Steve Upsher Chambers Wins 16th Straight over Aaron Drake at Blue Horizon!

Steve Upsher Chambers Wins 16th Straight over Aaron Drake at Blue Horizon!

By Ken Hissner at ringside, Doghouse Boxing (Sept 18, 2009)

Philly welterweight, Steve Upsher Chambers, 20-1-1, (6), the younger brother of heavyweight “Fast” Eddie Chambers won his 16th straight last Friday night at the legendary Blue Horizon in North Philly with a 2nd round stoppage at 1:27 over Aaron Drake, 13-7 (9), in the main event!

“I hurt him with an overhand right and followed with a 3 punch combination,” said Chambers. It was his first fight of 2009 due to an injury but he looked sharp as ever. Another fight or two and he will probably be going to Germany with his brother on the under card of his fight with Wladimir Klitschko he announced.

Drake showed courage just getting into the ring with multi color blue/pink trunks that I gather were supposed to be a distraction to Chambers. After Chambers worked on the soft body of Drake, of Kansas City, Kansas, a lead right hand sent Drake to the canvas with about 30 seconds left in the 1st round. He picked up where he left off in the 2nd round dropping Drake with a right and left. Upon rising he dropped Drake again as referee Gary Rosado had seen enough ending the fight, in a scheduled 6.

In what some may call a mild upset, Monndre “General” Pope, 2-0-1 (0), Norfolk, VA., handed previously unbeaten Isaac Suarez, 7-1 (3), of Lancaster, PA., his first defeat, scoring 2 knockdowns en route to winning a 6 round decision. Suarez had left the area 2 years ago to go to camp with Miguel Cotto, in Puerto Rico. He came back in May of this year winning a split decision. This wasn’t the same fighter that was winning amateur titles and looked like a top prospect several of the ringside reporters proclaimed. His corner kept telling him to stop waiting. Once Pope hurt him in the 1st round early, Suarez seemed gun shy for most of the fight. In the 2nd round changing from southpaw to orthodox Pope landed a chopping right hand that caught Suarez in a crouch and down he went briefly. In the 3rd round, a straight right hand drove Suarez into the ropes saving a knockdown but forcing referee Blair Talmadge to give him a count. While receiving it, Suarez’s knees gave way, putting his hand to the canvas to prevent him from going down. He was able to recover and come back and win the 4th round big. There was little action in the 5th round as Pope seemed to be loading up for that one big punch and was very inactive. In the 6th and final round Pope hurt Suarez with right hands on 2 occasions in what was a dull round. Richard Hopkins, Jr. and Lynne Carter saw it 58-55 while Pierre Benoist had it 58-54 as did this writer, all for Pope in this lightweight match.

Dominican, Joselito Collado, 9-0 (3), of Queens, NY, won for the fourth time at the Blue Horizon, as he suddenly lashed out at Jules Blackwell, 8-3-2 (3), of nearby Phoenixville, dropping him at 2:01 of the 1st round, as he got to his feet and his corner man stopped it before the referee Talmadge did. It was the third stoppage in his last four fights for Blackwell and possibly the end of the line in his young career. To his credit, he has been put in tough in those encounters. He boxed nicely out of his southpaw stance but Collado is a real good prospect to whom the fans have taken a liking in Philly.

Philly’s Phillip “Mongoose” McCants, 8-1-1 (3), returned to the ring after a 42 month period of inactivity and it showed in the 1st round as he and his opponent Tyson Schwiegger, 3-8-3 (3), of Kansas City, MO, may have won the best dressed award and then it was all down hill. McCants came alive in the 2nd round landing whipping left hooks while Schwiegger was clutching his right hand. In the 3rd McCants was landing some uppercuts and by midway in the 4th round was doing as little as his opponent. The decision was 40-36 on all scorecards. Rosado was the referee.

Former amateur champion Jackie Davis, 3-0 (1), of Willingboro, NJ, fighting out of Philly, continued her winning ways under the guidance of former Philly fighter Ivan Robinson, in winning a hard fought majority decision over game Victoria Cisneros, 3-7-2 (0), Albuquerque, NM, in a 4 round welterweight match. Cisneros suffered a cut on the outside corner of her eye brow in the 1st round that hampered her a little but never stopped her coming forward as Davis puts her head down and wings punches with both hands. Her style may not be pretty but she gets the job done. At 32, she is a late bloomer in the pro ranks. In the 3rd round the cut re-opened and the 4th round was as good as any in the spirited fight. The decision was received with mixed reactions as judges Robert Grasso and Carter had it 39-37 for Davis and Hopkins had it 38-38. This writer felt Davis deserved the decision on cleaner punches but Cisneros would be welcomed back to Philly anytime. The referee was Talmadge.

Former NHL hockey player Nathan “Rock” Perrott, 1-0 (1), of Toronto, shouldn’t give up the day job, but showed enough heart to outlast Makidi KuTima, 1-1 (1), of Philly, whose trainer threw the towel in after KuTima hit the canvas from a half push-punch, but more from exhaustion than anything else at 2:52 of the 4th and final round between heavyweights. Rosado was the referee in this one as he deducted a point from KuTima for holding in the final round.

Newcomer Joe Alonso, 1-0, of Philly had us wondering at ringside why the NY tattoo on his side. If he’s a Giant fan he could have problems here. He brought in his share of the crowd as he showed more heart than skill maybe, but he was in with a more experienced southpaw in William Brown, 4-4 (2), of Cleveland. Brown started off countering well as Alonso followed him around the ring winging punches that started to rock his opponent as early as the 1st round. In the 2nd round Alonso drove Brown into the ropes and it looked like the end, but he recovered. Halfway through the 3rd round Alonso started to tire which gave Brown some life and finish the stronger of the two in the 4th. The judges had it 40-36 (twice) and 40-35 which this writer thought was generous. Alonso certainly deserved the win. He had a slight advantage in weight just over the welterweight limit but Brown was the taller of the two.

A pair of light welterweight southpaw’s made their debut as Deroy Beaton, 1-0 (0), of Toms River, NJ, earned a hard fought 4 round decision over Philly’s Jason Sia, 0-1 (0), who never stopped trying. In his corner was former IBF light middleweight champion Rob “Bam Bam” Hines. After losing the 1st round, Sia had Beaton out on his feet with about 15 seconds to go in the 2nd round and never was able to find that punch again that hurt his opponent. An accidental head butt opened a gash on Sia’s lower lip in the 3rd round. Beaton’s jab dominated the 4th round though he got rocked once by Sia. The judges had it 40-36 (twice) and 39-37 as did this writer for Beaton.

Matchmaker Don Elbaum continues to bring boxers in from out of the city and out of the country to the Blue. Of the 16 fighters on the card, only 5 were from Philly.

Among the celebrities being introduced were former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham and the former IBF/WBA super featherweight champion Rocky Lockridge. I was fortunate enough to meet Lockridge afterwards thanks to Philly favorite Simon Carr, to give him a fresh off the web copy of my story on his amateur trainer Joe Clough that brought a smile to his face. The former champ has been down on his luck these past couple of years living in the Camden, NJ, area with the hope to returning to his hometown of Tacoma, WA, someday. Philly prospects “Hammerin” Hank Lundy and Eric “Outlaw” Hunter were also in attendance with Blue favorite Tex Cobb.

Promoter Vernoca L. Michael once again showed her generosity in giving awards to local police, security and the father of a slain friend of Michael’s, Pete Lyde, son of Pete and step-son of his wife, the former boxer, now city judge Jackie Frazier-Lyde. The younger Lyde was only 25 at the time of the shooting this past June.

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Ken at: kenhissner@yahoo.com