This past Friday night at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA saw the return of exciting welterweight prospect Sammy Vasquez Jr. This card was under the banner of Goossen Promotions. Vasquez had been formerly with the now defunct Iron Mike Productions.
In the first bout of the evening, Kareem “Reemo” Martin; a welterweight from Washington, D.C. made short work of his opponent Cole Milani. He stopped him in the very first round. Milani offered little resistance.
The night’s second bout saw Samuel Figueroa of Puerto Rico defeat James Robinson in a super welterweight contest. Robinson was game, but Figueroa sealed the deal with a dominating 4th and final round. He took the UD.
The third bout pitted super featherweights. Gervonta “Tank” Davis of Baltimore, MD blew away Israel Suarez by KO in the first round of a scheduled six.
Super lightweights Milton Santiago from Philadelphia, PA and Jose Valderrama went at it in the next contest of the night. Very interesting fight. Valderrama was dropped two times in the first round from vicious body shots. A doctor appeared up on the apron, and it looked like he was going to enter the ring. Then he just left without doing anything. You always see something new. Valderrama survived the first round and actually went the distance of the six round bout. Santiago won by UD, in what originally looked like a quick night for him.
Next up was welterweight action as Bryant Perrella of Ft. Myers, FL faced Justin Johnson. Perrella had Johnson down in rounds two, three, and finally in the fourth for the KO victory.
Tonight also marked the return of the once very well regarded Cuban southpaw Yudel Jhonson. His opponent was Pablo Munguia. Jhonson had not fought since June of last year. His lone loss coming in 2010 to Willie Nelson. His fight with Munguia was sort of a dull time killer. Munguia pressed the action with seemingly ineffective aggression. The judges had it for Jhonson by split decision. Scores were 79-74 and 79-73 for Jhonson. The other card going Munguia’s way: 77-75. I would lean towards the 79-73. Jhonson landed the cleaner punches.
The last non-televised portion of the card featured former IBF World super featherweight champion Argenis Mendez looking impressive dropping Daniel Evangelista Jr. in rounds three, four, and twice in round five before he retired in his corner. This was scheduled for ten rounds.
ShoBox kicked off the broadcast with once beaten Claudio Marrero, also looking in fine form putting down Orlando Rizo numerous times in route to an eight round UD.
In an exciting light heavyweight battle, Craig Baker TKO’s Umberto Savigne in round two of a scheduled ten. This was called an upset, but I would venture to say a mild one at best. When Mike Tyson was Savigne’s promoter, Tyson did his best to prop him up. Claiming he would be a great opponent for either Sergey Kovalev or Adonis Stevenson. What sticks out like a sore thumb on his resume was a dubious loss to Harvey Jolly by KO in 2010.
The main event saw Monessen, PA’s Sammy Vasquez defeat Emmanuel Lartei Lartey by UD. Lartey from Accra, Ghana now fighting out of Brooklyn, NY seems indeed like a hard man to stop. The KO streak is over for Vasquez though he probably won every round. It wasn’t for a lack of effort as Vasquez pressed hard. Another great welterweight prospect Errol Spence Jr. couldn’t do it either. This seems like it will be Lartey’s calling card. Vasquez will continue to move on up.
