Dover Downs Hotel & Casino brought back fan favorite “Queen”
Ronica Jeffrey and new DE resident Dennis “The Assassin” Hasson for the
first time as they scored victories in the main and co-main event Friday
night before a large crowd of cheering fans! Matchmaker Nick Tiberi
brought in tough opponents for the locals and the fans reacted
well. CEO Ed Sutor came to press row and greeted long time friend and
DHB writer Dave Ruff prior to the start of the show. Their publicist
Lisa Butler as always did a great job in informing the press of the
night’s event and was there at our disposal. She does as good a job for
the press as anyone in the business.
Jeffrey, 11-0 (1),
of Brooklyn, NY, has made appearances at Dover Downs in all but 3 of
her 11 bouts and has been adopted as a fan favorite now in her first
main event. She didn’t disappoint as she took the vacant WBC Female
Silver super featherweight title in a tough 10 round bout against former
WIBF champion “Lethal” Lindsay Garbatt, 7-6 (3), of Oshawa, Ontario,
CAN, who has been in with some of the best female boxers in the business
in her short career.
Garbatt chased the back pedaling
Jeffrey who countered with jab after jab and stopped long enough to
deliver combination after combination to get the judge’s decision by
scores of 98-92 from John Gradowski and Dave Greer while Joe Pasquale
had it 97-93 all for the new champion. She is managed by a Ring
Magazine “Female Manager of the Year” in Brian Cohen who will be
bringing in an all female pro/am in October at Harrah’s Philly.
Dennis
“The Assassin” Hasson, 15-0 (5), out of the Kensington section of
Philadelphia and now residing in the Hockessin area of DE, posted a
shutout over veteran southpaw Daniel Judah, 23-10-3 (10), of Brooklyn,
NY, over 8 rounds. Hasson is now being trained and managed by DE
all-time great and former IBC super middleweight champion Dave “TNT”
Tiberi for the past 4 fights. After 3 wins in Atlantic City, NJ, Hasson
won his DE debut to the delight of the crowd who were yelling “Dennis
Dennis” in the 8th and final round of this light heavyweight match.
Hasson
set the stage early with a double-jab, right hand and follow-up left
hook letting Judah know what was in store for him. The veteran southpaw
though landing occasional straight left hands never was a threat to the
unbeaten Hasson. “I want to thank God for the victory. I felt good at
the end. He was tough and a well known boxer and I didn’t want to take
any chances as long as I felt I was winning the rounds. His style is
unusual and almost karate like. The Judah family has a background in
martial arts including Judah’s well known brother, former world
champion, Zab Judah.
Hasson stunned or hurt Judah in
rounds 2, 3, 4 and 8 causing Judah to hold, stick out his tongue or chin
trying to convince Hasson he wasn’t hurt. “I didn’t want to fall into a
trap like I may have in the past. Dave Tiberi has shown me to be
patient, “ said Hasson. Joining Tiberi in the corner as usual was Bob
Wall and new addition NY’s Hector Bermudez. “He wraps hands as good as
Danny Davis (Philly corner man who also works with Bernard Hopkins) and
was great in there,” said Hasson. Hasson always takes the time to
acknowledge those who help him like Robert “Bam Bam” Hines, former IBF
light middle champ and PA light heavyweight champion Dhafir “No Fear”
Smith who sparred with Hasson preparing him for the southpaw Judah. In
the 8th round the fans were cheering “Dennis, Dennis” for the new Dover
Downs attraction!
Tiberi brought in 4 businessmen in
forming www.champsmangement.com in George Beers, John Sobieski III,
Frank Vasallo IV and Kevin Wilson. They plan a new gym and adding more
boxers to their stable in the near future. The fight was refereed by
Gary Rosato. Judges John Gradowski and Dave Green saw it 80-72 while
Joe Pasquale had it 79-73 all for Hasson. DHB writers Dave Ruff and Ken
Hissner had it an 80-72 shutout for Hasson.
Kennett
Square, PA, light heavyweight “The Bull” Anthony “Caputo” Smith, 13-1
(10), suffered his first loss in a scheduled 8 rounder. His opponent
Kevin “Hitman” Engel, 19-6 (16), of St. Louis, MO, had Smith bleeding
early in the first round. “I hit him with a solid jab on the nose. I
have been taking fights for the money at 168 recently and feel much
better at 175. I was surprised I was brought in for him having a
limited amount of fights,” said Engel. He is trained by former NABF
champion Harold Petty.
With blood over his entire face
Smith bravely took it to Engel in the first round. In the second round
only Engel’s punching power stopped him and not Smith’s heart. Smith
was dropped and hurt badly. He got to his feet and beat the count only
to be dropped again forcing referee Rosato to halt the fight at 2:11 of
the 2nd round.
“Mighty” Mike Tiberi, 20-1 (7), of
Townsend, DE, kept his winning streak at 14 now in taking a hard fought 6
round, cut from an 8, decision over tough Michael “Midnight Stalker”
Walker, 19-16-3 (12), of Chicago, IL, by scores of 60-54 by all 3 judges
as well as DHB. Tiberi suffered a cut along his left eye brow that
cut-man Joey Eye seemed to control as best he could in the 5th round by
an accidental head butt. A second clash of heads had Walker taking a 5
min break. Rosato was the referee. Matchmaker Nick Tiberi’s wife was
seated behind Executive Director Greg Sirb screaming for her nephew
causing Sirb to turn around and have her seated several seats away due
to the distraction. Leave it up to Sirb to come up with a new one!
In
winning the “fighter of the night” trophy Wilmington, DE, super
featherweight Omar “Super O” Douglas, 6-0 (4), kept unbeaten stopping
Joel Flores, 4-4 (3), of Hart, MI, at the end of the 2nd round. Referee
Benjy Estevees, Jr., waved off the contest by request of the Flores
corner. Both of Flores eyes were puffy by the second round and he was
hurt badly at the bell ending the round. “When I first saw him I
remembered him from the amateur tournaments. I don’t try for a knockout
but when it comes it comes,” said Douglas. He is a long time winner of
tournaments and a fan favorite. He shows great promise this early in
his career. Dave Escalete informed this writer he will be handling his,
Tiberi and Smith’s promotional future’s. Escalete also has
middleweight title challenger Lujan Simon from Philadelphia and close
friend and past sparring mate of Hasson’s.
Reuel Williams,
7-1 (2), of Wilmington, DE, returned to the ring after 4 years making
his first DE appearance in easily winning a 4 round decision over much
shorter James Denson, 5-10 (2), of Akron, OH, posting a 40-36 score on
all 3 judges cards as well as DHB. His brother Ricardo was head trainer
and encourager for Williams throughout. Rosato was the referee.
John
“Church Boy” Bowman, 4-0-1 (0), of Dover, DE, continued his winning
ways with a 4 round win over Steve Tyner, 3-6-2 (2), of Albany, NY, who
proved to be a tough opponent. Bowman who has a cross on his trunks and
Phil 4:13 never stopped throwing punches. His trainer Bernard “Road
Dog” Miller saw to that. Bowman is a good local prospect. He won by
scores of 39-37 by Gradowski and Pasquale while Greer had it 40-36 all
for Bowman. DHB had it 39-37 for Bowman. Rosato was the referee.
In
the opener Joshua Arocho, 2-6-2 (1), of Vineland, NJ, may have been
brought in as the opponent for the grandson of former world heavyweight
champion Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes but he proved to be anything
but that against Jeffrey Dorsey, 0-1, of Easton, PA, after the first
round. Dorsey had his way moving and jabbing in the first round before
getting hit with a good left hook near the end of the round. In the
second Arocho hurt Dorsey again making him to hold and then run. In
between rounds Dorsey had his elbows up on the next to highest
strand. With Holmes assisting in the corner you would have thought that
would have been corrected but he may have been too excited to realize
it.
In the 3rd and final round it was about 15 seconds
before the Dorsey corner realized they forgot to put in their fighters
mouthpiece. When things go bad they go bad. Arocho rocked Dorsey into
the ropes forcing referee Estevees to give an 8 count. As he got up
against the ropes he was holding onto them with both gloves. The
referee had to pry his gloves off the ropes. It was obvious he had
enough but the referee gave him every chance to continue. Arocho raced
forward and battered Dorsey with punches until the referee came to his
rescue. “I put pressure on him until he quit,” said Arocho. It was the
quietest this writer ever saw the man Muhammad Ali named “Peanut Head”
in all the years I’ve seen him. Let’s hope he has better luck next
time.
GFL-tv covered the event with Marc Abrams and
heavyweight contender “Fast” Eddie Chambers handling the
broadcast. Dover Downs per Butler will return with an MMA event October
13th and on January 11th with the possible return of unbeaten
heavyweight Amir Mansour. The fans would certainly welcome his return!
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