‘Battle of the River Cities’ Bragging Rights Brawl
Ringside Report with Photos by "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. (April 22, 2005)  
James Johnson
Photos © Benny Henderson Jr, DHB
This past weekend Doghouse Boxing was ringside for one hell of a show at Bossier City, Louisiana when the ‘Battle of the River Cities’ collided and was decided in an eight round showdown that thrilled the sold out crowd on hand at the Isle Flamingo Bay Ballroom. As stated before this wasn’t a highly publicized bout at the national level that had boxing fans spending their hard earned money for an overpriced pay-per-view extravaganza – and it is safe to say that neither fighter in the main event will be stepping in for a world title shot anytime soon – but it was local boxing at its best: brawls, blood, knockouts and a thousand screaming fans on hand going wild as ever over two warriors of the ring duking it out for the sake of sheer entertainment.

James Johnson Defeats Anthony Stephens 8 Round (UD)

In the main event you had two local fighters going at it for the Bragging Rights Belt in an eight round throw down. The ‘Gentleman’ James Johnson, 18-13-2 (11), was anything but gentle when the twenty-nine year old journeyman totally dominated his forty year old nemesis. Bad blood flowed for six years but finally the two faced off. It was a rough and rugged bout with the two steadily exchanging for the opening rounds with Johnson landing solid right hands and punishing body shots while showboating a bit for the fans. Johnson dominated Stephens and roughhoused his opponent enough to get a point deduction in the final round for pushing, seconds later Stephens was deducted a point for using his head. In the closing seconds Johnson knocked his opponent through the ropes, which it was ruled a slip from the ref but in the end Johnson was the victor by the score of 79-71, 78-73 and 77-73, not only winning the bout but gained bragging rights for their local area. After the win the ecstatic Johnson had this to say about the six-year feud coming to and end, “The bad blood is all gone, I proved what I said I was going to do, I’m the younger, more hungrier fighter and I’m stronger, I’m sharper so I proved what I had to prove.” When asked if he was angered in the bout, which resulted in a few dirty tactics that resulted in a point deduction, Johnson stated, “Yeah I got pissed a bit, he was fighting dirty but I came in and did what I had to do.” After it was all said and done the main event rocked the house and left the fans content with the night’s action. What’s next for James Johnson, who has compiled a 4-5 record since 2004 with his most notable fights being losses to Bronco McKart (TKO 6), Lou De Valle (UD) and Sehcew Powell (TKO 1). “All light-heavyweights watch out, I’m coming back, I’m more determined, more focused, sharper, stronger than ever so look out here comes James Johnson!”

Antonio Davis Defeats John Temple 6 Round (DQ)

In the co-main event the NABO super featherweight champion Antonio Davis,
17-1 (8), moved ahead of John Temple, 6-8-2 (1), in a fight that displayed more heart than skill. Davis, who is ranked #9 by the WBO, steadily exchanged with Temple but landed the much cleaner sharper punches in the opening rounds utilizing his speed and experience. After Davis dominated the first two rounds landing punishing left hooks and working the body Temple came back in the third and began to pick up the pace landing a few solid shots of his own but ate a vicious overhand right sending Temple to the ropes ending the round with absorbing uppercuts. By round four it was clear Davis had the experience over Temple but the challenger was more than Davis bargained for, as the fight went on Temple wasn’t winning the fight but had won over the crowd wit his display of heart. The two battled on with Davis blooding up his opponent landing solid shot after another causing a clean cut under Temple’s right eye, in the sixth round John was disqualified for spitting his mouthpiece for the third and final time. The crowd went in an uproar booing the ref’s decision and the corner of Davis who was displaying Antonio’s belt around the ring for the fans to see. After the fight Antonio’s trainer Ronnie Shields had this to say about the nights performance form his fighter, “Well you know what I mean, I wasn’t too pleased with it, he should have knocked this guy out you know. The kid had a lot of heart you can’t take anything away from the kid but Antonio needs to set down more on his punches and he’s not doing that. We are going to go back to the drawing board.” When asked if they would work Davis more before moving up Shields stated, “Absolutely, with his performance tonight he is not ready to move up. We have to start doing better with what we did tonight. But he won the fight easy, it was an easy fight for him no doubt, but this was a guy that he had to stop.”

Adam Hubinger throwing a left hand

Other highlights of the night the fans witnessed the undefeated super middleweight Adam Hubinger, 9-0 (9), score yet another stoppage in his fifteen-months as a professional fighter. The undefeated Floridian dominated and dropped Anthony Greeley twice en route to a fourth round TKO. Also on the card was the undefeated ‘Fighting Marine’ Kasha Chamblin, 4-0 (3), who batted it out with the eleven-fight veteran Christy Sepulvado who has banged it out against Mia St. John twice in her career. Chamblin is a rising star in women’s boxing and showed her unrelenting style in this very entertaining bout, which was a real crowd pleaser. Louisiana native Mike McDuffie was making his pro debut after a very successful career as an amateur on the night’s card. The 6’5” 270lb heavyweight was dominating the first round using his size and reach advantage to move his opponent Michael Hamilton back, but in the second round to the shock of the crowd McDuffie was crumpled with a vicious left hook at the 2:12 mark and didn’t make it up to survive the ten count.

McDuffie counted out

In the opener two local fighters went into action starting it all off getting the fans ready for a night of solid entertaining action. Chris Taylor defeated Jerrick Stephens in an all out throw down, which had Stephens down three times in the fight and out of the ring twice.

Stephens out of the ring

Prize Fight Boxing put on another great show for the fans and although this wasn’t Lewis-Klitschko, Tyson-Lewis or even the upcoming Tarver-Johnson II fight, it was boxing and it was entertaining. Boxing is about entertaining the fans and this was a show that left the fans feeling that they got their money’s worth.

I would like to thank Brian Young of http://www.prizefightpromoters.com/ for allowing Doghouse to sit ringside. I would also like to thank Rita Sullivan of the Isle of Capri for her kindness and help with everything, it was greatly appreciated.
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