By Matt Thompson at ringside
Photos: Emily Harney
Hartford CT’s Charles Foster won the vacant North American Boxing Association’s Light Heavyweight title tonight with a unanimous decision over Baton Rogue’s Justin Thomas in 10 spirited rounds in the main event of Murphys Boxing’s championship boxing series at Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Uncasville CT.
Foster, weighing in at 174 looked sharp throughout, maintaining optimum punching range and landing both to the head and body of the aggressive Thomas. Dropping Thomas in the second with a nicely timed straight left, Foster maintained the lead utilizing excellent movement and connecting accurate combinations up and down to walk away with the victory and belt by scores of 100-89 across the board. Foster improves to 15-0, 8 KOs while Thomas drops to 19-4 5 KOs.
In the scheduled 8 round co-feature, Wexford, Ireland’s Niall Kennedy impressed as he pounded away to the head and body of Oklahoma’s Aaron Chavers, 8-4-1, 3 KOs hurting Chavers badly to the body, prompting the referee to stop the bout at 1:04 of the 3rd round. Kennedy, weighing in at a svelte 226, looked more like a middleweight by virtue of his excellent hand speed, combination punching, and head movement, setting up brutal combinations to the competent but overgunned Chavers. Digging body shots that had the audience flinching along with his opponent, Kennedy kept the pressure finishing the fight with determination. Kennedy remains undefeated at 11-0, 7 KOs.
William Foster III, younger brother of newly crowned NABA light heavyweight champ Charles, looked impressive stopping Chiapas Mexico’s Jesus Zunan Ramirez at 2:27 of the first round. Southpaw Ramirez came out aggressive but proved no match for the lightning-fast Foster who basically landed at will, dropping his foe 3 times before the referee mercifully halted the action. Foster improves to 5-0, 4 KOs while Ramirez stands at 4-3.
Former Ecuadorian Olympian Carlos Gongora picked up his 11th win in as many contests with a one-sided decision over journeyman Derrick Findlay, 26-23-1. Taking the fight on a day’s notice, Findlay did press the action when he could, throwing shots to the body but the smart boxing Gongora easily piled up the points, landing combinations up and down and picking up the shutout victory. Weighing in at 164, Gongora intends to drop to middleweight where he feels he will be far more effective than at light heavy where he began his career. To his credit, Findlay’s walkout music was the old Australian song, “Tie Me Kangaroo Down”, certainly showing a sense of humor if nothing else.
Bridgeport CT’s Oscar Bonilla won a fun 4 round decision over Boston’s Kin Moy in the jr welterweight division. Standing and exchanging throughout, the audience cheered their hometown hero loudly encouraging him throughout the tough fight. Both took and gave somewhat evenly, but the better footwork of Bonilla gave him the distance he needed to secure the victory 39-37 x 3. He improves to 4-3-1 while Moy drops his 3rd outing.
Highly regarded Jr Lightweight Abraham Nova scored his 10th victory with 9 by KO stunning Chicago’s Tyrome Jones via a one-punch TKO at 2;20 of round 2. Jones looked confident picking his shots and displaying outstanding hand speed against the power punching Nova who looked content to seek his opening, finding it with a crunching right sending Jones to the canvas. Although he beat the count, he was still clearly shaky prompting Dan Chavone to stop the action.
Albany NY Ray Jay Bermudez, 141, improved to 3-0, 2 KO’s with a 3rd round stoppage of Marion, IL Seth Basler, 0-6 at 2:00 of round 3. Basler showed plenty of grit but unfortunately not enough skill to fight back effectively against the slick Bermudez, who is trained by his uncle the well know trainer Hector Bermudez.
Bouts were promoted by Ken Casey’s Murphys Boxing.
