Keenan “The Killer” Smith Stopped Edgar Gabejan in A.C.!

At the Claridge Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, Saturday night promoters GH-3 and D&D Promotions put on a 6 bout card before a full house.

In the Main Event super lightweight southpaw Keenan “The Killer” Smith, 11-0 (5), of Philadelphia, scored a technical stoppage over overmatched Edgar “Koki” Gabejan, 27-34-7 (9), of Rizal, PH, at 1:46 of the seventh round.

In the opening round Smith put on the pressure landing 6 unanswered punches than pushing Gabejan down from behind the head. Smith followed up with a grazing left hand dropping Gabejan and given the 8-count by referee Ricky Gonzalez. In the second round Smith drove Gabejan into the ropes and was quickly tied up. It was all Smith in the round. In the third round an over anxious Smith wrestled Gabejan to the canvas. Smith continued to dominate over the shorter Gabejan who was being outgunned. In the fourth round Gabejan started throwing more punches than in the previous rounds. Smith drove Gabejan across the ring into a corner and jumped on him landing a flurry of punches.

In the fifth round a Smith double right hook to the chin of Gabejan dropped him for the 8-count given by referee Gonzalez. A solid right hook to the chin by Smith rocked Gabejan at the bell. In the sixth round Gabejan rushes in only to be hit with a straight left by Smith causing a bit of blood to come out of his nose. A right hook by Smith to the chin buckled the legs of Gabejan just prior to the bell. In the seventh round a short left hand to the chin of Gabejan dropped him for an 8-count given by referee Gonzalez. Shortly afterwards referee Gonzalez had seen enough and wisely stopped the mismatch.

“I hit him with hard shots. He was awkward. I knew I had him after the second round,” said Smith. His right hand was in ice. His brother and trainer coach Marty said “It’s a great step up fighting against a veteran who hadn’t been stopped since 2010.”

Heavyweight Tyrell “The King” Wright, 9-0-2 (6), of Jersey City, NJ, and Dan Pasciolla, 9-2-2 (0), of Brick, NJ, fought to a split decision draw over 6 rounds.

Wright did a lot of holding throughout the bout keeping referee Dave Francisosi busy breaking the fighters. Pasciolla took the opening round with Wright taking the second and third rounds. Pasciolla outworked Wright in the last 3 rounds and deserved the win.

Former boxer Bobby Rooney worked Wright’s corner while former cruiserweight world champion Al “Ice” Cole worked Pasciolla’s.

Judge Constatino scored it 58-56 for Wright. Judge Wallace 57-57 a draw and judge Stewart had it 58-56 for Pasciolla as did this writer.

Super lightweight southpaw PR John “El Torrito” Bauza, 6-0 (3), of Bergen, NJ, scored a sensational one-punch stoppage over PR Francis Gakpetor, 4-4-1 (3), of Accra, GH, at 0:17 of the first round of a scheduled 6.

Southpaw Bauza set up Gakpetor by holding his right hand out and landed a right hook to the head dropping Gakpetor with the only punch of the fight. Referee Dave Franciosi didn’t even have to count as he waved it off. “I lined him up with my right and hooked him to the head,” said Bauza.

Bauza is managed by Dino Duva.

Super lightweight southpaw Kenneth “Bossman” Sims, Jr., 11-0 (4), of Chicago, IL, scored a technical stoppage over game Israel Villela, 6-5 (2), of Cancun, MEX, at 1:30 of the third round.

In opening round Sims took it to the shorter Villela with a two fisted attack. He had Villela backing up throughout. In the second round Sims landed a hard right hook to the head of Villela who came back with a right uppercut to the mid-section of Sims. Sims landed a power shot right hook to head of Villela. Sims landed a 4-punch combination after opening up a small cut on right eyebrow of Villela. In the third round with Villela coming forward Sims countered well. Sims landed a flurry of punches and referee Gonzalez stepped in what seemed a premature stoppage.

Super flyweight prospect and former star amateur Dylan “The Real Deal” Price, 2-0 (2), of Sicklersville, NJ, used a vicious body attack scoring a technical stoppage over Christopher Nelson, 1-4 (0), of Louisville, KY, via PR, at 2:37 of the third round. Referee was Mary Glover. Price’s father Dave Price worked the corner.

In the opening bout bantamweight Manuel Rodriguez, 1-0 (0), of Newark, NJ, won a split decision over Jaxel Marrero, 1-8-2 (0), of PR, over 4 rounds.

In a hard fought first round it was give and take with Marrero having an edge. In the second and third rounds Rodriguez came back countering well against the aggressive Marrero. In the fourth and final round Rodriguez started out fast but Marrero took over the second half of the round.

Judge’s Mark Constatino and Paul Wallce had it 39-37 for Rodriguez while John Stewart had it 39-37 for Marrero. This writer had it 38-38. Raul “Chino” Rivas worked the winner’s corner. Mary Glover was the referee.

The ring announcer was Nino Del Buono.

Next at the Claridge on June 10th will be Rising Star Promotions featuring Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna, Anthony “Juice” Young, Gabriel Pham and Donald “No Love” Smith on the card.

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