Tonight at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx, Golden Boy Promotions and Star Boxing presented action packed six bout card, featuring some of the hottest prospects in boxing. The card, which was the tenth installment of the popular “Punchin at the Paradise” fight series, was headlined by highly regarded lightweight prospect, Adrien “The Problem” Broner taking on Rafael Lora.
Broner wasted no time in showing why he is one of the hottest up and coming prospects in all of boxing, as he began firing crisp combinations at Lora. Broner showed he has good power in both hands as he scored with vicious shots throughout the first round. Just as the first round was coming to a close, Broner landed a beautiful right, left combination that sent Lora down hard. The bell sounded to end the round but Lora rose on very shaky legs. The referee took a hard look at Lora, but it was obvious he was in no condition to continue and waved the contest off. It was a very impressive showing for Broner, who improved his stellar record to 15-0, 12KO’s. With the loss Lora dropped to 11-3, 5KO’s.
In the co-feature bout of the evening, Jersey City’s Mike Perez improved his record to a perfect 8-0, 3KO’s, winning a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten, and extremely durable Francisco Reyes (5-1, 2KO’s).
Perez, who was backed by a strong contingent of fans, went to work right in the first, bloodying the mouth and nose of Reyes.
In the 2nd, a big right hand dropped Reyes. Perez continued his onslaught in the third, cutting Reyes over his left eye.
The remainder of the fight saw more of the same, and to his credit Reyes hung tough, but ultimately Perez was just too sharp. In the end Perez was awarded the unanimous decision, winning by scores of 60-52, and 59-53 twice.
Undercard Action:
In the opening bout of the night, undefeated super bantamweight prospects, Raul Lopez and Daniel Aquino stood toe-to-toe in an all out war, that had the crowd in attendance cheering wildly for the entire four round contest.
Both guys gave as good as they got, landing bombs throughout the contest. Just when it seemed as though the other might be gaining some momentum, they each would land huge shots that turned the tide of the fight right around. It was one of those fights that you didn’t want to see either guy lose, but when the scores were announced (38-38, 39-37, 39- 37), Aquino was announced as the winner. With the win Aquino improved to a perfect 4-0, while Lopez dropped to 3-1-1, 3KO’s.
Popular Albanian super middleweight, Shriprim Muriqi, improved his record to 4-0, 2KO’s with a dominating four round decision over Rondu Campbell (2-5). Muriqi used his superior hand speed and ring generalship to pitch a shut out on all three judges scorecards.
“The Real Million Dollar Baby” Maureen Shea put herself back into world title contention, stopping Norma Faris at the end of the third round.
Fighting in front of her hometown fans, Shea used a vicious body assault to break down the defensive minded Faris.
Just as the third round was ending, Shea pinned Faris against the ropes and opened up on her, forcing the referee to jump in and call a halt to the contest just as the bell was sounding. With the win Shea improves to 14- 2, 8KO’s, while Faris drops to 3-3.
In the final bout of the evening, Amir “The Prince of Egypt” Samir improved his record to 9-0, 2KO’s with a unanimous decision over “Big” John Douglas (7-14-3, 3KO’s), winning by scores of 60-54, 59-55, 59-55.