Diane Fischer of Dee Lee Promotions called it “Summer Super Brawl” at
the Tropicana in Atlantic City, NJ, Friday night! Her main event boxer
Dennis Hasson, 14-0 (5) had the crowd yelling “Dennis, Dennis” in the
8th and final round as he defeated George “The Rooster” Armenta, 14-9
(11), of Silver Spring, MD, after a 2 hour delay in the shows starting
time due to no EMT back-up team.
Hasson is from the Kensington
section of Philadelphia and now residing in the Hockessen, DE, thanks to
Champs Management. His manager/trainer Dave “TNT” Tiberi once again
took his protégé to task after dropping the first round which is not
unusual. It was the third straight win for Hasson since starting “over”
again in February. “He was cagey and crafty. I know I hurt him to the
body but he was tough,” said Hasson. Many fans greeted him outside of
the ring and he was very gracious in his victory. He could have spent
an hour with well wishers.
The new group behind Hasson is like a
breath of fresh air to the boxing scene. Tiberi is one of the most
respected individuals in boxing. He tried cleaning things up in 1992
upon retiring and realized it’s as dirty outside the ring as in it.
When Hasson came along it was like “finishing” where Tiberi left
off. “I have a lot of confidence in Dennis and believe he will be light
heavyweight champion someday. If he does his great uncle the former
light heavyweight champion Tommy Loughran would be quite
pleased. Hasson’s confidence is building with the help of Tiberi and
the group behind him. Besides Tiberi, Bob Wall and cut-man Phil Alessi
completed the Hasson corner.
Hasson is a charmer with good
looks behind that beard which may be coming off soon. “I may just leave
the mustache he said to Tiberi’s wife after the fight. Just to give
you an idea of what is behind the scene it started with Pastor Steve
Smith, Tiberi’s pastor, Tiberi, Hasson and this writer holding hands
prior to the fight in prayer. In the dressing room after the fight each
person coming in would knock before being let in. The room was filled
with smiles but no outlandish celebrating. One of those who entered was
his opponent Armenta to congratulate Hasson. It was a fine gesture on
Armenta’s part having fought to the best of his ability and he had his
moments. His heart and chin was tested throughout the fight.
Hasson
took over in the second round landing a lead right followed by a left
hook to the head of Armenta. He worked the body of Armenta who
complained several times about some border line left hooks but except
for one time referee Ricky Vera told Armenta to continue to fight. From
round two through five Hasson had his way with right hand shots to the
head off a good jab and left hook body shots to the body of Armenta.
In
the sixth Hasson moved behind a solid jab before becoming stationary
and blasting Armenta to the midsection and ribcage. “I should have been
in better shape,” said Armenta. He had plenty of time to prepare for
this fight though coming in at his heaviest weight, 174. In the final
round Hasson landed one of his few uppercuts with more left hooks to the
body not knowing what was keeping Armenta up. The scores read 79-73 by
Tony and Barbara Perez while Joe Pasquale had it 78-74 all for
Hasson. DHB had it 79-73 Hasson. He is a real crowd pleaser with a
bright future.
In the co-main event Keandre “Lightning”
Leatherwood, 9-1-1 (6), of Birmingham, AL, seemed lucky to get a draw
with Frankie “The Freight Train” Filippone, 9-2-1 (2), of Norfolk,
VA, in a middleweight 6. Urged on by fellow Booker T H.S. graduate and
former world champion Pernell Whitaker, Filippone seemed to do enough
in the final round to pull out the win. Referee Brian O’Melia did a
fine job separating the fighters as Filippone would come in low with his
head and Leatherwood would hold his head or arm in tying him up. His
father and trainer seemed very frustrated with his son for not using the
uppercut. Leatherwood’s jab was his best weapon against the southpaw
opponent. The judges were split as Barbara Perez had it 59-55, while
Tony Perez and Pasquale saw it 57-57. DHB had it 58-56 for
Filippone. “I’ll get him next time” said the good natured Filippone to
the crowd. Leatherwood is promoted by Boxing 360 whose CEO Mario Yagobi
was at ringside.
Joe “The Polish Thunder” Dawejko, 7-0-1 (3), of
Philadelphia bounced back from his last fight ending in a draw to stop
Edwin Ranquillo, 2-2 (1), at 2:11 of the 4th round. He had won the
first 3 round easily busting up the tough Ranquillo’s nose and mouth
causing the blood to flow. His trademark left hook once again won him
the fight as it landed to the ribcage of Ranquillo and dropping
him. His cornerman Al Certo had seen enough and stopped the
fight. This was a heavyweight 6 with O’Melia the referee. Dawejko is
also promoted by Boxing 360.
Antowyan “Ice Man” Aikens, 5-0 (1),
of Atlantic City easily won a 4 round decision over game Kenneth
Schmitz, 2-2 (1), of St. Joseph, MO, chased Aikens thoughout the
contest. Aikens cut Schmitz in the first round on the left eye
brow. It was methodical but Aikens got the job done while Schmitz never
stopped trying. Aikens “thanked God” which is always a good way to
start before responding to the media. Marc Abrams of gfl.tv interviewed
the winners in the ring. Scores of 40-35 and 40-36 (twice) gave Aikens
the victory.
The first two bouts were blowouts as Saud “Kid
Grady” Clark, 1-0 (1), stopped Flavio Augusto Reyes, 10-, of Baltimore,
MD, at 0:46 of the first round. An overhand right scored a knockdown by
Clark in the first round. A lead right hand dropped Reyes on his face
with referee O’Melia coming to the rescue of Reyes at 0:46 of the first
round. Clark was over anxious having several postponements in making
his debut. He could be a prospect. This was a welterweight 4.
The
show opener had Joshua “Jersey Devil” Reyes, 3-0 (1), of Millville, NJ,
came out for an early finish as he blasted David Rodriguez, 0-2, of
Philadelphia with a lead right that overwhelmed Rodriguez at 0:25 of
the first round. Referee Vera came to the rescue.
Some of the
boxers on hand being introduced by former cruiser champ Nate “Mr” Miller
were Dwight Muhammad Qawi, “Boogaloo” Watts, Buster Drayton, Al “King”
Cole, Pernell Whitaker, Bruce and Isiah Seldon, Jimmy Lange, Kevin
Howard, and others.
Many former boxers were on hand as part of a
two night gala event which will have 40+ champs, contenders and current
boxers on hand at Resorts. Dee Lee will return October 12th. Nick
Tiberi served as matchmaker. This writer was quite impressed with Bunny
Sigler’s version of the National Anthem. If you liked Ray Charles
singing “America” you would like Sigler’s anthem.
There were 12
bouts proposed but only 6 went ahead for various reasons. All in all it
was a good night with a very good main event. Fischer had her female
title bout cancelled due to injury of one of the boxers. It’s a
tradition for her having a female bout on her cards. Let’s hope she
comes back before her October event. Make sure you check out the NEW and IMPROVED Doghouse Boxing Forums (Login with your Facebook or Twitter account - Now Mobile, Ipad, Blackberry, Android & YouTube Friendly) DogPound
