ESPN Boxcino Heavyweight Quarterfinals Results

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Saturday February 20, 2015 welcomed the return of the 2015 Boxcino Tournament on ESPN 2. This time around, the heavyweights were the stars on Friday Night Fights.

As stated in a prior article, ESPN is holding two eight-fighter tournaments. All of which are scheduled for six rounds, but if there is no winner by the end of the sixth, there will be a “draw breaking” seventh round.

If the seventh round is unable to get it done, three ringside writers will determine who moves on to the semifinals that are scheduled to take place on 10 April.

03f036ee-2252-459a-8355-0cb3ce6d0c59The opening bout of the evening featured Lenroy Thomas (18-3, 9 KO’s) taking on Jason Estrada (20-5, 6 KO’s).
The speed differential became apparent in the first, with Thomas landing jabs to the body. Estrada was obnoxiously out of shape and could only land significant punches at close range; head-butts included, but Estrada had a successful opening round.

In the third, Estrada trapped Thomas against the ropes but took a pair of crisp uppercuts as he was unable to let his hands go. Gassed, Estrada got repeatedly clocked with lefts, rights, and counter shots. In the sixth round; which we thought would be the final round, turned out not to be.

Estrada gave Thomas a nasty cut above his right eye, thanks to another head-butt. Somehow, the judges were eyeless enough to have it a draw, so we went to a draw breaking round. Thomas went on to win that round with ease and the fight by unanimous decision with three scores of 68-67

The second bout featured Razvan Cojanu (12-1, 7 KO’s) and Ed Fountain (10-0, 4 KO’s).

771716a0-caa1-4556-82d3-48a20f1b4a37In a dawdling, nondescript bout, Razvan Cojanu failed to use his height and reach advantage against the smaller Fountain. Instead, Fountain had his moments throughout the fight, bullying and pushing Cojanu into the ropes. Unable to let his hands go, Cojanu was never able to land a meaningful punch; though he was able to land some body shots on the inside, but the shots lacked pop.

Cojanu earned the decision victory, but it was not a pretty performance for the 27-year old Romanian fighter. Cojanu walked away with two scores of 68-67 and one 68-65. Cojanu will face Lenroy Thomas in the semifinals.

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In the penultimate bout, the assertive Andrey Fedosov (25-3, 20 KO’s) brought the fight to Nat Heaven (9-1, 7 KO’s), literally.
Heaven was introduced to Earth after an elephantine left hook crunched him. The fight continued, but gravity won again. A crisp left hook to the temple put Heaven on the canvas for the second and final time.

06122493-19f1-4116-9df1-a8ffc9df0cf2In the final fight of the Boxcino Heavyweight Quarterfinals, Donovan Dennis (10-1, 8 KO’s) took on Steve Vukosa (10-0, 4 KO’s).
Vukosa began his career 8-0 with 4 knockouts but suffered a debilitating knee injury. 12 years later, Vukosa decided to mount a comeback, winning his first two bouts.

Donovan Dennis had other plans. Vukosa started off the bout with a pair of jabs but was far too slow to test Dennis’s chin early on.
Instead, it was Dennis testing the chin of Vukosa. At times in the fight, Vukosa turned his back to Dennis in the middle of the action. It was only a matter of time before the fight was stopped; which it was.
Dennis will face Fedosov in the semifinals on 10 April, which will be a true test of his chin.