Ringside by Pattee Mak | February 21, 2014
Glen Johnson lands straight right
Light Heavyweights Glen Johnson of Miami, Florida by way of Jamaica, the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) and The Ring World light heavyweight 45 year old champ didn’t miss a beat and put on a great show against local veteran Jaime Velazquez of Pawtucket, R.I. The 41 year old whose last fight was on 7-29-1999, came into the ring looking like a fighter but the fight didn’t go distance of the scheduled 8 rounds and was stopped by referee Joey Lupino in the 3rd.
Both fighters started off to a slow start mostly jabbing. During round 4 Velazquez was hurt with a shot to the body. Johnson continued his attack on Velazquez and it was all over once the overhand right connected and referee Joey Lupino stepped in and stopped the bout at 1 minute 59 seconds into the round. Johnson gets the TKO victory and increases his record to 54-18-2 while Velazquez decreases to 11-6-2.
The other 4 bouts are as follows:
6 rounds Featherweights – A local fan favorite Toka Kahn-Clary of Providence, R.I. vs. Carlos Fulgencio of Miami, Florida. During round 2 Kahn dropped Fulgencio to the canvas three times. Kahn unleashed devastating body/head combinations bringing the TKO Victory to Kahn at 1:10 into the round. The referee had no other choice but to stop the fight. TKO victory for Kahn who increases his record to 10-0-0 and Fulgencio decreased his record to 19-13-1.
6 rounds Middleweights – Jaison Palomeque of Cartegena, Columbia vs. Thomas Falowo of Pawtucket, R.I. Falowo came into the ring looking like he increased a tiny bit in muscle size while Palomeque looked a bit soft around the midsection. During round 2 Palomeque received a warning from the referee for a prolong holding and not letting go and not listening to the referee’s commands. Right before the ending bell of round 2, Falowo rocked Palomeque to the canvas. Round 3 Palomeque is showing signs of exhaustion, during an unleashing of combination punches Palomeque decides to knee Falowo, yes a knee him to the midsection. Did he get confused and thought this was kick BOXING? Referee Joey Lupino immediately stopped the bout at 1:57 due to disqualification of the intentional kick. Winner Falowo.
4 rounds Middleweights – KJ Harrison-Lombardi of Providence, R.I. vs. Antonio “Lino” Chaves-Fernandes of Brockton, MA. Early on Harrison-Lombardi developed a welt underneath his left eye. Judges scored the fight that went the distance, 40-36; 40-36; 39-37 all for Harrison-Lombardi.
4 rounds Cruiserweights – Alvin Varmall of Laplace, LA vs. Andre Ward of Washington, DC (No not “THE” Andre Ward). During the bout Ward developed a welt on the left eye. During the conclusion of round 3 Varmall opened up on Ward with a series of combinations ending with a left hook while driving Ward to the canvas. Varmall increases to 2-0-0 Ward decreases to 1-2-4.
Promoter: Classic Entertainment & Sports’ – CES
Venue: Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I
Event: Home Sweet Home
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.
