By Pattee Mak | Friday, April 17, 2015
Foxwoods – Mashantucket, Connecticut
Gassiev
“Throne boxing” the second edition of Roc Nation Sports was held at Foxwoods Resorts and Casino. The Main Event was for the IBF Intercontinental Cruiserweight Championship – 12 Rounds – Murat “Iron” Gassiev from Vladikavkaz, Russia vs. Felix “Bad News” Cora Jr. of Galveston, Texas. Round 1 Gassiev’s going to the body and Cora trying to finding reach while blocking punches well. Round 2 Cora’s going to the body/head. Gassiev continuously going to the body and with great defense. Round 3 Cora’s body is showing signs of redness on the right side. Gassiev is timing his punches. Round 7 Both fighters stepped up the pace unloading a barrage of punches on each other. But still no knockdown just a ton of back and forth action. Round 8 Gassiev left eye is developing a welt. Round 9 Gassiev lands a hook on Cora and moves in with an upper cut, hooks then after the count, Gassiev presses on and moves in and lands a left on Cora. Referee Johnny Callas steps in and calls a halt to the bout at 1 minute and 10 seconds into round 9. Winner Gassiev by TKO and the IBF Cruiser weight champ. Gassiev increases to 21-0 and it’s “Bad News” for Cora who decreases to 25-7-2.
Co-Feature: NABO Welterweight Championship – 10 Rounds – Ray “The New” Robinson from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania vs. Sherzodbek “The Lion” Alimjanov from Washington, D.C. Round 2 Robinson continuously jabbing to Alimjanov. Alimjanov defending punches well. Round 3 Action is starting to pick up. Round 4 Both fighters are keeping their distance while moving in and out. Alimjanov gets caught with a hook and gets the count. Round 5 At the end of the round Robinson lands a great uppercut on Alimjanoy. Robinson is looking for the knockout. Round 6 Looks like he got more energy the last 15-20 seconds of the round. All in all Robinson was the better of the two fighters and controlled the majority of the bout. After 10 rounds of slow action, the judges scored the bout. 98-91; 99-90 and 100-89 all for Robinson and the NABO Welterweight champ. Robinson increases to 20-2 (9 KO’s) and Alimjanov decreases to 22-3.
Welterweights – 8 Rounds – Dusty Hernandez-Harrison of Washington, D.C. vs. Chris Gray of Vero Beach, Florida. During the opening seconds of round 1, Hernandez already wobbled Gray at the knees. As the round continued Hernandez-Harrison ran around the ring in a fast pace chasing after Gray. It was making me dizzy. Hernandez-Harrison cut off the ring well and controlled most of the action. Round 2 Gary having not too much power to his punches. Round 3 Gray taking a lot of punishment but Hernandez-Harrison can’t finish him off. Round 5 started off slow Gray actually landing some punches while Hernandez-Harrison picked up the pace. All in all the rounds weren’t’ too eventful. All 3 judges scored the bout 80-72. The crowd at times were feeling the disappointment and booing the two fighters. Hernandez should have ended this fight earlier. Hernandez-Harrison increases to 26-0-0 and Gray decreases to 13-20-1.
Junior Welterweights – 4 Rounds – Sonny “Pretty Boi” Fredrickson of Toledo, Ohio vs. Ramon Ellis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Good 1st round, Ellis taking a lot of punishment especially in the corner. Fredrickson going to body/head combinations. Round 2, 3 and Round 4 much of the same, body/head combinations. Judges scored the bout 40-36 3x all in favor of Fredrickson. Fredrickson increases to 8-0 (5 KO’s) and Ellis goes the other way 4-15-2 (2 KO). I’d like to see more of Fredrickson in the future.
Middleweights – 4 Rounds – Khiary Gray-Pitts of Worcester, Massachusetts vs. Pedro Gonzalez of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Round 1, Gray-Pitts the aggressor on Gonzalez. Gonzalez backs up Gray-Pitts in the corner. Gray-Pitts attacks the body. Referee Johnny Callas seen enough and gives Gonzalez the 10 count. Gray-Pitts victorious by KO at 1 minute and 1 second in round 1. Gray increases to 7-0, 5 ko’s and Gonzalez decreases to 2-2-0.
Super Middleweights – 4 Rounds – Nick Valliere of Fork River, NJ vs. Roberto Lopez of Vineland, NJ. After 4 rounds of back and forth action, but Valliere landing the cleaner punches and being more aggressive. The judges scored the bout 39-37; 39-37 and 40-36 all for Valliere by UD.
Middleweights – 6 Rounds – Jimmy “Quietstorm” Williams of New Haven, Connecticut vs. Rahman “Genghis Khan” Yusubov of Dallas, Texas. BOUT WAS CANCELLED DUE TO YUSUBOV’S MEDS.
Sponsored by Jaybird, TapouT Muscle, Tequila CAZADORES®, Sparkling Ice, TechnoHome, Casa de Campo, Andreia Professional and Venue Kings
Promoted by Roc Nation (Jay Z)
DJ: Master DJ Flipstar and from Hot 93.7 in Hartford, CT along with Ms. Jenny Boom Boom from Hot 93.7.
Entertainment: Rapper Casey Veggies
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
