By: Dan Horgan, Ringside
It’s a great time for Boston sports fans. The Red Sox, 2007’s World Series Champions, are weeks away from spring training. The Celtics, at 34-7, may be the best team in the NBA. And the Patriots, fresh off an AFC Championship victory, are a game away from completing the most magnificent season in the history of sports.
Despite all of the success, however, roughly 1,000 fight fans filled the Mansfield Sports Complex right outside of Boston on Saturday to watch local prospects and a pound for pound female stalwart throw down.
In a fight for the vacant IWBF super featherweight championship, Cranston, Rhode Island native Missy Fiorentino edged Albany’s Ela Nunez via six round technical decision in an action packed fight. Nunez, 29, gave Fiorentino fits in round one, landing copious counter right hands. But Fiorentino, 31, began out-landing her foe in round two and kept that same busy pace in the following clips. In round 6, an accidental head butt opened up a large gash on Fiorentino’s forehead, forcing the fight to go the scorecards. Scores of the bout were 57-57, and 60-54 and 59-54 for Fiorentino. With the win, Fiorentino improves to 17-1; Nunez drops to 5-3.
Undercard
In the co-feature bout of the evening, New Hampshire cruiserweight Rich “the Ragin’ Caucasian” Gingras looked good in a six round decision win over Virginia Beach’s William Bailey (7-13-2). Thanks to a steady diet of counter left hooks, Gingras was able to manhandle Bailey, whose awkward style would give problems to any prospect. In the fifth round, Gingras put the cherry on top of his impressive performance by flooring his foe. Gingras, now 8-0, won by three scores of 59-54.
Super middleweight prospect Mark Deluca, Whitman, Ma, used a straight left hand to batter Philadelphia’s Charles Kirby en route to a fourth round knockout. Deluca (4-0) landed the punch consistently throughout the fight and in round four, he smacked his foe to the canvas.
Note: Boxing looked damn good on Saturday. Gingras, Deluca, and Fiorentino all brought in a number of loyal fans. Seeing such a local show bring in such a big crowd was a good sign for the sport.