Tag Archives: Henry

Posted on 07/31/2018

By: Ken Hissner

Henry “Homicide Hank” Armstrong was 21 when he won his first world title in the Featherweight division with a record of 75-11-6 knocking out Petey Sarron, 105-22-13 in 3 rounds at MSG, NY.

Mikey Garcia was 23 when he won his first world title in the Featherweight division with a record of 30-0 defeating Orlando Salido, 40-11-2 by TD8 when Garcia suffered a broken nose from Salido’s head. Garcia made one defense.

Armstrong was 28 when he won his second world title in the welterweight division with a record of 90-11-6 though only weighing 133 ½ defeating Barney Ross, 74-3-3, over 15 rounds at MSG, NY.

Garcia was 25 when he won his second world title in the Super Lightweight division defeating Roman Martinez, 27-1-2, over 12 rounds at Corpus Christi, TEX. Garcia made one defense.

Armstrong was 29 when he won his third world title in the Lightweight division winning a split decision over Lou Ambers, 75-5-7, over 15 rounds at MSG, NY.

Armstrong would make one lightweight defense while still holding the welterweight title of which he made five defenses.

Garcia was 29 when he won his third world title in the Lightweight division knocking out Dejan Zlaticanin, 22-0, in 3 rounds at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV. He made one defense.

Garcia was 29 when he won his fourth world title at Super Lightweight Diamond defeating Adrien Broner, 33-2, over 12 rounds at the Barclay Center, Brooklyn, NY.

Garcia was 30 when he won the world Super Lightweight division defeating Sergey Lipinets, 13-0, over 12 rounds at Freedom Coliseum in San Antonio, TX.

Armstrong, of L.A., CA, ended up with a 152-21 (9), record over a 13+ year span. Garcia of L.A., CA, has a 38-0 (30) record over a 12 year span.

Posted on 06/03/2017

Lundy Wins and Ennis Stays unbeaten at 12-0 in Philly Friday!
By: Ken Hissner

Peltz Boxing, BAM Boxing and RAGING BABE returned once again to the 2300 Arena in South Philly with veteran “Hammerin” Hank Lundy’s return to Philly for the first time since 2010. Top Philly prospect Jaron “Boots” Ennis increased his unbeaten win streak to 12.

In the main event Lightweight “Hammerin” Hank Lundy, 28-6-1 (14), of Philly, scored a knockdown and stopped late substitute Dany Evangelista, 20-8-2 (16), of Mexico City, at 2:53 of the fifth round in a scheduled 8.

Lundy easily won the first two rounds ending the last part of the second round switching to southpaw. In the third round Lundy landed a solid left hook to the head of Evangelista stunning him.

Evangelista landed his best punch so far in the fight a right to the midsection of Lundy and repeated it at the bell. In the fourth round while in close Lundy landed a double left hook to the head of Evangelista.

In the fifth round Evangelista landed a solid lead right to the head of Lundy.

Lundy looked angry from that and came back with a flurry of punches dropping Evengelista and causing a cut over his left eye. He got up but didn’t respond when referee Gary Rosato asked him to raise his hands so he stopped it.

In co-feature super welterweight Native American Mark Daniels, Jr., of Crandon, WI, 3-1 (1), suffered his first loss when Isaiah Wise, 5-1 (3), of Philly, used a good body attack for all 6 rounds to take the decision.

In the opening round Daniels had his way halfway thru until Wise landed several good body shots with left hooks. In the second and third rounds Daniels switched back and forth southpaw to orthodox but it didn’t matter to Wise who continued going to the body.

In the fourth round Wise landed a solid lead right to the chin of Daniels that stunned him. Daniels came back causing a small cut over the right eye of Wise. In the fifth round Daniels got in his best punch of the fight a left hook to the chin of Wise who came right back with a combination to the body of Daniels. In the sixth and final round Wise continued with a body beating.

Judge’s Poturaj and Lundy had it 59-55 while Kinney had it 60-54 as did this writer. Referee was Rosato.

Top Philly welterweight prospect Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 12-0 (10), scored his twelfth straight win in fourteen months stopping Wilfredo “El Zurdo” Acuna, 16-21 (12), of Managua, NIC, with a pair of knockdowns at 1:23 in the first round.

In the opening round Ennis switched from orthodox to southpaw against the southpaw Acuna and dropped him with a right hook to the chin. Acuna got up and was dropped by a vicious right to the mid-section and counted out by referee Talmadge.

“I always come out orthodox but switched to southpaw and will be back June 17th in Baltimore (per Victory Promotions Chris Middendorf),” said Ennis. In his corner as usual was his father/trainer “Bozy” Ennis. Middendorf and manager Cameron Dunkin have done a fine job keeping Ennis who will turn 20 this month busy.

In the walk out bout cruiserweight Alvin “Iron Majik” Varmall, Jr., 11-0-1 (9), of Catskill, NY, with a pair of knockdowns destroyed Juan Reyna, 6-7-1 (2), of Brownsville, TX, at 2:02 of the first round.

In the opening round Varmall came storming out with solid body work chasing Reyna. An overhand right near the back of the head by Varmall dropped Reyna. A vicious body attack and down went Reyna forcing referee Blair Talmadge to wave it off.

Super lightweight Scott Kelleher, 5-1 (3), of Philly, back from a 13 month layoff was dropped 3 times losing to Dion “Showtime” Richardson, 2-1 (1), of Newark, NJ, at 2:19 of the first round.

In the opening round a right hand from Richardson almost put Kelleher through the ropes causing a knockdown by referee Rosato. Shortly later another right hand dropped Keller down. Before the end of the round Richardson had Kelleher all bloody and down for a third time as referee Rosato waved it off. It was reported Kelleher suffered a broken nose.

In a good featherweight scrap Crystian Peguero, 2-0 (1), of Philly, scored a hard fought decision over Saquan “Roto Rooter” Felton, 0-2 (0), of Rochester, NY, over 4 rounds.

In a close first round Peguero came out looking for another early knockout as he did in his debut but Felton was having none of it. In the second round things heated up with both boxers landing well and sometimes landing at the same time to the chin. In the third round a short right by Peguero to the chin of Felton had him holding on. In the fourth and last round both let it all hang out with the shorter Peguero scoring well but not well enough for a knockdown or knockout.
Judge Lundy had it 39-37 while Poturaj and Kinney along with this writer had it 40-36 for the winner.

In the opening bout super welterweight Ishmael Altman, 0-0-1 (0), of Arapahoe, NC, got the short end of the stick drawing with Tyree Crowder, 0-0-1 (0), of Philly, that ended in a disputed draw over 4 rounds.

In the first two rounds it was all Altman being taller and using his reach chasing Crowder. In the third round Altman continues using his jab with Crowder countering. In the fourth and final round Altman seemed to post a shutout. Referee was Rosato.

Judges Lundy, Poturaj and Frisca all had it 38-38. This writer 40-36.

In a rematch Marko Bailey, 5-0 (3), of Durham NC, won by majority decision over southpaw Vinnie Denierio, 1-2 (1), of Geneva, NY, over 4 good rounds of boxing.

In the first round it was Denierio controlling with a jab and an occasional straight left to the chin of Bailey who was chasing him. In the second round Bailey got a couple of right’s to the head in but Denierio outworked him. In the third round Bailey knowing he may be behind in the scoring aggressively went after Denierio. In the fourth and final round it was all Bailey halfway through the round when both exchanged uppercuts to the chin. Bailey seemed to earn a draw taking this round.

Judges Kinney and Poturaj had it 39-37 while Frisca and this writer 38-38. Referee was Rosato.

Welterweight Marcel Rivers, 2-0 (1), of Philly, scored a knockdown in winning a decision over Jamaal “Shoota” Gregory, 1-0 (1), of Charlotte, NC, over a spirited 4 rounds.

In the opening round both boxers mixed it up well. In the second round Rivers knocked the mouthpiece of Gregory out twice. Gregory did get the last punch in at the bell. In the third round an overhand right from Rivers to the chin of Gregory dropped him. Gregory got up and fought back to a stand still with Rivers.

In the fourth and final round the taller Gregory came back in the best round of the fight to take the round. Referee was Blair Talmadge.

All 3 judges and this writer had it 39-36 for the winner.

In attendance were former Philly world champions “Joltin” Jeff Chandler and Bernard “Be-Hop” Hopkins. It was a sell-out crowd!

Posted on 06/01/2017

“Hammering” Hank Lundy & Jaron “Boots” Ennis in Philly Friday!
By: Ken Hissner

Lightweight “Hammering” Hank Lundy, 27-6-1 (13), returns to Philadelphia for the first time since 2009. Also on the card is Philly’s welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 11-0 (9), the best looking prospect in Philadelphia since 1984 Olympian Meldrick Taylor. Peltz Boxing, BAM Boxing and now Raging Babe continue to bring the fans competitive bouts.

Peltz is an IBHOF promoter and matchmaker. Brittany Rogers is one of the youngest promoter-matchmakers in the country and though in her 20’s knows her boxing especially learning from Peltz who goes back to 1969 when he promoted his first show.

There was a press conference Wednesday night at the Xfinity Center in South Philadelphia. There are eleven bouts scheduled but by fight night Friday several will probably be cut out. Boxing Director Greg Sirb gets quite upset when there are more than seven bouts. Raging Babe speaks Spanish and was able to speak to the main event opponent of Lundy in Danny Evangelista, Jr., 20-7-2 (16), from Mexico City in a scheduled 8 round bout.

Lundy is quite outspoken and though failed in a title fight with unbeaten Terrance Crawford at 140 proclaims he will be the 135 champ. He has lost 3 of his last 5 fights and was backed by his promoter from CES Promotions out of Rhode Island telling all in attendance about Lundy fighting Crawford with an injury.

When boxers return to their home base Peltz said in so many words they are at the end of their career. Lundy is 33 and in his eleventh year of boxing. He has returned to his trainer “Cornbread” Ramey who is one of the most respected trainers in Philadelphia.

On the other hand Ennis is trained by his father “Bozy” Ennis who may be the best or one of the best trainers in the city and runs “Bozy’s Dungeon” in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. His son has won all 11 fights in but his fourteenth month since turning professional in April of 2016 under manager Cameron Dunkin. Dunkin chose Chris Middendorf’s Victory Promotions instead of Top Rank who are one and have been one of the best promotional groups in the country for years. Middendorf promoted a pair of shows in Philadelphia and hopefully won’t be returning after the mismatches he put on. Ennis has fought 6 of his 11 fights in Philadelphia and another in close by Bristol, PA. His bout is against Wilfredo “EllZurdo” Acuna, 16-20 (12), of Mauagua, NIC, scheduled for 6 rounds.

Also on hand were super welterweight Mark Daniels, Jr., 3-0 (1), a Native American from Crandon, WI, who as Peltz said was “not hesitant to come to Philadelphia to fight a Philadelphian in Isaiah Wise, 4-1 (3), who is a tough opponent and that’s the way Peltz does his matchmaking putting on competitive fights. This is for 6 rounds.

Well known trainer Don Turner now having a camp in Arapahoe, NC, is from the Philadelphia and brings in a pair of boxers to debut here knowing this area will develop out of town boxers as it did in “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler and Eddie Mustapha Muhammad. He has brought with him super welterweight Ishmael Altman who will face Philadelphia’s Tyree Crowder also in his debut. The other from NC is southpaw Heriberto Polanco who will fight Brooklyn’s Omar Kabary Salem, both in their debuts.

In a welterweight bout two out of state boxers face each other in a 6 round bout in Juan Reyna, 6-6-1 (2), of Brownsville, TX, against Alvin “Iron Majik” Varmall, Jr., 10-0-1 (8), of Catskill, NY. Philadelphia’s prospect Scott Kelleher, 5-0 (3), is returning to action after 13 months and will meet Dion Richardson, 1-1 (1), of Newark, NJ. Another prospect from Philadelphia is Crystian Peguero, 1-0 (1), who made his debut in March. He will meet Saquan Felton, 0-1, from Rochester, NY. Peltz said “I’m bringing a match between lightweight Marko Bailey, 4-0 (3), of Durham, NC, and Vinnie Denierio, 1-1 (10) of Geneva, NY, who I was told was a barnburner in their recent meeting.

Peltz doesn’t always care if the boxers are from the city if he knows they will give the fans something to cheer about.
Philadelphia’s super lightweight Nahir Albright, 1-1 (0), will meet debuting Sultan Zamir Uulu, of KYR now living in Philadelphia. Finally Philadelphia’s welterweight Marcel Rivers, 1-0 (1), meets Jamaal Gregory, 1-0 (1), of Charlotte, NC.

First bout is at 7:30PM and you know a Peltz show always starts on time. It is at the 2300 Arena at 2300 S. Swanson St. at the Front and Oregon area. Peltz said the event is already sold out.

Posted on 05/30/2017

Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame Celebration a Big Success!
By: Ken Hissner

Ray McCline’s idea of creating the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame was a big success over the weekend. Especially on Sunday night with 24 inductee’s before a large crowd at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City!

Master of Ceremonies was the New Jersey Hall of Fames President Henry Hascup who did an excellent job. There were some excellent acceptances starting with legendary matchmaker Don Elbaum’s stories. He has worked in over a thousand shows over the years. “This is incredible. My mentor J Russell Peltz is here and the man I got started Don King!” He went onto say how Jimmy Carter was running for president at the time and how King called him Jimmy and Carter called King “President!” In King’s hometown of Cleveland Carter won big taking not only the black vote but the Jewish vote. King took credit for both! He brought in then Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) for an exhibition to help a children’s hospital.

Hascup first brought up Mike Hall, Jr. whose father Mike was being inducted. He trained world champion Virgil Hill amongst others. This writer saw him earlier and said “it’s good to see you are still alive” not knowing I was talking to the deceased’s son. Another Atlantic City native Bill Johnson came forth whose brother Leavander was the IBF lightweight champion winning in Italy and passed away shortly after a battle in NV losing his title but going out like a warrior! “My brother loved the sport and the people involved with it,” said Johnson. Hascup said “Leavander gave his life for the sport!”

Althea Saunders sang the national anthem. She is still an active boxer from Atlantic City. As expected Larry “The Easton Assasin” didn’t show and “Iron” Mike Tyson didn’t either but was seen via video accepting his induction from AZ. Inductee Ken Condon known for his PPV work talked about being in Barbados when he left his wife upstairs to go downstairs in the hotel to watch Spinks-Holmes II. It caused an obvious argument he said.
Michael Spinks drew the most attention afterwards signing autographs, getting pictures taken by many fans of his and being interviewed. Press members included AC Press writer David Weinberg, John DiSanto of Philly Boxing History, Bernard Fernandez formerly with the Philadelphia News, Joe

Sangrito formerly of Ring Magazine, Frank Bartolini of the Rinaldi Brothers newspaper, Marc Abrams and his beautiful wife, with Abrams doing an excellent job with the PR work for the event. Keebler Media was taping the event and this writer representing Boxing Insider.

Representing his father Lou Duva was Dino Duva still an active manager saying “today would have been my father’s 95th birthday.” Duva put on the first world title bout in Atlantic City with Joey Giardello fighting Dick Tiger. “My father always said never forget your roots,” said Duva.

Accepting for the absent Holmes was one of “Smoking” Joe Frazier’s daughters Weatta.

An emotional wife and daughter of the head physician in Atlantic City was none other than Dr. Frank Doggett. “He graduated from Howard Universities Medical School in 1948 and was chief surgeon for the Atlantic Police and Fireman. He referred to the boxers as his boxers. If he was here he would simply say thank you.”

Nicoli the artist was on hand showing a portrait of Don King which went up for bid with no takers. One of the VP’s of the board who did the electing was Rodnick Green VP Strategy & Business Development for the ACBHOF who proclaimed how another well-known inductee Steve “Double S” Smoger who was inducted into the IBHOF in 2016 helped the kids at the AC PAL! Smoger known to be one of the best speakers in the business talked about how Elbaum ran weekly shows at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino for five years and how he worked many of them as a referee. He has received many awards and is one of the best of all time.

Fan and press favorite writer Jack “KO” Obermayer who passed away approximately a year ago was well represented by Freddy Blumstein one of the best timekeepers in the business who said “my wife curses the day I met KO because I am away from home so much.” Eric Bottjer one of the best well known matchmakers in the business called Obermayer his best friend. Obermayer’s daughter and his partner Darlene, who flew in from Wyoming, saying “he was the love of my life!”

Roy Foreman another VP who managed his brother George and who lives in the area and is now promoting shows in Houston, TX, was well received by the audience saying “without the boxers we wouldn’t be here!”

Mustafa Ameen spoke in behalf of inductee Matthew Saad Muhammad how the nuns found him on the Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway at the age of 4 left there by his brother at his mother’s request due to having too many kids. Saad’s adopted brother Joe Johnson was in attendance. Ameen talked how Saad put up a 10k award if anyone would come forward telling him who would know anything about his identity. As it turned out someone did and told him his real name was Antonio Loach. They appeared on Good Morning America and Saad was not too fond of being called Antonio. Ameem talked of Saad’s religion of being a Muslim. When Saad passed away there was a funeral at a mosque and then at the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Saad told me personally during an interview “I’m no longer a Muslim.”

Elbaum spoke how he got King into the business as the first black promoter and took him to New York introducing him to Madison Square Garden’s promoter and matchmaker. King said “they are all white!” Elbaum told him “don’t say that again for we are all Americans adding Kings famous known phrase Only In America!” Elbaum went onto say how Tropicana gave him a two year contract, living quarters and agreed to run every Tuesday night.

Current NJ Commissioner of boxing Larry Hazzard, Sr. did an excellent job speaking of how he spent 13 years in the amateurs working as a referee and becoming one of the tops in the world and becoming commissioner. After leaving office the current governor of NJ Chris Christy brought Hazzard back for his old job.

Smoger talked about starting out as a timekeeper from 1978 to 1982 and starting to ref in 1984 and becoming the referee in a world title fight just two years later. He said how he worked shows for Peltz, King, Frank Gelb and Duva. He gave a large amount of credit to Deputy Commissioner Bob Lee who couldn’t make the event. “He treated me like gold,” said Smoger. He also gave a lot of credit and would expect the next induction to be the then commissioner and former heavyweight champion “Jersey” Joe Walcott. He went onto say except for referee Pat Russell he was the longest serving referee in the country.

Former world light heavyweight champion Mike “The Jewish Bomber” Rossman accepted his award and walked off the stage without saying a word. He had his Local 30 Roofers jacket on and the roofers bought 40 tickets.

Dave Bontempo another inductee spoke well and how ESPN recruited him from AC and how the game has changed since the Atlantic City Press had him cover boxing. He went onto say how boxers like Bennie Serrano became well known fighting at the Tropicana for Elbaum. He added it was 20 years ago today he met his wife Suzie and being married for 32 years.

Peltz, a well-known matchmaker and promoter as well as being one of the few promoters doing his own matchmaking spoke as well as anyone at the podium. He ran shows while attending Temple University at the age of 22 in 1969 and brought in “Bad” Bennie Briscoe on his first show. He said “we didn’t need any med’s in those days only a boxer with a heartbeat or without.” How in 1970 he brought in IBHOF trainer George Benton to headline a show and paid him 1k while the show itself cost $800 to run prior to this. Benton’s manager insisted Benton’s return but Benton was not to be found at the gym he trained so Peltz got another headliner. When Benton showed up with his old yellow suitcase weeks before the event Peltz told him he was replaced because he wasn’t ever in the gym. Benton called his manager Gramby who got Peltz on the phone and said “isn’t your word good enough?”

Peltz remembered that and once brought in Gramby’s prize attraction heavyweight Tex Cobb to headline. He was to get 20k but got a bigger offer of 500k from MSG and Peltz reminded him of “isn’t your word any good?” Cobb fought for Peltz. Peltz said Cobb once said “I didn’t lose to Larry Holmes, I just lost the first 15 rounds.”

Gelb talked about how over 500 shows were run in AC from 1982-85 and how “Russell stole half of my stories.” Gelb’s sons were also in attendance. He said “when the NFL went on strike NBC decided to put on boxing in its place and how inductee Arturo Gatti sold out the Boardwalk Hall six consecutive times. Gatti’s beautiful daughter Sophia was there who was 3 when her father passed away. She spoke well of her father and how blessed she was to have him for a father.

King gave credit to Arthur Goldberg as “his boss who called King the light of the boardwalk starting him off at Bally’s.”

Chuck Zito formerly a Hell’s Angel’s biker accepted for Gatti. “He fought here 23 times and got Fighter of the Year from Ring Magazine 5 times. Bill Johnson talked about his brother winning his first 23 (including a draw) fights. “My oldest son’s wanted to box and the youngest was Leavander.

Former world heavyweight champion Bruce “Atlantic City Express” Seldon and Qawi were two who learned to box at the PAL.

Former light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi said “someone saw my work on the streets of Camden and fought with their fists, no guns.” Spinks who defeated him along with being the first present light heavyweight champion to win the heavyweight title from Holmes thanked his Lord and Savior. The Lord worked through me and gave him all the honor and glory.

Hazzard had played the part in the Ali movie of Zack Clayton. He thanked McCline and Foreman and gave thanks to his wife Patricia along with their family. “She married me and the sport of boxing,” said Hazzard. “We had 3 fights in one day by USA Boxing, CBS all at different places like the Tropicana and the Boardwalk. Hazzard went on to say “it was better to stop a fight a little early than too late.”

Lindsay Tucker of the IBF spoke in accepting Lee’s award who was President of the first IBF with Tucker saying “Bob couldn’t make it tonight but was elated.”

King would be the final speaker giving one of his shortest speeches. “I started in Atlantic City in 1972 thanks to Elbaum. We had 8 world title bouts in Atlantic City promoted for and about the people. I started at the top with Ali,” said King. He said how current President Donald Trump helped him and what a great job he is doing now as President.

Current mayor Don Guardian spoke to close the event.

Posted on 05/20/2017

HBO World Championship Boxing Results: Beltran Flattens Maicelo,
By: William Holmes

The ultra-talented and underappreciated Terence Crawford headlined tonight’s HBO World Championship Boxing Card live from Madison Square Garden in New York City as he took on former Olympic Gold Medalist Felix Diaz.

The untelevised undercard featured some of Top Rank’s best prospects, including gold medalist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov and the man many consider to be the best prospect from the US Olympic Boxing team of 2016, Shakur Stevenson.

There were no notable upsets on the undercard.

Unfortunately for Top Rank, Terence Crawford’s ability to draw in New York City appears to be questionable, as the top section of Madison Square Garden was empty and there were numerous empty seats in the lower section of the arena.

The first bout on the televised card was between Jonathan Maicelo (25-2) and Ray Beltran (32-7-1) for the NABF, NABO, WBA International, and in an IBF World Title Elimination Bout in the lightweight division.

Maicelo, surprisingly, had a large number of fans in attendance and they were very vocal during the ring entrance and announcements.

Both boxers fought out of an orthodox stance and Beltran was clearly the bigger fighter. Beltran pressed forward in the opening round while the crowd loudly chanted “Peru, Peru!” for their boxer Jonathan Maicelo. Maicelo was able to score a surprise knockdown on Beltran from a combination to the body and an accidental head-butt in the first. The clash of heads opened up a cut over the left eye of Maicelo and the left eye of Beltran. Beltran was able to hurt Maicelo with a left hook at the end of the round.

Beltran pressed forward to start the second round and opened up with an early left hook. Maicelo was able to respond with a solid four punch combination followed by a hard shot to the body. Maicelo looked energized and landed another combination on Beltran by the ropes. However, beltran later responded with a vicious left hook that sent the back of Maicelo’s head crashing hard on the mat.

Maicelo was out cold and the referee immediately stopped the bout. Ray Beltran wins by a vicious knockout at 1:25 of the second round.

The main event of the night was between Olympic Gold Medalist Felix Diaz (19-1) and Terence Crawford (30-0) for the WBO and WBC Super Lightweight World Titles.

Crawford, who had a noticeable height advantage, was active with his jab early on and chose to come out in a southpaw stance against the Diaz, who is a natural southpaw. Diaz was short with most of his punches and reached for his left hook while Crawford was active with his jab.

Diaz was able to land a good left hook early in the second round and later fell to the mat with a pushdown afterwards. Crawford was sharp with his jab for most of the second round and landed a sharp double uppercut combination in the middle of the round. Diaz was able to land a hard right hook near the end of the second that caught Crawford off guard.

Crawford hard a commanding third round and opened it up with a crisp counter left uppercut on a charging Diaz. Crawford’s accuracy with his jab continued in the third round and he was able to land several hard two punch combinations on Diaz.

Diaz was warned for a low blow in the fourth round, but more concerning for him was that Crawford’s accuracy showed no signs of letting up while Diaz’s face was beginning to show signs of swelling from Crawfrod’s accurate assaults.

Crawford dominated the fifth round which was punctuated by a left cross right jab combination and a hard left uppercut.

Crawford toyed with Diaz in the sixth round and seemingly touched Diaz with his gloves whenever he wanted to. Diaz was able to land some good punches in the seventh round and they had several good exchanges, but Crawford appeared to get the better of Diaz.

There was some trash talk between both boxers in the eighth and ninth rounds, but Crawford was landing combinations at will and the intensity of his punches showed no signs of slowing down. He had Diaz momentarily stunned in the ninth round with a hard left cross to the temple of Diaz.

Ringside doctors took a hard look at the eyes of Diaz before the start of the tenth round but decided to let him continue. Crawford took no pity on the plight of Diaz and battered him from ring post to ring post in the tenth round and toyed with him, again.

Diaz walked back to his corner at the end of the tenth round looking like a defeated man and his corner wisely decided to call of the fight.
Terence Crawford wins by TKO at the end of the tenth round in an impressive and dominant performance.

Undercard Quick Results:

Steve Nelson (7-0) defeated Gilberto Rubio (7-5) by TKO at 0:36 of the second round in the light heavyweight division.

Henry Lebron (2-0) defeated Johnny Estrada (0-2) by TKO at 0:52 of the second round in the super featherweight division.

Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (2-0) defeated Agustine Mauras (6-3-3) by decision with scores of 80-72 on all three scorecards in the super lightweight division.

Konstantin Ponomarev (32-0) defeated Edward Paredes (37-7-1) by decision with scores of 78-74 on all three scorecards in the super welterweight division.

Teofimo Lopez III (5-0) defeated Ronald Rivas (5-6-2) by knockout at 2:21 of the second round in the lightweight division.

Tong Hui Li (9-1) defeated Daniel Calzada (14-17-3) by decision in the super welterweight division with scores of 60-54 on all three scorecards.

Shakur Stevenson (2-0) defeated Carlos Suarez (6-4-2) in the featherweight division wins by TKO at 2:35 of the first round.

Posted on 12/02/2016

The Night the Two Greatest P4P Boxers Faced Each Other!
By: Ken Hissner

There have been many opinions on “who was the greatest P4P boxer in the history of boxing?” Going way back it was Sam “The Boston Tar Baby” Langford, 180-29-30 (128), Stanley “The Michigan Assassin” Ketchel, 51-4-4 (48), Jack “The Galveston Giant” Johnson, 56-11-8 (35), Harry “Pittsburgh Windmill” Greb, 107-8-3 (48), and Willie “Will o” the Wisp” Pep, 229-11-1 (65). In modern times we had “Sugar” Ray Leonard, 36-3-1 (25), Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, 40-4-1 (17), Julio Cesar Chavez, 107-6-2 (86), and Floyd “Money” Mayweather, 49-0 (26).

There always seemed to be two others on everyone’s P4P list. They met at Madison Square Garden in New York on August 27, 1943 before over 15,000 fans.

In one corner being introduced was a young 22 year-old boxer out of New York City named “Sugar” Ray Robinson, posting a 44-1 record and coming in at 5’11” and 145 lbs. He was 4 fights from losing to Jake LaMotta who he previously beat and after the loss beat again prior to this fight and would win 4 out of 5 overall against LaMotta. He hadn’t won a title yet but would go onto win the welterweight (76th fight) and middleweight titles. He was well ahead in an effort to win the light heavyweight title after 13 rounds but couldn’t continue due to heat exhaustion.

In the other corner was the former NBA, NYSAC featherweight champion who won that title in 1937, won the welterweight title in 1938 and then dropped back to 135 winning the world lightweight title in 1939 while fighting to a disputed draw in 1940 for the middleweight title. In the other corner was the 33 year-old boxer out of L.A. named Henry “Homicide Hank” Armstrong, posting a 134-17-7 record and coming in at 5’5 ½ and 140 lbs. He had a 23-3 record after losing his title in back to back losses to Fritzie Zivic whom he defeated after that and prior to the fight with Robinson.

This was no grudge match. Robinson idolized Armstrong in his youth. It was scheduled for 10 rounds.

The best punches by both boxers were Armstrong rocking Robinson with a left hook to the chin in the fifth round and Robinson staggering Armstrong with a fight right bolo uppercut. Robinson opened up an old gash on Armstrong’s lip in the second round that never proved to be a problem throughout. Armstrong ran out of gas after the fifth round.

In attempting to find who the officials were and how the scoring went this writer came up with zero. Even www.youtube.com didn’t have the fight. Boxing Historian Henry Hascup sent me two newspaper articles about the fight. The only comment I saw was Robinson won every round. Robinson ended up with a 173-19-6 record with 108 knockouts. Armstrong ended up with a 151-21-9 record with 101 knockouts.

Armstrong said after the fight “I’m sorry to go out with such a bad fight and he wouldn’t stand up and mix it. I have to retire now due to scar tissue inside the pupil of my left eye. I can’t take any more chances for I get blurred vision.” The fans were not happy with Robinson moving from side to side and dancing away from Armstrong while landing jabs and occasional rights.

Two other fights that I can think of is when future heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano stopped Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis and said he cried afterwards since he idolized Louis. Larry Holmes “claims” he felt bad after beating Muhammad Ali for the latter’s only stoppage during his career. But when you remember after the then 44-0 world champion slaughtered Marvis Frazier within 3 minutes of the fight. Afterwards he was heard saying “that’s for the whooping’s your daddy gave me in the gym.” So it makes one wonder about his sincerity.

Another report had the losing Armstrong saying “I couldn’t have licked this kid on the best day I ever saw.” Robinson would admit when he hurt Armstrong he would go into a clinch with him keeping him steady. It was well known that both boxers went broke and kept fighting to either pay the IRS or have a place to lay their heads down.