A sellout crowd at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine enjoyed an exciting night of boxing, returning to the venue for the first time in three decades.
In spite of losing the main event on the scales when ranked bantamweight Dylan Price was unable to make his contracted weight against tough journeyman Ernesto Irias, the co-feature turned out to be an excellent main event, with Las Vegas’s Britton Norwood, 17-5-1, 10 KOs upsetting 21-2-3 Kendrick Ball, Jr from nearby Worcester, MA over 10 exciting rounds.
Down from a counter left hook in the first, Norwood easily beat the count, pressing the action with an aggressive attach as well as crisp counter combinations, dropping the taller Ball hard as well as knocking him out of the ring in to the laps of matchmaker Mark Vaz and alternate referee Melissa Kelly sitting at ringside.
Norwood’s clean punching dominated most of the fight, although Ball certainly had his moments, landing effective body punches throughout, but not enough to sway the judges who gave the bout unanimously to Norwood.
In the 8 round co, local favorite Casey Streeter surprisingly stopped the usually durable Jimmy Williams in the first round. The round began give and take, with both fighters landing as well as receiving until a sharp combination from Streeter buckled Williams’ knees. Seeing his opponent was hurt, he immediately pounced on him, landing clean, effective punches sending Williams reeling across the ring and to the canvas. Beating the count on very unsteady legs, referee Melissa Kelly attempted to allow him to step forward to appraise his condition, but when it was apparent he was unable to continue, she wisely stopped the fight. Streeter improves to 12-1-1 while Williams dropps to 18-15-2.
Maine’s favorite boxer, Brandon Berry, 28-7-2, 19 KOs fighting out of West Forks, Maine easily outworked Brazilian Aelio Mesquita, 21-14-1 over 6 entertaining rounds. Berry boxed in a workman-like fashion, landing cleanly and while Mesquita was able to land the occasional combination and do enough to keep it interesting, Berry clearly outworked him, to the delight of his loyal fans.
In what as expected to be a distance fight as neither boxer had previously scored a knockout, New Yorker Feifilimai Faiva picked up her first KO, bringing her record to 6-0-1, 1 KO with a stunning stoppage of Austin’s Destiny Jones, 5-3. Picture, if you will, really fast rock-em, sock- em robots and you have the fight, all minute and a half of it. Both women came out blazing, firing non-stop punches at each other with little regard for defense. It was Faiva, originally from Somoa, who came out ahead, landing a vicious combination to the jaw of Jones, putting her to the canvas. Beating the count but clearly hurt, the bout was stopped, preventing her from taking what could have been damaging shots.
2024 US Amateur and National Golden Gloves Champion Marco Romero of Kansas City made a successful pro debut scoring a first round TKO over 2-1 Jonathan Gary of Oklahoma City. Looking the accomplished, smooth boxing amateur that he is, Romero dominated from the
start, showing great defense, clean punching, and outstanding ring generalship. The handsome, affable 18-year old has the potential to become boxing’s next superstar. You read it here first! In the opening bout of the evening, Portland Boxing Club’s Wade Faria stopped Boston’s Igor Pessoa in the second round, starting his professional career with a nice win. A former New England Golden Gloves Champ, trained and managed by Maine’s Mr. Boxing Bob Russo, Faria showed poise, skill, and power putting clean, accurate shots together.
Promoter Art Pellulo of Banner Promotions was thrilled with the evening. “A great experience from start to finish,” said he veteran promoter. Bobby Russo and matchmaker Mark Vaz made this a great night for Banner Promotions, the Cross Insurance Arena, and the city of Portland. I hope to return to Maine again.”