On Saturday night, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing put together an exciting seven bout card before a packed house at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
In the main event Star Boxing’s IBF #2 rated welterweight, Delvin Rodriguez battled IBF #3 rated Isaac Hlatshwayo for the vacant IBF Welterweight Championship of the World. The fight was a rematch of their highly entertaining draw that took place back in November of last year.
The fight started well for Rodriguez as he was the much busier fighter, landing clean shots to both the head and body of the South African Hlatshwayo. In the second, a right hand staggered Hlatshwayo, but he showed guts as he continued to press forward, taking some big shots from Rodriguez in the process.
There was good two way action in the middle rounds, with Rodriguez looking to box as Hlatshwayo pressed forward looking to fight on the inside. Rodriguez’s right hand continued to connect from the outside and the effects began to show on Hlatshwayo’s face as his left eye began closing.
The action continued into the twelfth and final round with both fighters eagerly exchanging toe-to-toe, not wanting to leave the decision up to the judge’s scorecards.
In the end judge Glen Feldman had the bout 115-113 for Rodriguez but was overturned by judge Tony Paolillo who had it 116-112 and judge Isaac Tshabalala who scored it 116-113 for Hlatshwayo.
It was a very tough loss for Rodriguez to swallow as he seemingly did enough once again to get the decision win over Hlatshwayo. Unfortunately the judges didn’t agree yet again. With the loss Rodriguez drops to 24-3- 2, 14KO while Hlatshwayo improves to 29-1-1, 10KO.
*Rodriguez will now need to see a doctor as he reportedly suffered an injury to his right hand midway through the fight*
ANDRADE WITH PROMOTER JOE DEGUARDIA
In the co-feature bout of the evening, the 2007 amateur world champion, and 2008 U.S. Olympian, Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade improved to a perfect 6-0, 5KO with a spectacular second round knockout over Chad Greenleaf (11-13-1, 5KO).
Andrade, who is co-promoted by Star Boxing and Banner Promotions, showed why he is widely considered to be the top prospect in all of boxing, with a near perfect performance.
Andrade displayed his blinding hand speed in the first, landing with four and five punch combinations to both the body and head of Greenleaf. In the second round a huge right hook to the body completely crippled Greenleaf as he hit the canvas hard. In no shape to continue the referee called a halt to the contest. Official time of the stoppage was 1:38 of the second round. Look for Andrade to be back in action very soon.
Marvelous Tarvis Simms moved one step closer to a major fight in the middleweight division with an impressive eight round decision over Marcus Upshaw.
Simms, who is now back fighting under the Star Boxing banner, used good combinations to outwork the much taller Upshaw throughout. In the fourth a left hook from Simms dropped Upshaw but he was able to survive the round.
Upshaw hung tough, but in the end Simms simply had too much fire power. With the victory Simms improves to 25-0-1, 11KO while Upshaw drops to 11-4-1, 5KO.
Star Boxing’s welterweight prospect, Raymond “Tito” Serrano improved his record to 10-0, 6KO with a third round TKO over Jessie Davis (11-14, 8KO).
Davis was eager to exchange, but Serrano simply had too much power. Serrano continuously tagged Davis with huge shots through the first three rounds but to his credit Davis continued to come forward.
In the third, a beautiful right hook to the head, followed by a huge left hook to the body sent Davis to the canvas. Davis was able to beat the count, but Serrano soon after pinned Davis against the ropes and began unloading heavy shots. With Davis being punished the referee jumped in and called a halt to the contest at 2:02 of the third round.
Light heavyweight Yathomas Riley celebrated his 27th birthday in fashion, by picking up his second impressive knockout victory in less then three weeks by knocking out veteran Tiwon Taylor (26-16-1, 19KO) at 2:59 of the very first round.
Riley, who is promoted by Star Boxing, was in command throughout the first, dropping Taylor midway through the round. Just as the bell was to sound to end the first a huge straight right sent Taylor down again, this time hard. Although the round was ending the stoppage was a smart decision. It was a very impressive victory for the light heavyweight prospect Riley who improved his record to 7-0, 5KO.
Undercard Results:
Lindsay Garbatt TKO7 Maureen Shea
Dominic DeSanto D4 Eliud Torres