Shamone Alvarez Wins War at the Shore over Alexis Camacho Ken Hissner at ringside (March 9, 2010) Doghouse Boxing
So many promoters put a tag on their show but Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing didn’t have to put one on this one at the Tropicana Casino & Resort, in Atlantic City Saturday night! Atlantic City’s Shamone Alvarez, 21-2 (12), got into an exchanging match with hard hitting Alexis Camacho, 17-3 (16), out of Austin, TX, for the better part of 6 rounds before Alvarez put the knockout drops on Camacho at 1:30 of the 7th round in this scheduled 10 round welterweight match.
Lou Duva’s latest protégé, Camacho, came out with a somewhat mechanical style but every punch was made to do damage. Southpaw Alvarez took a better punch and had a straight left hand that not only ended the fight but scored throughout the match. When Camacho was announced as being originally from Mexico the “Boo Birds” greeted him but he won their respect by the end of the night showing the heart of a lion. He is a former Mexican National amateur champion and like Alvarez fighting for Star Boxing. Since Duva was sitting on the stage next to the red corner, the corner of Alvarez agreed to switch in order to allow the elderly advisor and chief second to be there and yell his instructions to Darren Antola, the assistant trainer.
Though this writer only gave Camacho the 1st round he was holding his own up until the 6th when fatigue was setting in along with the many punches Alvarez was landing. As early as the 2nd round Alvarez had Camacho out on his feet to where referee Ricky Vera was giving a close look at the condition of Camacho. In the 3rd round a straight left put Camacho into the ropes. Camacho was more of a two handed fighter than Alvarez, but Alvarez had a straight left that proved the difference.
In the 4th round Alvarez started going to the mid-section of Camacho which slowed his opponent’s offense down. With about 15 seconds to go in the 5th round a straight left rocked Camacho. The visitor from Texas was showing the effects of the fight at the bell. In the 6th round Alvarez continued to out hit and out think Camacho. In the 7th and final round both fighter went toe to toe in a main event this city last saw in December with Williams and Martinez. This was a main event worthy of cable coverage.
Alvarez hurt Camacho with a straight left hand and followed up overpowering him with an overhand left hand that put Camacho on his back. At that time the ring physician came into the ring stopping the fight saving the fighter for another day. Time of stoppage was 1:30 of the 7th round. “He’ll be back,” said Duva. Not only was there a big celebration at that time, but Alvarez was kind enough to spend over 30 minutes outside the ring with his many fans until security had to force the fans out of the facility.
Star Boxing’s P.R. man, Kevin Rooney, Jr., afterwards asked this writer, “what about Alvarez and Jones?” I answered with “I brought that up to (Russell) Peltz last year and he said he didn’t like that fight. After tonight he is going to like it even less. Mike “MJ” Jones and Alvarez say on April 17th when Jones appears on the undercard of Pavlik and Martinez would be a great supporting bout except it wouldn’t be telecast live and this pair deserves the air time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones remains in this city instead of moving on to Las Vegas or other bigger venues that the “Alvarez” fans don’t start coming out and drumming that one up as early as next month. Since Jones has fought 11 straight unranked Latino’s it would be a nice time to step in with someone of the caliber of Alvarez. Jones is 8th in the WBA while Alvarez is 17th in the IBO rankings. The two losses on the record of Alvarez are both IBF title eliminators with Joshua Clottey and Delvin Rodriguez.
The co-feature had the popular Vinny Maddalone, 33-6 (24), of Flushing, NY, mainge his first return to AC for the first time since 2006 and had the fans screaming for a knockout right up until the 5th and final round when referee Sammy Viruet had seen enough at the 1:09 mark. His opponent Dominique “Diamond” Alexander, 19-8-1 (9), of Topeka, KS, had been in with some better opposition in losing efforts and was no match for the New York brawler whose wide body shots and overhand rights overwhelmed him. After hardly throwing a punch in the 1st round, Alexander showed when countering he got Maddalone’s attention. Only problem was there was too little of it. He spent most of the fight on his bicycle along the ropes.
When Alexander stopped running Maddalone had a field day like in the 3rd round when an overhand right dropped Alexander. With a small cut in the middle of his forehead Maddalone scored two more knockdowns in the 4th with the same punch and put together about 10 unanswered punches. At the end of the round the referee called in the ringside physician, but Alexander came out for the 5th and final round ending it with another overhand right causing the stoppage. This was scheduled for 8 in the heavyweight division. “I felt good and had a nice crowd behind me. He could fight when he wanted to,” said Maddalone. The winner could easily blend right into any fight movie with the muscular body, body markings and rugged looks. He is also promoted by Star Boxing.
Local favorite Chuckie “The Professor” Mussachio, 15-1-2, (5), of nearby Wildwood, made it 11-0 in Atlantic City, doing as much punching as boxing in winning 4 out of 6 rounds over Richmond “White Tornado” Dalphone, 2-6-3 (2), of Pensacola, FL, whose record is very misleading. Including this match his opposition is 56-9-5. Mussachio’s trainer and father Al Mussachio, kept telling his son to box more using his reach to advantage. Mussachio entered the ring with his usual black hat and to the tune of “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. In November Mussachio gave a clinic to Bobby Rooney with that jab of his. “I told Dalphone’s father after the fight his son should have a winning record if he was matched properly,” said Al Mussachio. After splitting the first two rounds Mussachio started attacking more. It was a good round for the fans of which Mussachio has many of his students in the crowd being a local guidance counselor. In the 3rd round Mussachio started taking over and had Dalphone out on his feet in the 4th but couldn’t put him away. “I felt like I punched myself out in that round and took the next round off to catch my breath for a strong finish,” said Mussachio. In the 6th and final round of this light heavyweight match Dalphone landed some right hands of his own finishing the stronger of the two but with Mussachio a clear winner. John McKaie had it 58-55, as did this writer, while Shafeeq Rashada and John Poturaj had it 58-56 all for the winner Mussachio. The referee was Vera.
In the opener Philly favorite Joey “Polish Power” Dawejko, 3-0 (1), with many supporters behind him almost made it a short night. He was rocking Kimani “K.C.” Cunningham, 0-3 (0) of New York, with a left hook’s to the head and almost ended it near the end of the round. At 19 and with many junior titles and international competition championships Dawejko may have proved his critics right and be better off in the cruiserweight division on a 5:08 frame. Cunningham was taller and heavier, but Dawejko has held his own with his manager Hassim Rahman and Samuel Peters among others in the gym. His opponent has yet to be stopped though early in his career, but Dawejko let a knockout go by in this one. He would counter most of the fight though his trainer Brian McGinley kept urging him to be more aggressive. Dawejko shows good hand speed for someone his size and could probably have a good future as a cruiserweight but maybe he will prove his critics wrong. Though Dawejko rocked Cunningham in the 2nd and 4 rounds he didn’t have enough to finish him off. This is one tough kid who likes to fight. He will always be the David going against Goliath and his fans will expect more knockouts with the smaller gloves as a professional. He already has two fights scheduled for April and with his new promoter Empire will be kept busy and that is what he needs. He was scheduled to come back March 17th but that one was put back to April.
The preliminary fight of the night was between Cape May’s Josh Mercado, 3-1 (1), and debuting Ismael “Tito” Garcia, of Millville, putting on plenty to give the fans to shout about over 4 rounds. These light middleweights started out fast with the taller and rangier Garcia outworking Mercado. In the 2nd round Mercado put on a flurry but Garcia seemed to recover well enough to take both rounds. Mercado worked well off the ropes with quick hands, but little power. He was an accomplished amateur but in the professional ranks with many more rounds being fought it may not be the same for him in the future. The last round seemed close but all the judges did not agree with this writer giving Garcia a 40-36 win on all scorecards. Former contender and title challenger Richie Kates assisted Hassam Hameed in what could be a promising future for Garcia who certainly got off to a good start causing a local favorite with plenty of fans a night to remember.
Matchmaker Ron Katz did a good job while www.gofightlive.com covered the show with Marc Abrams and former heavyweight contender on the comeback trail Monte Barrett handling the commentary. This facility at the Tropicana unlike others in Atlantic City and Newark gives good access to the fighters after their fights for the fans and press. With shows like this Star Boxing should be returning on a regular basis.
