By Kurt Wolfheimer at ringside
Gabriel “GPham” Pham (12-2, 5 KOs) won a cross roads battle of New Jersey super middleweights as he dropped Derrick “Take it to the Bank” Webster (28-3, 14 KOs) twice on his way to a solid eight round unanimous decision victory at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey before a near sellout crowd on Saturday night.
Pham of Pleasantville, New Jersey dropped the heavily favored Webster in the opening round with a straight left. The shot seemed to give Pham more confidence, while Webster settled for a few jabs and boxing from distance. The bout really changed late in the third round as a wide Pham left hand on the button put Webster down to the canvas for the second time. This time Webster rose to his feet, but he was badly hurt. The bell sounded before any more damage could be done. From that point on, Webster could only mount a few flurries and Pham would counter with a few heavy shots to end the rallies by the Glassboro native. All three judges scored it solidly in favor of Gabriel Pham by scores of 77-73 and 78-72 x 2 for the well-deserved eight round unanimous decision victory.
In the co-feature of the evening of the six-bout card, Hard Hitting Promotions own lightweight sensation “King” Jeremy Cuevas (13-1, 10 KOs) scored an explosive second round knockout of the more experienced Argentinian Nestor Hugo Paniagua (26-10-2, 17 KOs). “King” Jeremy Cuevas ruled the squared circle on this night. His heavy hooks wore down Paniagua, before sending him to the canvas with a right under the ribs early in the second. Paniagua rose to his feet and tried to fight back. Cuevas saw an opening and unleashed an axe handle left on the chin which floored Paniagua for the ten count at 2.55 of the second round.
Undefeated super featherweight knockout artist Christian “El Hijo Del Pueblo” Tapia (11-0, 10 KOs) remained perfect with a fourth-round knockout of fellow Puerto Rican Carlos “Mongo” Colon (5-3, 3 KOs). Tapia put the pressure on throughout the second and third rounds before sending Colon to his knees with a left hook. The heavy-handed Tapia would not let him breath as he continued to batter him around the ring before a double left hook to the ribs put Colon to his knees for the ten count. The official time of the knockout was 2:02 of the fourth round.
Thomas “Stunna” Velasquez (10-0-1, 6 KOs) easily shook off over two years of ring rust with an impressive 3rd round knockout of forty-six fight veteran Gustavo “El Gusano” Molina (24-22, 9 KOs). Velasquez rocked Molina late in the second and continued the onslaught into the third. A short right backed a hurt Molina into the corner. Molina tried to cover, but a right hand-left hook combo corkscrewed him down to the canvas with his face hanging over the second rope. Referee Eddie Claudio immediately waived it off for the knockout victory at 2:48 of the third round.
Local middleweight Isiah Seldon (14-3-1, 5 KOs) bounced back to the winning side of the ledger with a second-round stoppage of Darryl Bunting (4-7-2, 2 KOs). A big Seldon right hand sent Bunting face first to the canvas in the second round. Bunting was able to get to his feet, but Seldon wouldn’t let him off the hook as he banged away with several unanswered shots until the referee stepped in and called a halt to the contest at the :34 second mark of the round.
In the opening bout of the evening, light heavyweight Benny “The Jewish Bulldog” Sinakin (6-0, 3 KOs) remained undefeated with a one-sided four round unanimous decision victory over Leroy Jones (3-8, 2 KOs) by scores of 40-34 across the board. Sinakin controlled the bout throughout with a powerful body attack. Jones was forced to constantly clinch from the powerful shots and Referee Eddie Claudio took two points for the constant holding.