Glen “Jersey Boy” Tapia and Jesse “Hard Work” Hart Score KO’s
 By Ken Hissner, Doghouse Boxing (June 15, 2014)
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Glen Tapia |
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Light middleweight Glen Tapia, 21-1 (13), of Passaic, NJ, destroyed Keenan Collins, 15-9-3 (10), of York, out of Reading PA, at 1:22 of the 1st round. This was a Top Rank promotion at Bally’s in Atlantic City Saturday night! Fans of both Tapia and Hart filled the room!
In the opening round of this mismatch Tapia landed 9 straight punches causing knockdown number one. It was followed with 27 unanswered punches bringing about knockdown number two. Another 9 straight punches finally had referee Earl Brown realize the fight had gone too far and he waved it off at 1:22 of the 1st round without Collins landing a punch.
Super middleweight Jesse “Hard Work” Hart, 14-0 (11), of Philly knocked out Shujaa “Free Dion”El Amin, 12-6 (6) of Flint, MI, at 1:36 of the 6th round!
In the opening round a vicious right uppercut to the chin while El Amin went into a crouch caused a knock down. In the 2nd round a left uppercut by Hart rocked El Amin forcing him to hold Hart. El Amin was in survival mode as Hart was landing uppercuts with both hands. In the 3rd round Hart’s father and assistant trainer Eugene “Cyclone” Hart kept yelling “use your jab” and his son followed with a straight right off a jab to drop El Amin.
In the 4th El Amin was using rabbit punch again and again out of a clinch without a warning from referee Vera. In the 5th round Hart ended it with a 3-punch combination after being warned to stop leaning on El Amin who would come in low. In the 6th both fighters threw left hooks as Hart’s got there first knocking out El Amin. The fans went crazy in support of Hart. It looked like the same hook his father used in the 70’s to stretch many an opponent. “How’d you like that left hook? Was it just like my dad’s? Fred (Jenkins, trainer) told me to go to the body more and if I listened I would have ended it earlier,” said Hart.
Featherweight southpaw Toka Kahn Clary, 12-0 (8), a Liberian out of Providence, RI, won a well fought bout over Jose “Pepito” Haro, 8-1 (6), of Salt Lake City, UT, over 6 rounds.
In an excellent opening round both fighters showed their skills. This was the pattern for the first 3 rounds with Clary holding an edge in each. In the 4th Clary landed a combo only to be countered by a right from Haro. This was the first fight for Haro out of Utah while Clary was having his fourth fight in AC.
In the 6th and final round a straight left rocked Haro for the best punch in the fight with half a minute to go. This was an excellent match between two well schooled boxers. Referee Vera did a good job in allowing them to fight. All 3 judges Joe Pasquale, Lynn Carter and Emil Conforti had it 59-55.
Welterweight out of Lithuania and a 2-time Olympian Egidijus “The Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas, 6-0 (5), of Oxnard, CA looked very impressive in stopping Larry “Lightning” Ventus, Jr., 6-6-1 (3), out of Detroit, MI, at 2:13 of the 4th round after a pair of knockdowns.
Kavaliauskas had his way throughout the 1st round causing a small cut between the eye brows of Ventus. In the 2nd round a 4-punch combination ending with a left hook dropped Ventus just prior to the bell. In the 3rd round a left-right combo dropped Ventus.
As many as 9 consecutive punches were landed by Kavaliauskas in the 4th forced Ventus to take a knee. Half a minute later Ventus dropped again to a knee taking too many punches forcing referee Ricardo Vera to wisely stop the fight. Robert Garcia trains Kavaliauskas.
Light Welterweight southpaw Mike Reed, 10-0 (6), of Waldorf, MD, used a good body attack to defeat tough Alberto Morales, 11-4-1 (8), from Nicaragua out of Miami, FL, over 6 rounds. From the opening round Reed used a good body attack before drawing blood from the nose of his opponent in the 5th and was well in command.
Finally Reed dropped Morales with a lead left to the chin in the 6th and final round. Morales held on to last the round out. The former National Golden Glove champ was quite impressive against a tough opponent. All scores including DHB were 60-53. Brown was the referee. Reed’s father Michael “Buck” Pinson is his trainer.
In the opening bout flyweight Angel “Tito” Acosta, 7-0 (7), of PR stopped Eduardo “Yayo” Valenzuela, 5-5-1 (1), of Tucson, AZ, at 1:55 of the 3rd round.
In the 1st round a lead right followed by a left hook on the jaw by Acosta and down went Valenzuela. He got up and started fighting back until Acosta opened up just prior to the bell. Acosta landed 6 unanswered punches before Valenzuela came back. There is no quit in Valenzuela. In the 3rd round Acosta had Valenzuela badly hurt as the referee Earl Brown accidentally ended up having Valenzuela driven into him with Acosta landing an “extra punch”. After a short rest Acosta got on the attack and landed numerous punches pinning Valenzuela against the ropes when referee Brown waved it off. Valenzuela complained to no avail. He just couldn’t defend the left hook of Acosta otherwise held his own.
Light welterweight Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez, 4-0 (3), out of Hasbrouck, NJ A, lived up to his nickname in stopping Angel Figueroa, 3-1-1 (0), of Lorain, OH, at the end of the 2nd round. He scored 3 knockdowns in the 1st round. He is a fighter to be watched.
In the opening round Rodriguez used a vicious body assault dropping Figueroa 3 times. Referee Brown may have come close to stopping it but in giving Figueroa extra time he was able to last the round out. In the second round Rodriguez continued his attack with Figueroa doing his best which was not enough and didn’t come out for the 3rd round.
Lupe Contreras did his usual fine ring announcing. This Top Rank promotion had the first 4 matches well matched with a main event that wasn’t from the time the contracts were signed.
Please send all questions and comments to Ken Hissner at: Kenhissner@gmail.com
Ken Hissner responds to all his emails at: kenhissner@gmail.com |
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