s punches were blocked while Lundy’s punches were landing clean and solid. In the third round, Ajose was tagged with a straight left hand and he shook his legs as if the punch didn’t hurt him.
By the fourth round, Lundy looked very confident and had gained the mental edge inside the ring. He began to press forward more and in the fifth round he had Ajose hurt bad by the ropes.
Lundy continued to press the action and hurt Ajose. Somehow Ajose was able to stand on his feet despite being tagged repeatedly and viciously. Lundy had Ajose hurt again in the ninth round, and was able to cruise in the last round. He debatably could have been awarded a knockdown that was ruled a push in the last round.
Lundy won on the scorecards by 100-90, 98-92, and 98-92.
