Karpency opened round seven
with a flurry of punches that appeared to stun the Chicago favorite, Fonfara.
However, the two tied up and ended up falling to the ground. When on the canvas,
Karpency told referee Pete Podgorski he couldn’t continue.
Podgorski called the fight
and after minutes of chaos, ring announcer Thomas Treiber announced a TKO victory
for Fonfara (who took home the IBO belt in the process) 57 seconds into the
round.
“He got tired, went down and
then didn’t want to fight,” Fonfara said afterward. “He said he didn’t want to
fight in round seven and that’s it.” When the decision was announced,
Karpency’s corner was in disbelief. Since the injury came on a foul, Karpency’s
corner wanted Fonfara to be disqualified.
“I hit the ground and felt
my right shoulder go bad,” Karpency said. “I couldn’t even pick my arm up. I
guess I shouldn’t have said that because the ref said it’s an automatic TKO if
I can’t go. I should have waited.”
Up until that point, there
was high drama on display in front of a crowd of 4,224. Fonfara knocked down
Karpency twice in the opening round, once with a right hand against the ropes
and then moments later with a barrage of punches.
In the next two rounds,
Karpency started working his way back into the fight. His southpaw stance gave
Fonfara trouble as Karpency repeatedly caught him with a straight left or a
right hook. Fonfara also told the Chicago
Sun-Times he had broken his right hand in round two.
The pace slowed in the
middle rounds. Both fighters tried to box in the center of the ring where both had
their moments. Fonfara had success with his jab but Karpency did the majority
of the work.
“He dropped me in the first
round. This wasn’t my first time being down but you saw me get back up and
bring it on for six more rounds,” Karpency said. “I was there. I thought I won
just as many or more rounds than he did.”
At the time of the stoppage,
two judges scored the fight 57-55 for Karpency and the third scored it 57-55
for Fonfara. Maxboxing saw the fight 57-55 for Fonfara.
“I wish him all the best and
hopefully we can do it again sometime,” Karpency said.
Chicago welterweight
prospect Luis Santiago, 6-0 (1), had his hands full in the first fight of the
evening as he won a unanimous decision over Robert Jones, 8-11-1 (3). Santiago
got off to a strong start but appeared to be fading down the stretch. Judges
had the fight 58-56 and 59-55 twice.
A chopping right cross
crushed Carl Davis, 231¾, to the canvas as Ritchie Carmack, 322¾, remained
undefeated with a first round knockout. With the win, Carmack improves to 12-0
(10) and Davis falls to 16-5 (12). The official time was 1:05.
In a battle of undefeated
super middleweights, Paul Littleton, 5-0-1 (4) , won a unanimous decision over Michael
Williams, 2-1 (2), by scores of 58-56 and 59-55, twice. Littleton, a former
Chicago Golden Gloves winner, was in control throughout by outboxing his taller
opponent.
Chicago welterweight Jaime
Herrera returned to the ring and earned a unanimous decision over previously
undefeated Patrick Boozer by scores of 58-55 and 59-54, twice. Herrera, 9-2
(4), marched forward and landed the better punches. Boozer, 5-1 (2), was docked
a point for holding in the sixth round by referee Genaro Rodriguez.
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