It was an entertaining night of boxing at Bally’s Atlantic City last night. The card was assembled with mostly Philadelphia, PA and Atlantic City, NJ natives. In usual Peltz Boxing form, there were eight bouts on the card, and they all went off seamlessly, with not even enough time for the diva to make a bathroom run in between fights. But I am certainly not complaining!
The night started with what was scheduled to be four round fight between welterweights DeAndre Phillips of Philadelphia, PA and Anthony Prescott of Cherry Hill, NJ. It was clear early in the first round that Prescott lacked the jab he needed to keep Phillips away. Round one ended with Phillips landing flurries with Prescott on the ropes. The minute in between rounds wasn’t enough for Prescott to recover and twenty-one seconds into the second round Prescott went down. The ref immediately called a halt to the bout while the EMTs rushed to the ring to attend to a seemingly unconscious Prescott.
Next up was Philadelphia prospect Jesse Hart taking on Steven Chadwick of Jacksonville, FL. Chadwick was entering the ring with a record of 0-3 to Hart’s 1-0. It showed early. Chadwick immediately began taking punches and took a knee early in the first, taking the standing eight count. Back up on his feet, he went down again soon after. He got up again but after taking more punches and not answering any of them his corner asked the ref to stop the fight two minutes and thirty eight seconds into the first round.
Soon after that came Heavyweights Mark Rideout (Philadelphia, PA) and Randy Easton (Williamsport, PA). In what started out as a quick paced fight for the heavyweights, Rideout took the early rounds. The fights pace changed to a slugfest with both fighters landing huge shots but neither appearing hurt. The judges awarded a Majority Decision to Mark Rideout, his record advancing to 1-0, while Easton’s fell to 0-1-1.
In a swing bout, due to the early endings to the first two fights, Heavyweights Dan Biddle of Wilmington, De and Pedro Martinez of Philadelphia, PA fought to a six round majority decision, in which one judge had it a draw. The other two judges gave Biddle the fight with scores of 58-56 times two. Although at times it seemed that Biddle lacked any defense Martinez couldn’t put anything on him to gain enough respect to back Biddle up. Personally, ringside I had the fight even.
After that Lavarn Harvell put Mojeed Okedara away in one round. Putting Okedara down three times in the round, and continuing his streak of Knock out victories.
Naim Nelson of Philaelphia advanced his record to 7-0 in a six round unanimous decision win over Esteban Rodriguez. Out classing Rodriguez and beating him to the punch, Nelson took all six rounds.
Also on the card Osnel Charles and Raphel Luna fought to a draw. In a fight that truly could have gone either way each fighter raised their arms in victory after the final bell rang. While Charles had Luna hurt in the fourth round, he was hit in the same round with a low blow that had lasting effect. Charles faded in the later rounds of the six round bout. The judges all had varied scores. 58-56 for Luna, 58-56 for Charles, and the 57-57 Draw decided the fight while Charles yelled “Rematch” after the reading of the cards.
In the main event Patrick Majewski of Atlantic City, NJ (by way of Poland) took on Cleveland, Ohio’s Chris Fitzpatrick. Majewski set the pace in the first round with his jab. Using it as a tool to land the cleaner, more effective shots. He was caught in the beginning of the second round but came back to life while landing combinations on the ropes. Opening a cut over the left eye of Fitzpatrick.
In the third round Majewski started using his jab even more and landing tight, short shots, effectively working the cut Fitzpatrick had sustained in the second round. In the fourth round Majewski landed a monster of a straight right hand that easily penetrated Fitzpatrick’s practically invisible defense, and is easily able to keep Fitzpatrick where he wants. On the ropes, often turning to the middle of the ring.
In the fifth round Majewski’s jab isn’t as visible, but his combinations are present and effective. The cut over Fitzpatrick’s eye was bleeding but didn’t seem to have gotten any worse, causing everyone confusion when the doctor would not allow Fitzpatrick to answer the bell for the sixth round. While it was clear that Majewski was dominating the entire fight, winning all five of the rounds, in a post fight interview Fitzpatrick said that he was simply following his game plan of coming on strong in the later rounds. “This is a tough sport, we are warriors when we get in the ring, and I don’t understand why they won’t let me fight” he said.
Majewski went home with the NABF middleweight title and a shot at the WBO belt, which one I’m not sure. Although I do believe the fight was stopped prematurely I don’t think that Fitzpatrick would have ever adjusted to the pace set by Majewski and the outcome would have been the same in the later rounds.
It was a great night of fights, and fun on press row, Peltz Boxing does it again!
