Bryant Defeats Saunders at Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA

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By Ken Hissner at ringside, Doghouse Boxing (April 25, 2014)

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Rowland Bryant

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In the main event light heavyweight Rowland Bryant, 18-3 (12), Altamonte Springs, FL, defeated Rayco War” Saunders, 23-23-2 (10), of Pittsburgh, PA, over 8 rounds.

Saunders lost 7 of his last 8 fights coming into this one but put up a good fight. The first 3 rounds were close with Bryant having an edge. In the 4th round Rowland was unloading on Saunders in the corner but left him off the hook. In the 6th round a right uppercut rocked Saunders who came right back after Bryant. In the 7th Bryant hurt Saunders landing a dozen punches before Saunders came back hurting Bryant just prior to the bell. In the 8th and final round Saunders knew he needed a knockout to win as Bryant just backed around the ring doing little in return. The referee was Gary Rosato.

Judge Bruni had it 80-72, Morgan 80-72 and Somma 78-74.

DHB had it 78-74.

Bantamweight Miguel “No Fear” Cartagena, 12-1 (5), of Philly lost for the first time as southpaw Timur “Here Comes Trouble” Shailezov, 17-7 (4), Bishkek, Kyrgystan, pulled off the upset at 1:56 of the 3rd in a scheduled 6 rounds. Cartagena’s corner threw in the towel to prevent their fighter from taking any more punishment. Eddie Claudio was the referee.

In the opening round Shailezov took Cartagena to the canvas by force landing on him. Cartagena may have hurt his leg and back of his head. The referee gave no warning to Shailezov. He had little movement taking several lefts from southpaw Shailezov to the head. In the 2nd round Shailezov landed several lead rights to the head of Cartegena. In the 3rd Shailezov was unloading against Cartagena who was bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth. He had a point taken away for holding when he was badly hurt. He never recovered from the initial take down by Shailezov. Cartagena took the fight on 3 days notice while Shailezov hadn’t fought for a year losing an 8 round split decision to US Olympian Luis Yanez.

Lightweight Dennis Galarza, 3-0 (2), of Miami, FL, stopped Abraham Rubio, 4-4-1 (1), of Senora, MEX, at 1:12 of the 1st round in a scheduled 4. One left hook dropped Rubio when referee Rosato called a halt. It was the 4th straight 1st round knockout loss for Rubio and should have never been approved by the commission. Galarza is signed with Iron Mike Promotions.

Lightweight Rolando “The Iron Man” Chinea, 7-0-1 (4), of Lancaster, PA, defeated southpaw Ronnie “Uh-O” Reams, 4-4 (1), of Colorado Springs, CO, over 6 dull rounds.

Chinea was trying and Reams was holding throughout most of the fight. Reams had a bloody nose in the 4th while Chinea lands several right hands to the face of Reams. In the 6th and final round Chinea was still trying to nail a unwilling Reams. Morgan and Dali had it 60-54 as well as DHB with Somma 59-55.

Junior welterweight Sam Quinones, Jr., 6-2 (2), of York, PA, easily defeated Carlos Lopez 4-4 (0), over 6 rounds.

In the first 2 rounds Quinones was the aggressor with little exchanges. In the 3rd Quinones had Lopez holding on several times from left hooks to the body. In the 4th round Quinones landed several overhand rights to the head of defense minded Lopez. In the 6th and final round Quinones landed 5 straight punches pinning Lopez to the ropes. Lopez did little offensively. Judges had it 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55 with DHB 60-54. Referee was Claudio.

In the opening bout debuting southpaw Erik Spring, 1-0 (0), of Reading, PA, won by majority decision over Lionel Charles, 0-2 (0), of New York, NY, over 4 rounds in the middleweight division.

Southpaw Spring rocked Charles several times with lead lefts in the 1st round. In the 2nd Charles found the range better mixing it up with Spring who continues with the straight lead left. In the 3rd Charles rocked Spring who came back rocking Charles in an all out slugfest. Spring’s nose was bleeding but he fought back. In the 4th and final round Spring was rocking Charles with a straight left. Charles drove him into the ropes as both let it all hang out at the bell.

Judge’s scores were Morgan 39-37 Bruni 39-37 Deli 38-38 to winner Spring in his debut. Referee was Rosato. DHB had it 39-37.

Welterweight Arturo Trujillio, 5-0 (3), of Easton, PA, scored a 3rd round TKO over Kevin “The Scarecrow” Womack, Jr., 4-5 (2), Balt., MD, in a scheduled 4 after scoring a knockdown.

Southpaw Trujillio did the chasing as Womack was moving putting out an occasional jab. Trujillio landed several lefts to the chin with little effect on Womack. In the 2nd round Trujillio finally caught up with Womack landing half a dozen punches. In the 3rd Trujillio landed a combination hurting Womack. He chased him into a corner and unloaded on Womack who dropped to a knee. He got up limping and the referee Franciosis waved it off at 2:05 of the round. Womack is 0-4-1 in his last 5 fights. All of Trujillio’s fights have been at the Sands in Bethlehem.

This was a Iron Mike Promotion with Chris Middendorf matchmaker. Former world heavyweight champ Mike Tyson was not in attendance. For some reason ring announcer Steve Mittman was forced to turn the microphone over to some clown whom the commission should never had allowed in introducing 2 fights including the main event boxers. Mike Mittman and Larry Holmes were at ringside doing the announcing for the cable TV.

Ken Hissner responds to all his emails at: kenhissner@gmail.com