Philly’s
Gabe “King” Rosado, 18-5 (10), could have been added to Charley
Manuel’s pitching staff Friday night at the South Philly Arena
scoring a shutout winning every round over Keenan Collins, 13-7-2
(9), of Reading, PA, for the PA state light middleweight title over
10 rounds.
Peltz
Boxing returned to the South Philly Arena with a 7 bout card over
Telefutura which may have kept the attendance down with their airing.
Legendary promoter Don Chargin was at ringside for this Golden Boy
slot that Peltz fills almost on a regular basis.
Rosado
was never in danger since Collins may have landed 2 flush right hands
to his jaw over the 10 rounds. “I knew how to roll with the
punches from sparring with (Bernard) Hopkins and never took the full
effect,” said Rosado. His trainer Billie Briscoe was shouting his
usual names such as “ice pick” when he wanted a certain punch
used. Well known cut man Jim Williams was in the corner and his
co-heart Doc Nowicki added to the Rosado team as an advisor.
Collins
would get strong instructions from his corner by Marshall Kauffman
and Joe Pastore making him start the round aggressively for about 10
seconds then into a shell with only a jab being used. He was busted
up pretty good throughout. Rosado would fail to follow-up and start
clowning tactics to his fans delight but not to promoter J Russell
Peltz or this writers who are “old school” and knowing the day’s
of “Gypsy” Joe Harris are well beyond us.
Gary
Rosato was the referee and all 3 judges Steve Weisfeld, Joe Pasquale
and Pierre Benoist saw it as this writer did 100-90. Rosado has had
his share of tough fights and got a “breather” in this one
preparing for bigger and better things.
Bethlehem’s
Ronald Cruz, 14-0 (10), scored his seventh straight stoppage against
a worthy opponent in Chris Fernandez, 19-14-1 (12), of Salt Lake
City, UT, with the action halted at the end of the sixth round. The
Fernandez corner had seen enough of the hard hitting Cruz who by the
third round started landing with body shots that hurt Fernandez who
may not have been as sharp as he wanted but he is one determined
young man with Jimmy Deoria in the corner and again top cut man Jim
Williams.
This was
scheduled for 8 in the welterweight division. Cruz fought most of
the fight southpaw and scored a knockdown in the fifth round with a
right hook to the ribcage dropping Fernandez. I didn’t know much
about my opponent but felt good going southpaw,” said Cruz. Blair
Talmadge was the referee.
Philly’s
Bryant Jennings, 10-0 (5), was rocked and shocked in the first round
by Alex Mejias, 11-8 (5), a one time prospect from Paterson, NJ, who
has been reduced to a trial-horse. It took Jennings until the third
round to land an overhand right that dropped Mejias. He was forced
to hold for about 30 seconds until the bell sounded.
In the
fourth round a right uppercut put Mejias halfway through the ropes.
This protégé of Fred Jenkins had little amateur experience coming
off the grid iron to the boxing ring. He is learning on the job and
is a very strong determined likeable young man. Jennings easily won
the decision by scores of 58-55 and 59-54 twice. The referee was
Rosato.
Heavyweights
Will Miranda, 3-4-1, of Allentown, PA, and Lonnie Kornegay, 1-4-2, of
Baltimore, MD, fought inside the entire 4 rounds. Miranda found
himself on the canvas in the second round from a combination which
cost him the fight. His nose bled the rest of the way.
Kornegay’s
main tactic in the last 2 rounds was to smother Miranda and lay on
him against the ropes not giving him any punching room. Referee
Rosato had his hands full with Kornegay who tipped the scales at
almost 267. The decision was split with Benoist seeing it 38-37 for
Miranda as did this writer while Rich Hopkins and Steve Weisfeld saw
it the other way 39-36 and 38-37 for the winner Kornegay who got his
first victory. No re-match needed.
Philly’s
southpaw Tevin Farmer, 2-1 (0), opened the show by almost running
Joshua Arocho, 1-5-1 (1), of Vineland, NJ, out of the ring. He raced
across the ring and landed punches for a full minute before letting
up. Arocho came back to take the final round but not the decision.
“I thought I had him knocked out in the first round,” said
Farmer. This was his first fight in his hometown and should be
brought back. All scores went to him 39-37 as did this writer’s.
This was a 4 round featherweight match-up with Talmadge serving as
the referee.
Fred
Jenkins, Jr., 4-0 (2), continued his winning ways with little
opposition from Peter Yates, 1-3 (0), of Norfolk, VA, scoring 2
knockdowns with the last ending it at 3:01 of the third when referee
Talmadge had seen enough as did the fans.
The last
fight of the night didn’t last long as DeCarlo Perez, 5-0-1 (2), of
Atlantic City, NJ, landed an overhand right that put Tolan Tascoe,
1-6-1 (0), down like a sack of potatoes at 1:35 of the first round.
Referee Talmadge didn’t need to count
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