Espinosa and Rodrigues win at Woodlands Inn & Resort

Espinosa and Rodrigues win at Woodlands Inn & Resort

By Ken Hissner at ringside, Doghouse Boxing (May 28, 2009)

Andre Kut returned with his KEA Boxing Promotions to the Woodlands Inn & Resort in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Saturday night minus a main event. Former local heavyweight Jason Gavern was to make his second appearance for KEA when his opponent Willy Perryman missed flights on Friday and Saturday out of Mississippi. “I was quite disappointed,” said Gavern. “I needed this fight because I may be fighting the unbeaten Cuban (Odlanier) Solis in Atlantic City on June 27th.

Antonio Espinosa, 11-0 (1), of West New York, New Jersey easily won over 39 year old Ron Boyd, 6-7 (2), in a lightweight 6. Boyd looked every year his age not able to pull the trigger. Espinosa used the ring to his advantage and was just too quick for Boyd. Judges Bernard Bruni and Pierre Benoist had it right at 60-53 while Jack Castellani somehow came up with a 58-56 all for Espinosa. Southpaws against one another usually do not make for a good match and this was not an exception.

Isaac Rodrigues, 14-0 (12), of Belem, Brazil returned to the area for his second bout going back to 2007, in easily stopping Jose Medina, 14-15 (10) at 0:53 of the 2nd round when Medina’s cornerman Billy Briscoe waved it off forcing referee Rosado to stop it. Rodrigues had scored two knockdowns in the 1st round, once with a left hook to the jaw and then a right to the ear. Medina was in obvious trouble at the bell. He insisted going on and was throwing wild overhand rights but again got hurt by a right hand. It seems to be the end of the line for Medina while Rodrigues, who happens to be the WBO Latino super middleweight champion, is a real prospect. His co-managers Dave Escalet and Barry Halbritter are already looking forward to his next bout dropping to middleweight. Escalet also has USBA middleweight champion and contender Lajuan Simon.

Local favorite Anthony Cusumano, 3-3-1 (2), of Old Forge, who was giving away about 7 inches in height to southpaw Nathan Francis, 3-5 (2), of Sanford, North Carolina in a heated junior welterweight 4 rounder until blood came pouring down from over the left eye of Cusumano. The ring physician was called in by referee Rosado, who worked the entire show, and waved it bout off at 1:24 of the 1st round. A very nasty cut along the entire eyebrow close to the bone caused the stoppage. “It was from a punch,” said Cusumano whose fans showed their disappointment wrongly at the physician.

John Lennox, 3-0 (1), of Carteret, New Jersey, and Reshawn Scott, 2-3 engaged in a 4 round cruiserweight war with Scott taking the first two rounds landing some heavy bombs. In the 3rd Lennox landed a left hook dropping Scott to a knee and winning the round easily. In the 4th the fight was up for grabs, with Lennox outhustling Scott who was bleeding from the mouth to gain the decision by judges Bruni, Benoist and Castellani all by 38-37. I had witnessed a week ago in Atlantic City Lennox pulling out a fight scoring a knockdown in the 4th round. “He only has had 10 amateur fights,” said Harvey Dock. Dock is his promoter (HD Promotions) and knows Lennox is a fans favorite with a nice following in New Jersey. “He’s learning on the job,” he added.

Philly’s super lightweight Clinton “Pretty Boy” Douglas, 3-3-2 (1) had his way in landing bomb after bomb over an inferior Jean “Chuckie” Ramos, 0-4, of Rochester, New York before the referee Rosado stopped it at 2:52 of the 2nd round of a 4, as Ramos laid under the ropes from a left hook to the body. Earlier a right to the rib cage dropped Ramos in the 1st round. He was taking enough punishment it could have been called after the 1st round. Ramos did not seem too eager to go out again but his cornerman pushed him out.

In a battle of winless female light middleweights Natoya Ervin, 1-3, of Akron, Ohio, came off the floor in the 1st round to come back strong in taking the last 3 rounds from April Richards, 0-2, of Nashville, Tennessee. All the judges had it 38-37.

The matchmaker was Nick Tiberi who has been quite active in covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey and his home state of Delaware. The crowd was sparse to the disappointment of the promoter who has been trying to bring boxing back to this area.

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Ken at: kenhissner@yahoo.com