On January 28th at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia there were seven bouts all ending in stoppage for a total of fourteen rounds. The winners were 42-0 with one in his debut. No wonder the “blue” corner ended up victorious. The “real deal” Jaron “Boots” Ennis won his ninth straight in nine months as a professional with eight by stoppage. After a three punch combination he watched his opponent fall to the canvas holding his mid-section. Ennis was looking around for someone to say “next”? Victory Boxing Promotions will return to the same Arena on March 31st.
On February 3rd at the SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia there were seven bouts with six by stoppage for a total of fifteen rounds. Somehow a six round decision snuck in there. Hard Hitting Promotions has been filling the room at the casino with competitive bouts so what happened this time? It seems like a boat came in from Puerto Rico as a package deal and was able to slip by the commission.
The usual hard to deal with Boxing Director Greg Sirb has been known to throw bouts out and has a rule of after seven straight losses a boxer shouldn’t think of coming to Pennsylvania to fight. Possibly after having 41 events in 2016 and off to a slow start with two bouts in the first two months plus one scheduled has made the Director take “whatever is offered”! In contrast New Jersey only had 10 events in 2016 but already produced three in the first month of January. Only one of these shows was similar to what’s happening in Pennsylvania.
New Jersey has one show scheduled in March while Pennsylvania has one in February and three in March. So it looks like by the end of March Pennsylvania will be ahead of New Jersey 6-4. That is still a low figure for Pennsylvania and a high one for New Jersey comparing both to 2016 events. The fact now a day’s there are 6 round main events and the fans are seeing prospects on the undercard with limited opposition brought in.
The most recent show in Pennsylvania started off with the first bout lasting 0:57. The second bout lasting 0:30. The third bout lasting 0:18. It looked like Al Massey’s 0:11 knockout record in Pennsylvania might be in jeopardy. The fans loved seeing their favorite boxers getting the wins though we real boxing diehards were shaking our heads. Then a dull six round bout followed that had the people asking for more action. They got what they wanted in those next three bouts lasting one, three and two rounds. The judges must have been wondering over the last two shows in Pennsylvania “will we get a chance to score a bout”?
In speaking with “Classy” Al Massey the day after the Friday show at the SugarHouse Casino I told him his record was close to being broken. He replied “the referee counted to 10 in my 11 second knockout!” The March 17th event in Reading looks like the real deal with a pair of 10 round bouts scheduled. Earlier on the 10th no worry about Peltz Boxing putting on a competitive show so we may see back to back events returning the Philadelphia area regaining their reputation as “one tough city not only to get approved in but to fight in again!”