[September 29, 2012 – Ringside by Pattee Mak]
DiBella Entertainment in association with Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Gary Shaw Productions promoted “Road To Glory” on September 29, 2012 live from the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The Rodriguez, Del Valle and Perez bouts were aired on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
The main event consisted of a 10 round bout for the USBA super middleweight title featuring hot New England prospect and undefeated super middleweight Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez of Worcester, Massachusetts defending his title against Jason “Monstruo” Escalera of Union City, New Jersey.
Rodriguez was just too much for Escalara. Round 1 in my eyes was the best round with all 3 judges scoring that round 10-8 in favor of Rodriguez. Rodriguez throughout the fight landed heaver punches, three times Escalara’s mouthpiece and fallen out and Rodriguez was warned by the referee for hitting below the belt. During Round 8 Referee Steve Smoger stopped the bout. Rodriguez landed a great left hook that blood started dripping out of Escalara’s right ear.
Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez retained his title and increased his record to 22-0, 15 KOs, and Jason “Monstruo” Escalera decreased his record to 13-1-1, 12 KOs.
Other bouts of the evening:
LUIS ORLANDO DEL VALLE of Newburgh, NY vs. VIC “RAGING BULL” DARCHINYAN of Sydney, Australia for the NABF super bantamweight title. This 10 round fight went the distance. Darchinyan was the more dominant one in the ring. Judges scored it 96-94, 99-91 and 99-91. Winner Darchinyan by UD. Luis Orlando “Orlandito” Del Valle keeps lost his undefeated record and moves to 16-1-0 w/ 11 KO and Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan improves his record to 38-6-1, 27 KOs.
ALEX PEREZ of Newark, NJ vs. ANTONIN DECARIE of Laval, Quebec, Canada. This 10 round bout was for the NABF welterweight title. During most of the fight, Decarie exploded in the ring. It wasn’t until round 6, that the referee, Danny Schiavone called a halt to the fight at 2 minutes, 54 seconds.
DANNY O’CONNOR of Framingham, MA vs. JOSH SOSA Kansas City, KS. Winner O’Connor by TKO, 33 seconds into round 3.
RYAN “POLISH PRINCE” KIELCZWESKI of Quincy, MA vs. JEREMY McLAURIN of Coon Rapids, MN. Winner Kielczweksi by UD 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.
LUIS ROSA, JR. of New Haven, CT vs. VICTOR VALENZUELA of Patterson, NJ. Rosa a local fan favorite won by TKO in round 6 of the 8 round bout, 1 minute, 21 seconds into the round.
SONYA LAMONAKIS of Turner Falls, MA vs. TANZEE DANIELS of Queens, NY. This was the 2nd time these 2 opponents fought. Winner Lamonakis by MD. Judges scored it 57-57, 59-55, 59-55.
ISSAC CHILEMBA of Johannesburg, South Africa vs. RAYCO SAUNDERS of Pittsburgh, PA. All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Chilemba.
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.
I like the warm lighting here… sometimes I really like taking pictures like this by placing the camera on the ground. Cringe, I know!