Previously unbeaten Teon “The Technician” Kennedy, 17-1-1 (7), of Philadelphia lost his NABA Super bantamweight title at Bally’s in Atlantic City Saturday night by a lopsided decision to Alex Lopez, 22-2, (7), of Tijuana, MEX.
After little action for two rounds Lopez stopped moving around the ring to start an offense taking the audience and Kennedy by surprise. His hand speed was so much faster than Kennedy that even if the latter was able to cut the ring off it would not have done him any good. Lopez was the NABA’s No. 7 contender coming in.
Co-manager and cut-man Jim Williams was applying the end swell as early as the second round. His other co-manager Doc Nowicki was sitting next to this writer throughout the match and confirmed they knew Lopez was a runner. Lopez was quite impressive with his arsenal of weapons and showmanship.
Lopez had his way for the first 6 rounds doing the shuffle and the windmill along with battering Kennedy. To his Kennedy being the warrior he is never stopped chasing Lopez and when he caught him by the seventh and eighth rounds with flurries the body he was still far behind and the swelling around his eyes were hindering his vision. Though Lopez had to stop to land punches his hand speed was something the frustrated Kennedy was not able to deal with.
Lopez came back to take the ninth and tenth while doing his share of holding for the final 2 rounds though cutting Kennedy over the left eye in the eleventh that caused him to be a bloody mess at the end. Referee Earl Morton did little to prevent the holding. The fans left the Peltz Boxing and Top Rank promotion stunned.
Ranked No. 3 in the IBF Kennedy will have his promoter J Russell Peltz going back to the drawing board. The funny thing in this business it wouldn’t surprise this writer if after a win in his next fight Kennedy would get a title fight since he finally lost a fight.
Questioning the winner, Lopez, if he was concerned about the decision at the end and not going for the knockout, thru his interpreter he said “I knew I was far ahead.” This writer had it 118-110. The judges were a little more generous with Lynn Carter and Lawrence Layton having it 117-111 while the third judge somehow came up with a 115-113 all in favor of the winner Alex Lopez.
Philly’s Karl “Dynamite” Dargan, 10-0 (5), had his way with Juan Suazo, 8-5-3 (5), of Tucson, AZ, before the corner of Suazo through in the towel, forcing referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. to halt the fight at 1:20 of the sixth round. This was a lightweight 8 rounder. Dargan is a Golden Boy fighter.
Dargan scored a first round knockdown to go on winning all five rounds. He’ll need to step up the competition in order to give a real evaluation if he is back to the days when he won the 2007 Pan Am Games. He has to be kept busier to find that out.
Southpaw Derrick “Take It to the Bank” Webster, 10-0 (6), of Glassboro, NJ, was too quick a hand and foot for the plodding Romaro Johnson, 11-4-1 (6), of Cleveland, OH, taking an interesting 6 round super middleweight match by scores of 59-55 (twice) and 60-54. Though Webster controlled the fight he was rocked in the fourth and fifth but considering his inexperience knew how to weather the storm. Johnson was befuddled the entire fight bull rushing him to be met by flurries that though didn’t hurt him, stopped him in his tracks.
At 6:03 Webster is a very good prospect. He was greeted after his win by former amateur foe Jesse Hart who just made the 2012 Olympic team. Both talented boxers embraced. Talk about fighters with a future watch these two!
Camilo Perez, 5-0 (3), of Rio Piedras, PR, had little opposition in stopping James Owens, 4-6 (2), of Milwaukee, WI, at 1:43 of the second round wisely by referee Esteves, Jr. Owens was dropped in the round and shaky when he got up and not fit to continue. Perez fights out of New York.
Cuban Yordenis Ugas, 9-0 (4), of Miami, FL, defeated the ever coming forward Fernando Rodriguez, 6-5 (3), of Dallas, TX, who just would not give up. No matter what Ugas hit him with Rodriguez kept coming forward. Though only winning the third round, Rodriguez won the fans over for his gallant efforts.
Ugas is trained by former two-time world champion John David Jackson. Ricardo Vera was the referee. This was a six round welterweight match and the second appearance in Atlantic City for Ugas.
Opening the show in the fight of the night in a rematch were cruiserweights Pedro Martinez, 6-4 (3), of Philadelphia and southpaw Elvin Sanchez, 4-2 (3), of Paterson, NJ, over 4 rounds. Defense was thrown out the door as Martinez dropped Sanchez in the first round. Sanchez would get up and battle back.
In the second round Martinez stunned Sanchez taking him down from what could have been a push. He got up shaken and was dropped again by Martinez. Sanchez came back to take the next 2 rounds but it was too little too late trying to overcome 3 knockdowns in a 4 round bout. It was sweet revenge for Martinez who had a mouse under his left eye. “Even after I dropped him he kept coming back,” said Martinez.
Peltz Boxing comes back September 9th at the South Philly Arena.
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