Staten Island (January 31, 2013)
By Alex Kut-Ringside
On a bitter cold Thursday evening on Staten Island, Greg Cohen of Greg Cohen Promotions put on a spectacular 6 bout Pro Boxing card in the luxurious ballroom of the Hilton Garden Inn. The show kept the crowd on their feet the whole night, including some recognized celebrities in attendance, such as Paulie Mallinaggi, Travis Kaufman, and Harold Lederman. The elegant ballroom was a perfect place for a pro boxing card with not a bad seat in the entire venue.
The night started off right around 7:45 pm with veteran fighter Dennis “The Shark” Sharpe against the rugged and tough Doel Carrasquillo in a 6 round super middleweight bout. The two exchanged hands round after round with Carrasquillo landing some hard right hands that seemed to stun Sharpe, but were not enough to drop him. Sharpe stayed busy, and appeared to be the busier boxer, while Carrasquillo was looking for that “home run” punch. This fight started the night off with some great action from two veterans but ended with Sharpe losing a unanimous decision and dropping to 17 wins with 10 losses and Carrasqillo now at 16 wins with 23 losses.
In a junior middleweight bout, Anthony Gangemi of Mine Hill, NJ showed he has what it takes as a pro and won his second fight with a stunning knockout in round 2 over Willie Bryant. Gangemi came out using skill and speed to overpower Bryant. Gangemi now has 2 wins coming by way of knockout and 0 losses. Bryant now has 1 win, and 6 losses.
Next up was in a welterweight bout where pro debut fighter Shakor Jackson was knocked down by Cornelius Whitlock not once but twice in the fight. The two exchanged punches for the first two rounds with Whitlock being the aggressor. After Jackson hit the canvas the first time, he was able to rise to his feet, but his legs were not under him. Whitlock landed a right hand that face planted Jackson a second time, and he showed tremendous heart, trying to rise three times but kept falling to the canvas and the referee had to stop the fight in round three. Jackson now has 0 wins and 1 loss, and Whitlock moves up to 1 win and 1 loss.
The female bout of the evening featured a pro debut for Susan Reno against Vanessa Greco and it was a crowd pleaser. There is always something entertaining about the female bouts and excites the crowd so much, they have to rise to their feet! The 4 round bout ended with Reno winning split decision. Reno is now 1-0, while Greco falls down to 1-2.
The co-main event of the night featured Dennis “Mommas Boy” vs. Jose “Silver Boy” Rodriguez. The first round Douglin and Rodriguez were getting the feel for each other, but Douglin was the aggressor and clearly was taking control of the fight with his fans cheering him on throughout the ballroom. However, in round 2, Rodriguez started coming on strong. He was landing combinations that seemed to stun Douglin. Rodrgiuez continued to be the aggressor from rounds 2-8, keeping Douglin from being able to land more than just a few punches per round. The scorecards ended with Rodriguez coming out on top with a unanimous decision and rising the 17-2, while Douglin drops to 14-3. Rodriguez recently held the IBF North American Title.
Nicky DeMarco
(Photo by Raquel Gonzalez)
In the main event of the evening local hometown favorite Nicky DeMarco, who also owns a boxing gym in the area, had a ballroom full of fans to support him in his fight against a very tough Travis Thompson. The two fighters both came out hard, but it seemed like Thompson was getting the better of DeMarco in the first round, stunning him with several hard punches and combinations to the head and body. With DeMarco’s fans cheering him on the entire bout, DeMarco started getting into his groove of just boxing. He started sticking, and moving, and using his jab the way he knows best. Eventually he began to wear down Thompson and was clearly the more aggressive and more skilled boxer. DeMarco came out with the majority decision and is now 5-2, while Thompson falls to 4-8.