Report/Photos: Scott Foster
Saturday night Reyes Fire Fist Boxing, in conjunction with the Hilton Carillon in St. Petersburg, FL, continued their championship series, “Fire on the Bay.” Headlining the eight-bout card, Ireland-born/Florida-based WBA #4 middleweight Conner “The Kid” Coyle (19-0, 9 KOs) made the second defense of his NABF title, dispatching the typically durable Christian Fabian Rios (23-17, 3 KOs). Coyle showed patience early, establishing the jab to control the movement of the southpaw Rios. By the middle rounds, steady bodywork from Coyle began to sap the strength of Rios, allowing for more exchanges that were typically punctuated by Conner’s lead right hands. At the conclusion of the scheduled ten rounds, all judges saw the bout the same, 100-90 for Coyle who retained his NABF title and now appears poised to vie for the world title.
Undercard results:
Luke Iannucci TKO2 Christopher Wright
Rodrigo Coria UD6 Marcelo
Mike Misa TKO2 Russ Sherman
William Silva TKO1 Diego Gonzaldo
LuqueImran Haddabush TKO1 Scott Lampert
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Another stay in front of me opponent.
Time for a real step-up for Coyle. He has the talent, so stop holding him back.
I completely agree Bruce. I was happy when they made the Felix Cash fight, but since that fell out it’s been back to normal in terms of who Coyle is fighting – just no one in particular. He’ll be 33 years old in a minute: It’s time to shoot his shot.
middleweight is bit too rough at the higher levels. For now they can make him a local fan favorite and a fighter the Irish fans can get behind.
They’re running out of time NJ, don’t want to wait too long.