By Brad Snyder

The last boxing matches in Michigan of 2022 were put on Friday night at the Soundboard inside Motor City Casino in Detroit by CLIP Productions and promoter Carlos Llinas. The Heavyweight main event had Vernon Webber make his walk to the ring dressed as the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. In green furry boxing trunks, like the Grinch, Webber took all the joy of Christmas away from his opponent, Gabriel Mota (1-3). Webber scored a 2:58 1st Round knockout after dominating the short fight. Webber improves to (6-0, 4 KOs).

The co-main event of the night had Weaver’s Boxing Gym owner, Munib Al Salmani return to the ring on short notice to face Devin Garrett (0-2). Although, Al Salmani said, after the fight, he felt rusty and would be more prepared next time to ring announcer, Kara Ro. Well, the results and the eye test showed he was more than ready and looked good. Normally a Lightweight, Al Salmani improved to (3-0, 3 KOs) with a 2nd Round TKO victory at the 1:11 mark in the Light Heavyweight bout.

Jr. Welterweight Dwane Taylor (6-0, 6 KOs) destroyed Steven Brabson (2-5, 2 KOs). In the first, Taylor landed a right that sent Brabson through the ropes causing him to be unable to beat the count by the referee. It only took 1:38 seconds of Round 1 to give Taylor the KO victory.

A debut is always special in boxing. Mohammed “Sledgehammer” Awada did what he needed to do to secure that first victory. Awada fought a tough Michael Hernandez (4-16, 1 KO). Awada had a great 1st Round. He threw a left to the head that rocked Heavyweight Hernandez. Later in the round, he moved to the right torso for damage. In Round 3, Awada, finally after all the damage he put on Hernandez, scored a 1:06 second 3rd Round KO. It secured Awada’s first win (1-0, 1 KO).

Jr. Middleweight Andre Byrd (10-13-2, 1 KO) scored a UD (57-56, 57-56, 58-55) victory over Darryl Cunningham. Cunningham scored a knockdown of Byrd in the 3rd Round, but it was not enough to help him on the scorecards, as Byrd was victorious.

Welterweight Luis Quintero (3-0, 3 KOs) scored a 1:24 TKO victory in the 1st Round over Izale Kimnle (1-3, 1 KO).

Welterweight Gordie Russ (5-0, 5 KOs) was able to knock down veteran Kevin Womack three times in the 1st Round to score a 2:45 TKO in the round. The loss drops Womack to (9-23-4, 7 KOs).

Heavyweight Dennis Vance got the better of Marcus Maulding (3-5, 3 KOs) by winning a split decision over the 4-Round contest. The judges had it (40-36-Maulding, 39-37-Vance, 39-37-Vance). The win improved Vance to (4-7, 2 KOs).

During the night, Referee Frank Garza was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by local fight fans and Detroit Boxing Jungle. Promoter Carlos Llinas was, also, awarded by the Detroit Boxing Jungle and local fight fans for having the best boxing/mma promotion in the State of Michigan.