Making his sixth appearance at Harrah’s Philadelphia (Chester, PA), Philadelphia lightweight Victor Vasquez, 16-7-1 (7), gave the standing room only crowd another action packed fight defeating Estaban Rodriguez, 6-5-1 (1), of Lebanon, PA, over 6 rounds in the main event Saturday night. Joey Eye Boxing Promotions & David Feldman continued their streak of good solid shows celebrating their second anniversary at Harrah’s Hotel & Casino.

Vasquez brings in the fans and used a solid body attack against Rodriguez who gave away the first two rounds posing more than fighting. He’s the taller of the two and has that Alexis Arguello stance but doesn’t throw enough punches to win a fight since coming from Puerto Rico to the US. The third round finally found the fighters mixing it up when Rodriguez started some offense. He rocked Vasquez in the fourth round only to find Vasquez back in his face. The fifth round was just as exciting with top referee Steve “Double SS” Smoger having to separate the fighters at the bell. In the sixth and last round Rodriguez didn’t fight like a man behind in another man’s home town to pull out the fight.

All 3 judge’s Alan Rubenstein, Joe Pasquale and Dewey LaRosa had it 58-56 for Vasquez. “He didn’t use his jab though taller but I don’t want to take anything away from him for he is tough. I appreciate the fans and am blessed to be able to be in a sport that I love,” said Vasquez. “I know I lost the first couple of rounds starting too slow but was hoping to at least get a draw,” said Rodriguez.

In the “punch of the night” light welterweight Julio DeJesus, 7-3-3 (4), of Chester, met Ramon Ellis, 4-8-2 (2), of Philadelphia in the middle of the ring and landed an overhand right that looked like the night was all over for Ellis. He managed to get to his feet only to be met by another overhand right and down he went again with his right hand caught on the ropes and the strap that is connected to the ropes. Smoger was smart enough to wave it off immediately at 0:50 of the first as the ring physician came in right away to assist Ellis. The loser had been 4-1-2 after dropping his first 6 fights and was expected to give DeJesus a war by the press.

The original show was to have 12 bouts and was reduced to 7 and moved a 6 to an 8 as DeCarlo “Tremundo” Perez, 9-2-1 (3), of Atlantic City, NJ, put the first loss on the record of Dante “Phenom” Moore, 8-1-2 (4), of Cleveland, OH, by scores of 77-75 (twice) and 78-74. Shawn Clark was the referee.

Moore had skills but he just wasn’t busy enough. At times he looked like he was in the gym instead of coming to win. Perez rocked Moore in the first 2 rounds and knocked his mouthpiece out near the end of the fifth. Moore came back in the final 3 rounds. He landed a solid jab in the final round noticeably causing Perez to check his nose for blood.

Philadelphia lightweight Tyrone Crawley, Jr., 3-0 (0), son of the “Butterfly” switched from southpaw to orthodox throughout confusing Benjamin Burgos, 1-3 (0), of Mt. Pocono, PA, to win all 4 rounds on the judges score cards. Smoger was the ref. Burgos’ left eye was swollen from the second round on.

John Mercurio, 6-0 (4), of Philadelphia, found himself in deep water in the first 2 rounds with Lonnie Kornegay, 1-8-2 (1), of Baltimore, MD. He was cut in the first round possibly from an accidental head butt from the shorter Kornegay on the outside of his left eye. In the third round the fighters started talking to each other as Mercurio landed a left uppercut to the jaw. There was too much holding from that point with Mercurio pulling out the decision 40-36 from LaRosa and Rubenstein while Pasquale had it 39-37. Clark was the referee in this heavyweight 4.

Jovantae Starks, 6-0 (5), of Minneapolis, MN, landed a straight right causing Roman Barber, 3-4 (2), of Wichita, KS, to spin around into the ropes face first. Since the ropes saved him from going down it was ruled a knockdown by referee Clark. In the second round Barber had Starks backed against the ropes but let him out with Starks having Barber on the ropes in trouble as Clark suddenly waved it off to the displeasure of all including Barber at 1:50 of the second round.

In a rematch of southpaws Alex Barbosa, 4-1-1 (1), of Philadelphia and Arthur Parker, 1-8-1 (1), of Lancaster, PA, won by Barbosa previously in a close one it was even closer this time ending in a draw. Pasquale had it 39-37 for Parker and LaRosa and Rubenstein 38-38 in a 4 round super bantamweight bout. Smoger was the referee. DHB had it 38-38 with Parker taking the first 2 rounds.

The show opened with an exhibition between Atlantic City’s Althea “Lady Thunder” Saunders and Philadelphia’s Lykeisha Williams. Saunders was scheduled to fight and sing the national anthem. She delighted the crowd with her boxing and singing.

The night started bad as two of the writers started to sit in seats marked “reserved for press”. Executive Director Greg Sirb came over and ripped the signs off the chairs telling this writer “you know I don’t want you sitting near me”. He wasn’t quite as forceful as the assistant trainer of Barbosa kept loudly using the “F” word 3 feet from him throughout the bout without a word in response. It was heard by both writers 10 feet away and fans. It’s action like this that caused executives at Dover Downs, DE, to remove the PA commission from their state replacing them with the VA commission officially starting the night before.