It was a bittersweet night for welterweight contender Thomas LaManna as he won a 10-round unanimous decision over George Sosa in an entertaining bout in front of a capacity crowd at The Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City. LaManna won the WBC Silver Latino welterweight title and shortly after, the fighter known as “Cornflake” promptly announced his retirement in the ring.
“It’s over. It’s over,” said LaManna. “I put a lot of years into this. This is it. I want to thank my parents, Vinny Ponte my promoter, my trainer and everybody who have helped me along the way.”
The two traded big blows throughout the bout as Sosa came out very aggressively and was able to land some good right hands. LaManna was giving better of the two-way action, which had the sold-out crowd very enthused throughout the contest.
In round two, Sosa started to swell under his left eye. In round six, He started bleeding badly from his nose as the result of pinpoint shots from LaManna. In round six, LaManna was dominant by scoring two knockdowns from body shots. LaManna was relentless in battering Sosa all over the ring with Sosa lucky to hear the bell to culminate the round. Both guys traded hard shots down the stretch with LaManna getting the better of the action. Every so often, Sosa was able to score with hard shots, but they were few and far between.
LaManna sat down on his punches and landed thudding blows as he tried to get the stoppage.
LaManna, 147 lbs of Millville, NJ won by scores of 98-90 twice and 99-88 to raise his record to 24-2. Sosa of Reading, PA falls to 15-10.
“The body work, the distance and the jab was working for me. He was long and tall so we worked on the distance and I started to put my punches together. The body work is what put him down,”said LaManna. “I took some shots from him, but that is not what I go in wanting to do. I wore him down, worked the body, touched his arms and touched his body.”
“It feels so great to win a championship and to get that hardware.”
Then he announced that this would be his last fight.
Former world champion Imamu Mayfield and Lamont Capers slugged it out to an eight-round split draw in their cruiserweight bout. In round six, Mayfield was cut over his left eye from a punch, and Capers had bad swelling over his left eye from a headbutt. Each fighter took a card by a 77-75, tally while 3rd card read even at 76-76. Mayfield, 200 lbs of Freehold, NJ is now 26-10-3. Capers, 196 lbs of Hawley, PA is 7-10-3.
Yurik Mamedov won a six-round unanimous decision over Ariel Vasquez in a welterweight bout. Mamedov, 145.5 lbs of Brooklyn, NY won by scores of 60-54 on all cards, and is now 7-0. Vasquez, 145.3 lbs of Managua, NIC is 12-19-2.
Emmanuel Rodriguez won a four round unanimous decision over pro debuting Willie Anderson. Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Rodriguez, 119 lbs of Newark, NJ, and he is now 2-0. Anderson, 122 lbs of Paulsboro, NJ is 0-1. Anderson is the son of former Los Angeles Rams Wide Receiver Willie “Flipper” Anderson.
Vidal Rivera won a four-round unanimous decision over Weusi Johnson in a featherweight bout. Despite being cut over his left eye in round two, Rivera was able to sweep all cards to the tune of 40-36. Rivera, 128.6 lbs of Camden, NJ is now 7-0. Johnson, 130.3 lbs of Wilmington, DE is 2-5.
Frederick Julan stopped Tahlik Taylor in the 6th and final round of their light heavyweight bout. Julan landed a hard left that sent Taylor staggering back into the ropes, and the bout was stopped at 1:15. Julan, 173 lbs of Brooklyn is now 6-0 with three stoppages. Taylor, 177 lbs of Freeport, NY is 2-8.
Alvin Vermall, Jr. stopped LeMarcus Tucker in round two of their scheduled six-round cruiserweight bout. Vermall was dominant as he landed power shots from the early stages in round one. In round two, he landed three vicious shots that sent Tucker into a defenseless state, and the bout was stopped at 2:18. Vermall, Jr., 192 lbs of Catskills, NY is now 13-0-1 with 11 knockouts. Tucker is 4-3-1.
Tomas Romain win a four round majority decision over pro debuting Marcos Lugo in a lightweight bout. Romain, 131.7 lbs of Brooklyn, NY won by scores of 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38 and is now 4-1. Lugo, 131.6 lbs of Vineland, NJ is 0-1.
Nahir Albright flattened Ronald Logan in 77 seconds of their scheduled four-round junior welterweight bout. Albright landed a perfect right that sent Logan down for several minutes. Albright, 139.1 lbs of Philadelphia is 2-1 with one knockout. Logan, 140 lbs of New York, NY is 0-2.
Anthony Young won a six-round unanimous decision over Carlos Winston Velasquez in a welterweight bout. Young, 144 1/2 lbs of Pleasantville, NJ won by scores of 60-54 on all cards, and is now 18-2. Velasquez, 145 1/2 lbs of Managua, NIC is 25-30-2.
Joshafat Ortiz won a four-round unanimous decision over Sidell Blocker in a lightweight bout. Ortiz, 129 lbs of Reading, Pa won on two cards 40-36 and 39-37 and is now 2-0. Blocker, 128 lbs of Pleasantville, NJ is 1-9-1.
The 11-bout card was promoted by Rising Promotions.