By Brad Snyder-The Undercard
Photos by Bob Ryder

There’s not a much better way to start off a holiday weekend than by having boxing on a Friday night. Carlos Llinas and Motor City Casino Soundboard continued their record breaking Night of Knockouts with the 22nd show of the series to a loud crowd Friday night in Detroit. The bouts scheduled allowed some boxers to step up in their game. While for others, it proved to be a test in their boxing career.

The main event had Derick Miller Jr. vs. Joe Jones giving the crowd a huge display of their hatred for each other. Jones, who was a big step up for Miller, came to fight. Miller came to defend his home venue.

Round 1 had the Cruiserweights feeling each other out. Round 2 had Jones able to connect more, as Miller saved the round in his favor by outboxing his opponent. And then, mid-fight Referee Frank Garza deducted a point from Jones. The point deduction was believed to come from Jones’ disorderly conduct in the ring. Jones, now distracted, shouted, “They are cheating for your (explicit)!” The crowd ate this up. They loved the heated round 5. Miller, who fell to the canvas a couple times due to clinching or pushing by Jones, was still able to capitalize on a very distracted Jones. Jones never got over the point deduction and Miller scored often. The judges all thought Miller was dominant, scoring the UD win for Miller (58-55, 58-55, 58-54). The win improves Miller to (9-0, 6 KOs), as Jones fell to (13-6, 10 KOs).

Heavyweight Vernon Webber (4-0, 2 KOs) went against a tough fighter in Dennis Vance Jr. Record aside, Vance has been known to go the distance with top Heavyweights. Webber scored an early knockdown of Vance in the 1st round. Round 2 proved much more even. And the last two rounds had Webber pull away with ring control and a right. The UD victory for Webber drops Vance to (1-6, 1 KO).

Akeem Jackson (6-5, 5 KOs) was all smiles late in the casino, Friday night. The lightweight came in and shocked the crowd by defeating Samuel Rizzo (3-1, 3 KOs) by UD (38-36, 38-37, 38-36). Jackson scoring two knockdowns, one in the 2nd and another in the 3rd to dominate on the cards. Rizzo still has a bright future. A loss does not bury a fighter. He will learn from the setback.

Super lightweight Dwane “Street Fighter” Taylor scored a 1st round KO over his opponent Steven Merrill (0-4). There were two knockdowns and on the second on Merrill could not beat Referee Steve Daher’s count at the 1:58 mark of the round. The win puts Taylor on the path to bigger fights and improves him to (5-0, 5 KOs).

Darryl Cunningham (44-10, 19 KOs) proved, age aside, that he still can put on a show, bring a crowd and win. The middleweight added another win by defeating Kevin Womack Jr. (9-21-4, 7 KOs) (57-57, 58-56, 59-55) for the Majority Decision.

Super welterweight Ermal Hadribeaj (14-0, 6 KOs) scored a knockdown in the 3rd of his opponent Charles Stanford (6-5, 3 KOs) and coasted to an easy UD victory (80-71, 80-71, 80-70).

A draw was scored for Garrett Ross (3-1-1) and fellow super welterweight McKinley Smith (0-2-1) with all three scored cards coming back (38-38, 38-38, 38-38).

Luis Quintero won by TKO at the 2:30 mark of the 1st Round by defeating welterweight John Birdsong (0-1). The win improves Quintero to (1-0, 1 KO).

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