By: Dylon Silversey
http://www.gardenstatefightscene.com/
A crowd of 4,172 was in attendance as Main Event and Golden Boy Promotions hosted HBO’s Boxing After Dark series from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The main event featured Zab “Super” Judah squaring off with Argentinian knockout artist Lucas Matthysse. The exciting card featured some excellent match-ups, featuring some of New Jersey best prospects like Mike Perez, Angel Concepcion, and Tyrone Luckey. Also on the card would be quickly rising prospects Sadam “World Kid” Ali and Adrien “The Problem” Broner.
Zab Judah set off on his next challenge on his way back to reclaim former glory as he stepped into the ring with Lucas Matthysse. The first round got off to a bit of a slow start, both fighters throwing punches, but struggling to land anything clean. More of the same in the second, with it becoming apparent that the crowd here at the Prudential Center does not appreciate the lack of action. Through four rounds it was apparent that neither fighter is afraid to throw punches, yet they seem awfully shy about getting close enough to actually make contact, of course most likely in fear that a counter punch is waiting for them.
The displeasure became more audible and visual after the seventh round as the crowd showered the boxers with “Boo’s” and some even began filing out of the arena. Judah seemed to respond to those actions, landing the heaviest shots up to this point in the fight, that is, until Judah’s eye was accidentally hit with Matthysse’s shoulder.
The crowd finally got what they were waiting for in the tenth, but most likely from the fighter they did not expect it from when Lucas Matthysse put Judah to the canvas with a two straight rights. Although Judah regained his composure and hit Matthysse with a few solid combinations of his own. Matthysse continued to pressure Judah by cutting the ring off and landing heavy shots. Possibly blinded by the rather large cut on his left eye, the non stop barrage of shots put Judah in a position that he has not been in too many times in his career.
The final round of the fight saw Lucas Matthysse continue to hammer away at a spent Zab Judah, who was unable to put up much of a fight at close. When it came to the end of the fight, it seemed that Matthysse had done enough in the closing rounds to prevail in this contest. Yet, winning the early rounds proved to be key to the victory for Judah. The judges scorecards in the split decision read 114-113, 113-114, 114-113. Overall a very good fight for Lucas Matthysse, he got the chance to showcase his talents in front of a nationwide audience and although started off slow, really showed his real talent at the end.
The HBO card kicked off with a 10 round WBO Intercontinental Lightweight title bout featuring Robert Guerrero and Vicente Escobedo. The bout started off with Guerrero being the aggressor, scoring early as Escobedo was a bit timid. A clash of heads opened up a gash on the head of Escobedo. The second was more of the same, Guerrero controlling the round. Guerrero put together a nice right hook, left hook combination early in the third, sending Escobedo to the canvas, and it did not look good for him. Escobedo seemed to quickly switch gears going on the offensive throughout the rest of the third, scoring well. The fourth round brought more great action from each fighter and Escobedo putting together some nice combinations towards the end of the round.
Guerrero seemed to score a few knockdowns in the fifth but both were ruled slips. Guerrero controlled the middle rounds and scored a knockdown with a terrific left uppercut in the sixth. Escobedo looked rejuvenated in the ninth, continuously landing shots that seemed to at times hurt Guerrero.
Escobedo had a great tenth and final round, and Guerrero looked to be in serious trouble throughout the round, although Escobedo could not finish him off. A terrific fight to start off the action on the live telecast. Guerrero won by unanimous decision, the judges scorecards read 100-88, 98-90, 96-92. Escobedo looked pleased with himself after the fight, although he lost. It may have been because he proposed to his girlfriend in the ring after the fight, and yes, she accepted.
Sadam Ali continues to impress, as he soundly defeated New Orleans’ Gary Bergeron. Bergeron came into the bout with a defensive strategy of covering his head and leaving his body exposed. “The World Kid” exploited this strategy rather quickly. Brutal body shots forced Bergeron to drop his hands and Ali landed a perfect left hook that collapsed Bergeron. The second and final round was not much different from the first as Ali exploited Bergeron’s strategy once again, landing brutal shots throughout. And seemingly throwing 15-20 punches before any response from Bergeron. The fight was ended when a flurry of punches pinned Bergeron against the ropes at 2:18 of the second round.
Ali improves his record to 10-0 (6 KO) and Bergeron falls to 12-7 (7KO).
Adrien Broner, the hot prospect from Cincinnati, OH, showed his knockout ability and his ability to entertain the crowd as well, making quick work of veteran Ilido Julio. Broner didn’t take long to floor Julio, and made sure that Roy Jones Jr., who is commentating ringside, knew what he just did. Julio got up and clearly did not have his feet underneath him. Broner attacked until referee Lindsay Paige waved off the contest at 1:34 in the first. Although Julio looked out of shape for this fight, Broner still looked prime for the bout, and looks to have an excellent future in the sport.
Broner moves to 18-0 (15KO), and Julio goes to 40-20-1 (35KO)
Angel Concepcion completed the New Jersey sweep with a unanimous decision over Maurice Amaro. Newark’s Conecepcion badgered Amaro with heavy handed shots throughout the four round contest, using counter shots to cruise to the victory. Amaro showed an excellent chin as Concepcion could not knock him down once. Concepcion looked prepared for this fight and it showed in the scorecards, all judges giving it to him 40-36.
Concepcion moves to 3-0 and Amaro falls to 1-3.
Mike Brooks and Kywayne Hill met in a four round junior lightweight contest, with Long Island’s Mike Brooks earning a decisive unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 40-36 as Brooks had Hill against the ropes almost the entire fight. Brooks stays undefeated at 3-0 (1KO) and Kywayne Hill falls to 1-6 (1KO).
Middletown, New Jersey native Tyrone Luckey was caught by a counter left hook that sent him to the canvas just :20 into the first round. It became seemingly clear that that was a result of an aggressive start to the fight when he settled down and staggered Montes later in the round. The turnround became even more evident when Luckey knocked down Montes with a left hook early in the second. After another knockdown in the second, Montes came out firing in an act of desparation in the third. The fighters traded solid punches until they both seemed to gas out a bit. Luckey regained his stamina a bit and used that to knock down Montes once more and finally finished him off quickly after when the referee stopped the contest 2:55 into the 3rd round.
Luckey improves to 2-0 and earned his first knockout victory, while Montes falls to 1-2.
“The Artist” Michael Angelo Perez made quick work of his first fight in front of his hometown fans. Perez immediately brought an electric atmosphere to “The Rock” as soon as he began his walk towards the ring. Almost as soon as the fight started,Perez began pressuring Herrera and about :30 into the round a left hook sent Herrera staggering back. Perez quickly saw Herrera was hurt and unleashed a combination to put Herrera on his back and set the Newark crowd into a frenzy. The fight was almost immediately waved off and Perez earned a knockout victory just 1:02 into the first round.
Perez improves to 10-0-1 (5KO) and Herrera falters to 14-7-1 (12KO).
Canada’s Mikael Zewski bested Ardrick Butler by unanimous decision in the second fight of the night. The fight started off with both fighters aggressively trading shots. Zewski then quickly settled down and used excellent body shots to control the fight throughout. All three judges scored the bout 40-36. Zewski improves to 5-0 and Butler falls to 5-3.
Former Olympian Bastie Samir used a bevy of body shots to put down Damion Reed at 2:47 in the first round of the opening bout. Native of Ghana, but fighting out of Las Vegas, NV, Samir used vicious hooks to the body to drop Reed four times in the fight and continue his streak of six straight knockouts to begin his career. Samir’s record now improves to 6-0 with six knockouts while Reed drops to 2-4 with one knockout.