Jennings and Kovalev, victorious in Pennsylvania!
As I embark on my task to recapping the weekend in boxing, there is so much to cover, that I honestly don’t know where to begin. I guess I will start with the fights that I covered live, at the beautiful Sands Casino and Resort out in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This is a great venue for boxing. It was great night out at the fights, which I enjoyed with my family.
Two former heavyweight title challengers, Thomas Adamek and Eddie Chambers, were present at this fantastic event. No doubt observing up and coming heavyweights Bryant Jennings and Andrey Fodosov. Although I understand that they both have fight scheduled, in the near future. I am certain that they both watched the main event, with great interest. Doing their professional due diligence, scouting two of the top contenders in the division.
The result of this entertaining scrap was a Bryant Jennings TKO of Fedosov, in 6 rounds. I had predicted a round 5 KO for Jennings, in my prior article. However it was a much tougher fight than I and I am sure Jennings expected. The tough and rugged Russian kept the pressure on and hammered Bryant Jennings to the body, with some resounding shots throughout the course of the bout. Jennings was able to pound Andrey’s left eye shut, and had the bout stopped, but it was competitive and entertaining while it lasted.
Jennings fought the entire duel on his back foot, boxing and moving. Only stopping in spots to sit down on his punches and managed to wobble Fedosov at least twice in the fight. Andrey kept coming forward and it was anybody’s fight. The bout hanged in the balance, at the end of round six, when it was finally halted. Good win for Jennings, but I came away thinking, can he take them same shots from some of the bigger heavyweights in the division? The emphatic answer to my question; is a resounding NO! Bryant seems a little undersized for the division, in my humble opinion.
In the undercard we got a little peek at up and coming light heavyweight contender Sergey Kovalev. Sergey dispatched the battle tested veteran Cornelius White in style, via TKO in round number 3. Talking to his advisor, they are very excited about a possible Hopkins match up in July or a shot at the now lineal light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson. Kovalev means business and I am not sure that Bernard or Adonis are too excited about facing him anytime soon, unless the money is just too good to turn down. Travois Cloud and Andre Ward are also on notice, after this dominating performance over the typically durable White.
Ronald Cruz suffered his second defeat in a row at the hands of Bronx resident Ray Narh in an entertaining but lop sided bout. Once again Ronald’s team has put him in a little over his head against the Accra, Ghana star Ray Narh. Who looked somewhat dominant but at times vulnerable in obtaining a 10 round unanimous decision against the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania fan favorite Ronald Cruz. I look forward to seeing who the African fighter will fight next as moves along in his career.
Overall I enjoyed a very solid night of boxing, with very entertaining matchups throughout the evening. NBC Sports must be happy as I am sure the crowd in attendance was, this past Friday night at the Sands Casino and Resort.
Garcia-Lopez
In other news Juan Manuel Lopez was halted by Mikey Garcia, as most boxing experts expected in round number 4 out in Dallas, Texas. This was an emphatic answer to the question; does Juanma have anything left to offer the sport at the top level of competition? Unfortunately that question was answered emphatically by Mikey Garcia, NO! Put a fork in Lopez, he is officially done. Over all this weekend proved to be yet another horrible weekend for Puerto Rican boxing. On the other hand Dominican boxing was on the rise, as two up and coming fighter both had impressive performances over a Puerto Rican and a Philippine boxer on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.
ESPN2 Friday Night Fights
Both Dominicans battled through adversity and managed to come out on top, via KO respectively. Juan Carlos Payano, overcame an early knock down in the fight against the hard hitting Jundy Maraon. As he came back and rallied to impressively KO, Jundy in round 7. Also Yenifel Vicente sent Boricua Jorge Diaz packing in round 4. In a heated battle that resulted in yet another lost for another Puertorican fighter in Jorge Diaz.
Good weekend of fights! If you enjoyed this article please follow me on Twitter @castlehillgil as I keep the news coming. The Boxing Voice, raw uncut coverage of the sport we all love, week in and week out. Tune in on 6/20/2013 at 7pm for more!
