By Ken Hissner, Doghouse Boxing. -
First it was “Pooh” Ennis falling
out of the main event when the pre-fight started. Then Coy Evans was
moved into the main event. He made an unusual statement saying “I
usually don’t like being in the main event.” Was he telling us
he was moving onto another show and would be the co-feature the
following week? Well, within 48 hours it was known he was off the
show. This moved the Juan “The Beast” Rodriguez, 6-0 (3), of
Union City, NJ, and Greg Hackett, 2-9 (0), of Philadelphia 6 round
welterweight bout into the main event.
Hackett went on the attack at the
pre-fight claiming “he don’t fight anyone. If I fought the guys
he fought I’d be undefeated too”. Rodriguez was much low key
and like Hackett predicting victory. Andre Kut’s KEA Boxing
Promotions “Independence Fight Night” was on Friday at the South
Philly Arena still with 6 bouts scheduled. Give Kut credit in his
fifth show since 2010 at the Arena. Renee Aiken did a good job in
matching the show which turned out to be another good one for KEA
Boxing.
For the first 3 rounds the southpaw
Rodriguez had his way. It seemed Hackett didn’t know what to do
with a southpaw. In the fourth round Hackett hurt Rodriguez in an
action packed round. In the fifth round it was more of a good mix
with Hackett landing straight rights and Rodriguez right hooking to
the body of Hackett. It looked like Hackett thought the fight was
over as he was walking around with his hands in the air. In the
sixth and final round there was more action packed in the final 3
minutes with Rodriguez landing power shots.
For the first time in his short career
Hackett had 5 weeks to train and he looked more fit than ever. Had
he over trained? “In the beginning I felt like I was standing in
sand. I thought he took the first 3 rounds and I took the last 3
rounds,” said Hackett. One of the writers agreed to a draw.
“He was a tough kid. I stood too
much in front of him. I believe who was smarter won the fight,”
said Rodriguez. Ring announcer Henry Hascup read the scores, “Alan
Rubenstein 60-54, Lynne Carter 59-55 and Rich Hopkins, Jr. 58-56 all
for the winner and still undefeated Juan “The Beast” Rodriguez”!
Any of the scores could have been correct. Hackett hurt Rodriguez
in 2 rounds but never followed-up. He may have won them. Rodriguez
was too busy for him in at least 4 of the rounds. The referee was
Gary Rosato.
In the co-feature Ardrick “The
Hitman” Butler, 7-4 (3), of Philadelphia scored a straight right
knockdown over William “Country Boy” Wilson, 8-8 (4), of Oxford,
NC, in the second round and didn’t have time to capitalize on it
before the bell rang. In the third round Wilson suffered from a
bloody nose and fought back best he could. The fifth round was a
very good round for both. In the sixth and final round Butler had
slowed down as Wilson seemed to hold his own. Butler was declared
the winner by 60-54 and 58-55 (twice). Hurley McCall was the
referee.
The best of 3 heavyweight 4 round bouts
was between John Lennox, 6-0 (3), of Carteret, NJ, and Jason Pauley,
5-5 (1), of Cabin Creek, W.V. while it lasted. The first round each
fighter had good exchanges with Lennox the aggressor and Pauley
countering well. Pauley had a mouse under his right eye. In the
second round Lennox had a bloody nose and was still looking to end it
early when he landed a dozen punches with Pauley against the ropes
and finally dropping to a knee. Referee McCall administered the 8
count as Pauley arose on shaking legs and was waved off at 2:10 of
the second round. “He was a good fighter but I hit too hard for
him,” said Lennox.
Ukrainian Georgiy Garulnik, 2-0 (1), of
Philadelphia went all out after Damian Richardson, 0-3 (0), of
Washington, DC, but caught several punches in return. He worked the
left rib cage of Richardson with solid rights by the bunches.
Referee Rosato stepped in and took a look at Richardson who was in
obvious pain. He allowed it to continue to the end of the first
round when Richardson’s corner threw in the towel. “I feel more
confident in myself due to my corner,” said Garulnik.
Jose Luis Roque, 4-0 (3), of Nicaragua,
but fighting out of Miami, FL, returned to the ring after 2 years and
easily used his jab to advantage chasing Taffo Asonwed, 2-8-7 (0), of
Montreal, CAN, all over the ring easily winning all 4 rounds. “I
could have looked better but he did nothing but run from me,” said
Roque. Rosato was the referee.
Josh Bowles, 2-0 (0), of Harrisburg,
PA, opened the show in a featherweight match winning all 4 rouinds
over Cyprian Khumato, 0-2 (0), of MD, in a competitive fight with
Bowles rocking Khumato on several occasions. “I hit him good in
the third round,” said Bowles.
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