By Brad Snyder/The Undercard
Photos by Bob Ryder
Promoter Carlos Llinas brought his eleventh installment of Night of Knockouts to Soundboard at Motor City Casino, Detroit, MI. The featured match up, Winford “Hot Boy” Harris posed the biggest challenge in his early career. Chatman (Chicago, IL) (19-8-1, 5 KO’s) had an opportunity to address the media before weigh ins. Chatman’s theory on winning in someone’s home state was, “Win the crowd, to win judges.”
Chatman, a very seasoned opponent having fought the likes of Jermell Charlo and Jarrett Hurd, began the fight early by crowding the much bigger Harris. Round 1 saw Harris at his potential best, as he connected late in the round with a straight right to the head and a left to the body multiple times. The middle rounds saw Chatman closing the distance. Chatman was able to begin to control the fight with locking up Harris. Often pushing him straight into the ropes with a smothering style. As promised, at the weigh ins, Chatman started showboating until the end of the fight. The 8-Round contest was an ugly fight, as Chatman was strongest throwing his left from southpaw position. But the strategy of smothering Harris, provided little to none quality of boxing. Chatman was fired up in Round 7, yelling before the bell, “This is my time!” But quickly, he let up his aggressive style. Harris looked his best since the 1st in the 7th and 8th. The last round showed Harris’ inexperience, as he was cocking his right hand looking to fire a one shot knockout. There is no question that Harris is the more talented of the two fighters. But this type of a fight showed he is young and still working on the finished product. He has sky high potential. Harris won a UD (77-75, 78-74, 78-74) over Chatman. The hometown crowd let out a mix of cheers and boos over a very close decision. Harris, who will be a force in the boxing world, showed signs of needing some more work and his team echoed the sentiment to me after the fight.
In the co-main event, Carlos Llinas proved his magic of getting undefeated local boxers to face off against each other, again. It is a tough thing to do in Michigan. The past year, Llinas has been able to produce a heavyweight, undefeated fight between two top prospects. This current installment of accomplishing the impossible featured former National Golden Glove Champion, Isiah Jones, facing off against the tough Antonio Wade in an 8-Round middleweight fight. Jones possessed more ring generalship, often backing up Wade to the ropes. The fight’s main storyline was Wade’s inability to find a way in to connect to Jones. Jones did a great job in the fight of keeping Wade off of him. Round 3, the most exciting of the bout, featured both fighters landing at the same time and Wade connecting with a sweeping right, then a quick left. Jones answered in the round with shots of his own. The later rounds showed Jones’ ability to stay out of Wade’s reach and make him miss his shots more often. And if Jones was better at winning the rounds, it was only by a small margin, because both continued to fight until the very end. The first 8-Round bout of both fighter’s career, and both showed great cardio and heart in Round 8. Jones won by UD (79-77, 80-72, 78-74) to win the UBF title. Wade (4-1, 3 KO’s) showed class in the post-fight interview, saying, “No excuses. He was better tonight.” The win improves Jones to (5-0, 3 KO’s).
Other highlights of the night, showed a battle of the ages as Erskine Wade (57 years old) and Father Time took on Darryl Cunningham (43 years old) in a 6-Round middleweight contest. Wade, the father of co-main event star, Antonio Wade, was not able to answer the bell before the 5th, as his right hand got injured early in the fight. Cunningham, who matched Wade’s eagerness to put on a good fight, won by TKO to improve to (37-9, 15 KO’s). Wade, who had not fought since 1994, was content with the outcome and proved he still had some skill left in the tank.
A rematch between John Chalbeck and Rick Morais at the middleweight mark, now moved from 4 rounds to a 6-Rounder this time around. Chalbeck knocked down Morais three times before Referee Patrick Schmidt stopped the fight at the 2:03 mark of the 3rd Round. The TKO victory improved Chalbeck to (8-0, 6 KO’s). The very tough Morais drops to (2-9).
Mohamed Adam improved to (10-0, 8 KO’s) with a 52 second knockout victory in the 2nd Round over Darroyl Humphrey (3-12, 1 KO). The always entertaining, Adam brought is huge fan base to the Soundboard and had the place rocking over the quick bout. Adam, now, looks for a bigger challenge in the lightweight division.
Dwayne Williams improves to (6-7-1, 3 KO’s) by defeating Ray Darden. Darden, who continued to take knees during the fight, argued with Ref Patrick Schmidt, as he ruled them knockdowns. Darden falls to (13-24, 4 KO’s) after his 26 second mark TKO of the 3rd Round, in the light heavyweight division.
Middleweight Derrick Coleman had a successful debut with Referee Steve Daher waving off the fight at the 1:23 mark, due to three knockdowns of opponent Rakim Johnson. The 1st Round loss dropped Johnson to (1-7-1, 1 KO).
