The last time there was a boxing show
in this facility was 2006 when it was the Valley Forge Convention
Center. Friday night the fans packed the new Valley Forge Casino
Resort in King of Prussia, PA, as “War at the Forge” had Naim
“The Dream” Nelson, 10-0 (1), of Philadelphia winning in the main
event and Harry Joe Yorgey, 26-2-1 (12) of Bridgeport, PA, winning
the co-main event.
Marshall Kauffman’s King’s
Promotions, in association with David Feldman and matchmaker J
Russell Peltz put on 7 competitive bouts and will be returning to the
venture on June 15th. People who hadn’t seen each other in years
came out for the show and some Philly boxing celebrities were also on
hand including WBC junior welterweight champion Danny “Swift”
Garica, former IBF junior middleweight champion Buster Drayton, and
title challenger Earl “The Pearl” Hargrove.
In the main event the PA state
lightweight champion Nelson fought a workman’s fight while his
opponent Georgian Georgi Kevlishvili, 12-5 (3), of Philadelphia,
battled it out for 8 rounds. Kevlishvili switched to southpaw as
early as the second round. “I knew when he turned southpaw he
realized he was in trouble. We sparred years ago so he didn’t
surprise me,” said Nelson. His trainer Rory Bussey and co-managers
Doc Nowicki and Jim Williams seemed pleased with their fighter.
Nelson kept a good pace while
Kevlishvili did his best but it wasn’t good enough. Nelson used a
good jab and some even better body work to keep his opponent on the
defense for the most part. Judges James Condon and Pierre Benoist
had it a shutout 80-72 while Joe Pasquale scored it 79-73 as did DHB
all for Nelson.
The co-feature was reduced from an 8 to
a 6 as local favorite Yorgey entered the ring with music sounding
like lightning which is what he is sometimes referred to as
“lightning”. Moving up to the middleweight division Yorgey took
the first round but Julius “DC Bomber” Kennedy, 7-4-1 (3), won
quite a few fans before it was over overpowering Yorgey driving him
to the ropes in the next 2 rounds. In the fourth Yorgey started
doing what he does best and that is boxing.
The best round of the fight was in the
fifth round when it looked like Yorgey was behind as he turned up the
heat. Both fighters let it all hang out in the sixth and final round
as Yorgey seemed to pull out a draw on this writer’s card. Kennedy
seemed to dominate rounds two thru four. Kennedy had limited
experience compared to Yorgey. Pasquale had Yorgey ahead while
Benoist had Kennedy ahead, both at 58-56 while Condon had it 60-54
for Yorgey by split decision. DHB had it 57-57 a draw.
The fans were mixed with the decision
as Kennedy left the ring abruptly claiming “I won that fight”.
Yorgey stayed in the ring conversing with his many fans. Hurley
McCall was the referee. Whether a rematch will be in order isn’t
certain. Kennedy hadn’t won since 2009 while Yorgey was coming off
a loss just 6 weeks prior to this show. He took more punches in this
one than normal. Both fighters seemed to be winded at the end of
this one. Yorgey was the big ticket seller for the night being
local.
Philadelphia southpaw Tevin “American
Idol” Farmer, 9-4-1 (1), of Philadelphia came in with a large
entourage carrying his two IBS belts he won at 140 and 135. He was
very flashy at times and did well unless he stood in from of his
opponent Esteban Rodriguez, 6-6-1 (1), of Lebanon, PA. The second
and third rounds found Rodriguez competitive but Farmer taking the
other rounds in this 6 round lightweight match. His trainer Chucky
Mills seemed pleased with his boxer’s performance overall. McCall
was the referee. All 3 judges had it 60-54 for Farmer. DHB had it
59-55 for Farmer. He is scheduled to come back again next month in
Philadelphia. McCall was the referee.
Southpaw Jerome Rodriguez, 3-0-1 (1),
of Allentown boxed well as Rafael “Yaco” Montalvo, 2-3 (2), of
Pottsville, PA, formerly PR, tried but just couldn’t muster up
enough to stay with Rodriguez for the most part. Condon and Benoist
had it 59-55 while Pasquale saw it 57-57 even giving Rodriguez a
majority win in this welterweight 6 rounder. DHB had it 59-55 for
the winner. Blair Talmadge was the referee.
In an interesting boxer against puncher
4 round junior welterweight match Korey Sloane, 2-6 (0), of
Philadelphia did his best keeping Sammy Quinones, 2-1 (1), of York,
PA, off of him with his jab. Quinones is a power puncher who took a
lot of jabs to get inside and hurt Sloane several times but Sloane
was encouraged by his trainer George James to keep punching. Condon
and Benoist had it 40-36 while Pasquale scored 39-37 all for
Quinones. DHB felt Sloan did enough to earn a draw being the busier
of the two. McCall was the referee
In possibly the best fight of the night
Travis “The Animal” Thompson, 4-9-2 (3), of Pottstown and Joshua
Arocha, 3-6-3 (2), of Vineland, NJ, fought to a 4 round draw in the
super featherweight division. Thompson started fast though suffering
a small cut under his left eye in the second round. Arocha had
Thompson in trouble several times in the third round landing some
solid left hooks to the head and body.
Thompson landed more but Arocha the
cleaner punches. Arocha finished strong. Pasquale had it 39-37
Arocha while Condon scored it 40-36 Thompson. Benoist called it
38-38 for a draw decision as did DHB. McCall was the referee. “I
thought I did enough to pull out the win. I would have knocked him
out if it were a 6 rounder,” said Arocha. Thompson had a good fan
base behind him.
In the show opener Sultahn Staton, 1-0
(1), made his debut halting fellow Philadelphian southpaw Kenny
Brown, 0-2, after 2 rounds. Brown has drawn a pair of the top
amateurs in his first 2 fights. This was to be a junior lightweight
match but both fighters came over the limit making it a junior
welterweight match. In the second round Staton turned southpaw in
landing 5 consecutive hooks to the head of Brown possibly causing an
injury to the left ear. Referee McCall called a halt when Brown
could not continue.
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