Lou Dibella’s, Dibella Entertainment along with rapper 50 cent brought another installment of the successful Broadway Boxing series to The Roseland Ballroom in New York, NY. Showcasing fighters from both promotions the night would have plenty of action during the nine bout card that was topped off by the return of Yuri Foreman; the former junior middleweight title holder that took a 22 month absence from the sport and is on his second fight back. With fighters like Foreman, Jo Jo Dan, Bracero, Del Valle, and some future stars; the fans waited eagerly for the first bout to kick off the action.
In the first bout, SMS Audio’s latest signed athlete Donte “Future Legend” Strayhorn of Las Vegas, NV made his pro debut against Michael “El Negro” Carrera (0-1 0 KO’s) from Luquillo, PR in a junior welterweight bout scheduled for four rounds. The action started with the much taller Strayhorn circling and measuring the distance with a jab that kept Carrera at bay, finding a place for some short uppercuts to take the come-forward Puerto Rican off track. The second stanza was more exciting as “Future Legend” looked to box and move with double and triple jabs as “El Negro” stalks and finds success landing a series of short hooks that bother his opponent along with a clubbing right hand that finds its mark. The tide would change again as Strayhorn turned on the heat and seemed to turn his nervousness into effective aggression landing hooks up and down to try to break down the tough Carrera as he lit his opponent up with combinations to sweep the last two rounds. At the end of the fight the judges would unanimously score in favor of Strayhorn who picks up his first win in front of his famous promoter.
The second bout of the night would feature former amateur standout light middleweight Patrick “All” Day (2-0 2 KO’s) from nearby Freeport, Long island; against the hardnosed Cuban Yusmani Abreu (3-6-1 0 KO’s) of Las Vegas, NV. Trying to continue his knock out streak going, Day returned to Roseland on a mission as he started the fight with a hard left hook to the body followed by a straight right hand that backs up Abreu and creates openings for his combinations. After impressively controlling the first round, Day picks up the pace and comes forward but a short left hook counter from Abreu stuns him and the crowd gasps as Day intelligently uses the ring to get out of danger even rocking his man in return with a long range right hand. With “All” Day sporting a gleaming smile on his face, came back like a warrior looking to land his full arsenal to get his man out, left uppercuts followed by body shots break down Abreu who then gets caught with another devastating right hand that causes him to hold on to survive the round. Abreu seemed gassed in the last round and ate a lot of one-twos along with body shots when he tried to get inside almost seeming to have his will beaten out of him by the time the fight was over. Another dominant performance by Patrick Day who’s record gets bumped up to 3-0 2 KO’s with the 39-37 unanimous decision across the board.
A lot of fans walked around wearing green shirts, but this wasn’t a late St. Patrick’s Day celebration, it was in support of Portchester, NY’s very own Bryant “Pee Wee” Cruz (2-0 2 KO’s) who faced Antoine “The President” Knight (2-2 1 KO) of Chicago, IL in a four round super featherweight battle. Cruz with his support system cheering his name came out with a tight defense and a stiff jab that was followed up by hard hooks that caught Knight In-between his wild shots, a right uppercut hurts “The President” who then gets pounded around the ring as the first round ends. With the recipe for a knockout being an uppercut, “Pee Wee” lands a crisp uppercut and a right cross combination that draws blood from his opponent’s nose, with the momentum behind him he follows up and patiently throws and lands one-twos with hooks that deal damage. Sensing that the fight could be stopped Cruz continues to fire off hard punches until a big right hand stuns Knight, with the referee looking on he goes in with a barrage that forces the fight to be stopped at 2:15 of the third round, awarding “Pee Wee” Cruz his 3rd win in as many fights.
With the night moving along quickly, the next matchup would showcase SMS Audio’s Luis Olivares (2-0 2 KO’s) who made his debut with a devastating knockout just a month prior; facing off against Puerto Rico’s Christopher Williams-Ortiz (1-0 0 KO’s) in a four round fight. The junior welterweight bout was started with Glendale, AZ’s Olivares pushing forward trying to score another fast knockout, but it wouldn’t be had as Williams-Ortiz was able to move and avoid some of the punches being thrown. The fight would continue at it’s fast pace with both men landing on the side but after backing up his opponent, Olivares throws an overhand right that knocks the Puerto Rican to the canvas for the eight count; getting up on wobbly legs, survival is the goal as William-Ortiz tries to get away from the hard body shots being landed by Olivares. In a crowd pleasing third, the baby faced SMS Audio boxer hits harder on the inside as his opponent tries to loop his punches but they both land occasional hard shots causing the crowd to cheer. With the last round starting and power being in Olivares’ hands, he keep up his pace stalking Williams-Ortiz catching the fighter with counter hooks and backing him up to end the fight. The scores were tallied and it was unanimous as Luis Olivares continues to win with a 40-35 verdict from the judges.
After six months from his last fight and first loss of his pro career, Puerto Rico’s Luis “Orlandito” Del Valle (16-1 11 KO’s) returned with his new trainer Nacho Beristain of La Romanza Gym in Mexico City. Losing a fight to former world champion Vic Darchinyan, the featherweight brawler faced St. Joseph, MO’s Andre “Wicked Hands” Wilson (13-5-1 11 KO’s) in an eight rounder. The southpaw; Wilson, starts circling but Del Valle is out to prove a point as he shoots a straight right lead to catch his opponent, landing a thunderous left hook that seemed to shake up “Wicked Hands”. A clash of heads while inside towards the end of the round opened a small cut on the outside of “Orlandito’s” right eye and they traded wildly to start the second with Wilson able to land a few punches; Del Valle answers back with his own punches using his left hook to swell up Wilson’s right eye. As both fighters get comfortable they leave their jabs at home to lands power punches, with Del Valle bleeding from the nose he’s urged to fight harder and straight rights along with right uppercuts hurt and drop his man at the end of the third. With blood in the water, Del Valle swarms Wilson upstairs and lands a shot to the body to drop Wilson for the second time in the fight, dominating him for the rest of the fourth round. Wilson who was already dropped twice in the bout and looking worse for wear, tried retreating but Del Valle catches up with him and drops him with a left hook that ends matters at 1:32 of the fifth bringing Del Valle to 17-1.
In the sixth bout, Brooklyn’s Gabriel “Tito” Bracero (21-1 4 KO’s) faced welterweight Pavel Miranda (19-9-1 10 KO’s) of Los Angeles, CA. The usually light fisted Bracero started with his educated jab but was able to clip his opponent with check hooks and counters that pushed Miranda back, the second round would be more of the same with “Tito” landing a right hand on the taller Miranda that buckles his legs. Miranda would find some success starting in the next two round with a looping left but most of the shots thrown would get picked off and countered by the focused Bracero, bullying and trading inside with Miranda occasionally forcing the Californian back with right hands. With “Tito’s” right eye cut Miranda tries desperately to land more shots on it but to no avail, the sixth round bringing cheers as a late left hook by Bracero causes a mean stare down to end the round. Entering the last two rounds, Bracero used his full arsenal along with clever foot work to confuse and evade Miranda while catching him coming in; dominating the face first fighter to a comfortable unanimous decision win for Bracero who’s now 22-1.
Women’s boxing would be showcased before the co-feature and main event as popular Brooklyn fighter Heather “Heat” Hardy (4-0 0 KO’s) in a rematch with featherweight Mikayla Nebel (0-4) of Columbus, OH in a six round bout. Hardy was looking to prove her first bout wasn’t a fluke as she came out swinging with left hooks after bobbing and weaving away from Nebel’s attack, banging to the body as she picks off the Ohio native’s looping shots. Landing straight rights that turn Nebel’s face red, “Heat” turns it up and pushes forward with her double fisted attack while seemingly sapping the energy from her opponent. Looking for the knock out in the last two rounds, Hardy continues as all of her fans yell for her to get the stoppage but Nebel is crafty and tries to fire back even though she was getting caught with everything Hardy threw. In the end a unanimous verdict was rendered and Heather Hardy continues to win and look for her first stoppage victory.
The co-feature would feature Ionut Dan Ion (30-2 17 KO’s); more commonly known as Jo Jo Dan and fighting out of Montreal, Canada by way of Romania up against tough Miami native Damian “Devo” Frias (19-6-1 10 KO’s). The eight round welterweight fight would begin as the two southpaws traded jabs and Dan using a sneaky uppercut to score upstairs and a left hook-right hook combination to the body to pile up points. Dan would go on to dominate the first few rounds as he continues to land hard body shots, and also being warned for low blows. Feeling the pressure; the under rated Arias fights back but aside from the few straight lefts that he’s able to land he just can’t seem to string together any offense. The fight intensifies and the visibly frustrated “Devo” lands a punch after a break costing him a point deduction in the fifth round but Jo Jo Dan continues moving forward with a left hand that rocks Arias in the following round almost stopping him. Using smart punching techniques, Dan continues to stun his opponent and then drops the body with hooks but his opponent is durable and is able to survive the last two rounds to make it to the final bell. With scores of 76-75, and 78-73 twice; Jo Jo Dan notches another win as he looks to enter title contention once again.
The main event would feature one more Brooklyn fighter as Yuri Foreman (29-2 8 KO’s) faced Gundrick King (18-9 11 KO’s) hailing from Tuscaloosa, AL. The height difference couldn’t be more obvious as Foreman was the much taller of the junior middleweights, and he used that height and reach advantage to control the fight. Movement from Foreman; who had knee surgery years ago, confused and took King out of position while keeping Foreman close enough to land his jab and leave without having to move his head to dodge punches. With this bout being a six rounder, King had the face of a warrior but just couldn’t get through Foreman’s better foot work and sharp jab- right hand, which landed off the side of his head. As Foreman dragged his opponent in to the last two rounds, he landed whenever he threw as King could not find an answer for the tight defense being displayed, and the crowd cheered Yuri on as the bout ended. Scores were 60-54 from all three judges as Foreman gets his 30th victory and continues his quest for another title.
