Wild Night in Johnstown, PA, at Point Stadium

Wild Night in Johnstown, PA, at Point Stadium

By David Ruff at ringside (Sept 21, 2010) Doghouse Boxing

You always risk rain when you run outdoors. Point Stadium in Johnstown, PA, on Saturday night was no exception. It started out with 12 MMA bouts. The night ended with two boxing matches, featuring Jeremiah Witherspoon of Altoona, and David Burns of Cleveland, both making their debut. Witherspoon is a distant cousin of Tim Witherspoon, the former WBC Heavyweight Champion. In the main event was local boxer Andres Taylor, 16-1-1 (7), of Johnstown, in an 8-round cruiser weight bout against Garrett Wilson, 8-5 (3), of Philadelphia.

In the first fight Witherspoon stopped Burns in 0:56 of the second round. Vic deWysocki was the referee. Witherspoon was 204 to Burns 212.

The Taylor-Wilson fight was an 8-round draw. It was decent from the get-go, until it started raining. There was a 45-minute rain delay. The fighters and referee were actually starting to slip in the rain. The night was pretty wacky. It was a rubber-matted ring, not actually meant for boxers but for the MMA fighters. Taylor seemed to have an edge in the early going. After the delay, the bout seemed to turn in Wilson's favor, with Wilson pushing forward and being the aggressor with Taylor basically doing nothing. In this writer's eyes, Wilson won the fight, and not a draw.

One thing I'd like to add is I've never seen a boxing commissioner (Greg Sirb, Executive Secretary) serve as a judge. If they were short handed possibly the referee could have served as a judge. Sirb had it 77-75 for Taylor while Pat Casey had it 78-74 for Wilson. Chip Snider had it 76-76 for a split decision draw. deWysocki was the referee. Taylor was 197 and Wilson 196.

I don't feel it was a good thing to see a commissioner end up being a judge. In fact, I thought it was very inappropriate. The fans pay good money to see these shows and I mean very good money. They deserve the best. I do know that Taylor's original opponent pulled out the night before. I give a lot of credit to Wilson for stepping in at the last minute and making the six-hour trip from Philly to Johnstown. He has fought some pretty good fighters.

Email David at: davidrruff@yahoo.com.

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