It may
not have lived up to expectations by the hand and foot speed of Cuban
Yuriorkis Gamboa, 21-0 (16), of Miami, FL, was too much for former
super bantam champ Daniel Ponce De Leon, 41-4 (34), of Cuahutemoc,
MEX, Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, NJ.
It was
more of a “chess match” until Gamboa turned up the action in the
seventh and eighth rounds against his smaller southpaw opponent. An
accidental head butt caused a cut on the hairline of De Leon causing
the fan’s to boo the result. Referee Alan Huggins finally showed
there are some good referee’s in New Jersey after 5 fights that
caused the fans much distress.
De Leon
could have been given the first round but none thereafter. They had
to go to the scorecards at the end due to a technical decision.
Steve Weisfeld and Julie Lederman saw it 70-62 while Shafeeq Rashada
had it 70-64 with the eighth round being included though not
finished.
What the
future holds for Gamboa we don’t know but at this point he is
superior to his opponents from 126 to 130. De Leon has plenty of
trouble hitting Gamboa flush. The Cuban is some boxer and hopefully
his third straight fight will be back in Atlantic City. He gives the
promoter Top Rank’s Lee Samuels much to write about. In matchmaker
Bruce Trampler’s case “who does ht put up against him making a
competitive fight?” This twosome has kept Top Rank on top of the
promoters list for years.
As noted
earlier the referee’s David Fields 3 straight fights and Sparkle
Lee’s doing the next 2 fights left the fans very angry. In Fields
case it was too much of what he “didn’t do” compared to Lee’s
“over-do”!
Terrance
Crawford, 15-0 (11), of Omaha, NE, was given a given with Angel Rios,
9-7 (6), who tried hard and won the fan’s over for his efforts.
Crawford went from orthodox to southpaw and got some real action from
Rios in the last 2 rounds to easily take the decision 80-72 twice and
80-71. Crawford would take advantage of Fields lack of warning for
holding behind the head and hitting. Crawford will have to step-up
the competition in the future. He had too big of an amateur career
not to.
Philly’s
Miguel Cartagena, 3-0 (2), finally showed his potential blasting out
Cristian Cruz, 3-3-1 (3), of Santo Domingo, DR, after a competitive
first round. Cartagena came out for “the kill” starting the
second round showing much power from his 119 pound frame and
overwhelmed Cruz in “the performance of the night” when referee
Fields stopped the action at 2:20 after Cruz hit the canvas.
Trainer’s
Javier Varela and “Bozy” Ennis along with manager Moz Gonzales
were thrilled with their fighter’s performance as well as the fans.
Now his PR man Kurt Wolfheimer has something to write about. The
kid has potential and is a former national amateur champ who is a
worthy addition to the Top Rank list of boxers.
Lightweight
Luis Cruz, 19-0 (15), of Las Piedras, PR, was never in danger with
3-time title challenger Antonio Davis, 28-7 (13), of Atlanta, GA, who
is shop-worn. Cruz did not need to go to some dirty tactics with the
outclassed Davis and referee Fields and the corner of Davis could
have gotten Davis seriously hurt allowing the fight to continue until
1:39 of the sixth round of a scheduled 10.
No EMT’s
were called in as Davis lay on the canvas for what seemed like 10
minutes with a corner man waving a towel “for some breathing
assistance”. It looked very primitive and the overmatched Davis
should start thinking retirement before stepping in with the likes of
another Cruz.
As early
as the first round Fields allowed Davis to be tossed across the ring
and almost through the ropes and then somehow came up with a
“standing count” due to his “landing”. In the fifth Davis
was so shot by this time that a jab put him into the ropes (no count)
breaking his fall.
Cruz
would put Davis into a headlock and hit him with the other hand
throughout never receiving a warning. When a boxer like Cruz is so
much superior to his opponent why add insult to injury? Cruz needs
to step in with some real competition to find out just how good he
is. An uppercut ended the mismatch causing Davis to drop to the
canvas which seemed like an eternity.
The
fan’s seemed please with the change of the referee Sparkle Lee in
the fourth fight of the night until but didn’t know what was ahead.
Nigerian Wale Omotoso, 19-0 (17), fighting out of Australia and
holding the country’s welterweight title made his US debut an
interesting one. He was doing fine until a left hook by Calvin Odom,
15-11 (11), of Inglewood, CA, dropped him in the first round. The
much shorter Omotoso seemed more amused than hurt taking the second
round after hurting Odom.
In the
third round Odom’s left eye was cut with Omotoso landing 7 punches
and almost as many misses as Odom went into a defensive mode. In the
fourth round a right hand drove Odom across the ring and to the
canvas but he got up before the count of Lee started. In the fifth
round Omotoso had Odom on the ropes and landed an overhand right when
for some reason that only she knows, Lee jumped in and stopped the
fight. The fans went berserk.
Just
when we thought the officiating couldn’t get any worse it did! The
writers had to be told the stoppage was at 0:33 of the fifth round
because the booing was so loud the ring announcer could not be heard
giving the time of stoppage. If you thought that ending was bad what
came in the next bout was far worse with Lee again officiating.
Fan
favorite Jorge Diaz, 16-1 (10), of New Brunswick, NJ, was coming off
his first defeat in March and matched with Dominican Rafael Lora,
11-7 (5), of Irvington, NJ, in a featherweight 6. Diaz chased a
fleeting Lora around the ring for the entire first round with hardly
a punch landed.
In the
second round Diaz spun Lora around so his back was toward him and as
Lora’s was bent over Diaz landed 2 punches dropping Lora. Instead
of a warning for this infraction Lee starts counting. The fans could
not believe it even though it was their boxer doing the hitting.
In the
next round it got worse as Diaz again spun Lora around and delivered
a right hand to the back of the head and neck area from behind
causing Lora to drop to his knees. This could have brought a
disqualification to Diaz but instead Lee gave Lora about a 5 minute
rest while still on his knees. Whether he could have gotten up or
not, one couldn’t blame Lora for not going on. Some in press row
thought a no-contest would have been rendered. When it was announced
Diaz won on a foul the fans did not receive it well. The ring
announcer called Diaz the winner at 2:48 of the third. If Lee could
ref the rest of Diaz’s fights who knows how far he could go? Let’s
hope Commissioner Aaron Davis has a talk with both Fields and Lee
with the entire 5 bouts they worked playing before them. Answers
will be needed.
The bout
between Anthony Caputo Smith and Mickey Scarborough was scratched
when Smith’s blood pressure was too high after 2 readings. Smith
is an exciting kid who was making his Atlantic City debut and could
have been “too pumped up” with expectations.
