At the 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia Friday night Marshall Kauffman’s Kings Promotions put on 3 eight round bouts with a Philly undercard keeping Philly boxing alive! The show was filmed by WARFARE Sports with IBHOF inductee Al Burstein at the mic.
In the Main Event Super Middleweight Kalvin “Hot Sauce” Henderson, 12-0 (8), #167, of Fayetteville, ARK, stopped Antowyan “Ice” Aikens, 13-7-1 (1), #168, of Atlantic City, NJ, at 2:14 of the third round scoring 5 knockdowns overall.
In the first round Aikens was carring his left too low against a right hand punching Henderson. Aikens landed several rights but with no power on them. This was Henderson’s first fight since December when he stopped Brandon Robinson.
In the second round Henderson kept stalking Aikens dropping him with a solid jab on the chin. Referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. gave him the 8 count. Henderson stalked after him landing a left hook to the chin for a second knockdown. Seconds later Henderson dropped Aikens for a third time with a right on the chin. He was saved by the bell.
In the third round with Aikens foot seemingly close to the outside apron a Henderson jab dropped him. Shortly afterwards Henderson dropped Aikens with a right cross on the chin. Referee Esteves wisely called a halt.
In the Co-Main Event Super Middleweight Brandon “The Silverback Gorilla/BROB” Robinson, 13-2 (9), #166, of Upper Darby, PA, came off the canvas in the first round to win a split if not disputed decision over Devaun “Unique” Lee, 10-6-1 (5), #167, of Jamaica, Queens, NY, over 8 rounds.
In the first round both boxers went through a feeling out process with Robinson the aggressor until about half a minute left in the round when Lee landed an overhand right to the chin of Robinson buckling his knees with one knee touching the canvas for a knockdown. Referee Chris Riskus gave him the 8 count.
In the second round Robinson came out looking to get revenge for the knockdown. Both fighters threw occasional bombs with Robinson landing a pair of rights to the chin seconds apart in the final ten seconds.
In the third round Robinson trying to get back control of the fight had Lee against the ropes until he got rocked by a Lee left hook to the chin. Near the end of the round a Lee overhand right rocked Robinson. In the fourth round Lee would jab to the body and follow with an overhand right to the chin of Robinson. In the final minute Lee turned southpaw and was immediately hit with a Robinson right on the chin. In the last twenty seconds of the round Lee was landing right hooks to the chin of Robinson from the southpaw stance.
In the fifth round Lee went back to orthodox getting hit with a lead right by Robinson on the chin. Halfway through the round Robinson countered Lee with a right cross on the chin rocking him. Lee went back to southpaw in the last half a minute of the round.
In the sixth round Lee started lunging in wanting to land that overhand right. Robinson held his own in the round not falling into the trap that Lee had been setting up for him. They had a clash of heads causing referee Riskus to check both boxers for cuts. In the seventh round it was close until just before the ten second warning when Robinson landed a lead right to the chin of Lee rocking him.
In the eighth and final round Lee would come in and either throw the overhand right or fake to and land the right uppercut to the chin of Robinson. Robinson wasn’t aggressive enough especially in the final round.
Scores were LaRosa 77-74 for Robinson, Gradowski 76-75 for Lee, and Braswell 77-75 for Robinson. This writer had it 77-75 for Lee.
Featherweight Raeese “The Beast” Aleem, 14-0 (8), #125, of Las Vegas, NV, scored 3 knockdowns stopping southpaw Ramiro “Zurdo” Robles, 15-9-2 (9), #124, of Quertaro, MEX, at 1:51 of the first round.
In the first round after a feeling out for half a minute Aleem landed a right uppercut to the chin of southpaw Robles and down he went. Aleem jumped all over Robles landing a left hook to the chin and Robles went down a second time from a delayed knockdown. Upon beating the count Aleem again jumped all over Robles with a double left uppercut dropping him for a third time as referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. waved it off.
Lightweight Alycia “The Bomb” Baumgardner, 7-1 (5), #130 1/2, Fremont, OH, impressed stopping Gabriella Mezel, 9-18-5 (3), #128, of Covasna, ROM, for the UBF Women’s Silver Lightweight Title (James Gibbs supervisor), at 1:08 of the first round.
In the first round Baumgardner went on the attack. A right to the body dropped Mezel. Referee Chris Riskus gave the 8 count. Baumgardner was immediately all over Mezel hurting her with another right to the body bending her over when the referee wisely called a halt.
Neither boxer came in at the lightweight weight. Mezel having a poor record under .500 should never have qualified for this title.
Featherweight Antonio “Tony The Tiger” Dubose, 13-2-1 (2), #127, of Philadelphia, PA, won a disputed majority decision over late sub Weusi “The Truth” Johnson, 3-12 (0), #128, of Wilmington, DE, over 6 rounds.
In the second round after a feeling out first round Dubose continued coming forward with body work as Johnson did well in countering him. In the third round Johnson countered Dubose throughout until the last ten seconds when Dubose got in a solid left hook on the chin.
In the fourth round Johnson continued to outwork Dubose. Whenever Dubose got inside where he did his most damage Johnson would tie him up. Johnson used his reach and would push Dubose off. In the fifth round Johnson continued countering well. Only in spurts did Dubose get in some solid lead rights to the head.
In the sixth and final round Dubose knowing the fight was close was throwing bombs but missing most of them. Johnson kept a step ahead of him countering.
Scores were Braslow 57-57, Gradowski 58-56, LaRosa 59-55 same as this writer but mine for Johnson. The Johnson corner of Doug Pettiford and Omar Shariff Douglas were quite upset with the decision as was their fighter Johnson.
Welterweight Paul “The Punisher” Kroll, 3-0 (3), #148, of North Philadelphia, PA, impressed stopping fellow Philly southpaw Vincent Floyd, 4-7-1 (2), #146, of Philadelphia, PA, of 2:27 of the first round.
In the first round the taller Floyd would come forward until Kroll would counter him mostly with rights to the chin. Kroll drove Floyd against the ropes and threw punch after punch with Floyd trying to cover up. As the referee Benjy Esteves, came in to stop what looked like a defensless Floyd he threw his first punch back.
It was too little too late. It was a good stoppage. Kroll had a very successful amateur career but is just coming back. “That is my style of fighting. He got in two good punches. We asked for a rematch (Good luck with that),” said Floyd. “I thought I had him hurt with one right uppercut,” said Kroll.
Middleweight LaQuan Evans, 1-1 (0), #154, of West Philadelphia, PA, lost a majority decision to late sub Hector Mercado, 3-10 (0), #155, of Veracruz, MEX, over 4 rounds.
In the first two rounds Mercado was throwing punches in bunches while Evans was trying to hold him off. In the third round Evans finally started throwing uppercuts standing in front of Mercado at times but couldn’t outwork him so he kept moving away from him countering in spurts. In the fourth and final round Evans seemed content to just survive the round.
Scores were Rubnitz 38-38, La Rosa 39-37 Grabowski 40-36. This writer had it 40-36. Chris Riskus was the referee.
Middleweight southpaw Ryan Umberger, 2-0 (1), #159, of Philadelphia, PA, stopped Daryl “the Cocnkey Reject” Fenton, 1-5-1 (0), #160, the UK and D.C. at 1:34 of the first round scoring a pair of knockdowns.
In the first round after about half a minute Fenton walked into a left uppercut on the chin from southpaw Umberger and down he went. Referee Riskus gave him the 8 count. Umberger went right after him eventually dropping him with a left hand on the chin as referee Riskus saw enough and stopped the mismatch.
It was a nice crowd but too many short fights and too much of a break prior to the female match. The people were growing restless. Ring announcer was Alex Barbosa with Fred Blumstein as the timekeeper.