By John DiSanto at ringside
Photos: Darryl Cobb Jr.
In the scheduled 8-round main event, junior lightweight Avery Sparrow, 10-1, 4 KOs, knocked down Mexican Jesus Serrano, 17-6-2, 12 KOs, twice in the second round and stopped him at 2:17 of that round. Sparrow won the opening round before pouring it on in the second.
A series of shots weakened Serrano before a left hook put him down for the first time. Moments later another extended series sent The Mexican down again. Serrano got up, but Sparrow met him with more punishment, and referee Gary Rosado stepped in.
In the 8-round semi-final, Irish lightweight John Joe Nevin, 10-0, 4 KOs, remained undefeated with a one-sided points win over Canada-based Alex Torres Rynn, 6-1, 3 KOs. Nevin was in control throughout and won by easy scores of 79-73 and 80-72 twice.
In the walkout bout, lightweight Tyrone Luckey, Neptune, NJ, 9-8-2, 7 KOs, shocked Philly’s Jerome Conquest, 9-3, 1 KO, dropping him twice and scoring a TKO after just 2:43. The referee was Gary Rosato.
In an entertaining 6-round junior middleweight fight, Cherry Hill, NJ spoiler Anthony Prescott, 8-8-2, 2 KOs, dropped Philly’s Isaiah Wise, 6-2, 3 KOs, in round two, and went on to win a close split decision. Wise bounced back from the knockdown well, winning three rounds in the middle of the fight. However, his surge could only sway one of the official judges his way. James Kinney favored Wise 57-56, but Dave Braslow (57-56) and Anthony Lundy (59-54) overruled. My score was 57-56 for Prescott.
North Philly welterweight Marcel Rivers, 4-0, 2 KOs, stopped Rafael DeJesus of Puerto Rico, 0-2, at the end of round two. Rivers dropped DeJesus with a combination in the second, but the visitor survived. Near the end of the round, it appeared referee Steve Smoger was ready to stop it, but the bell sounded. However, as soon as DeJesus returned to his corner the bout was stopped. The time was 3:00 of the second round.
In a 4-round lightweight contest, Elmira, NY’s Vinnie DeNierio, 3-4, 1 KO, won an unpopular split decision over Gerardo Martinez, Coatesville, PA, 2-2, 1 KO. All three judges saw the fight 39-37, two for DeNierio and one for Martinez.
In the first-ever bout at the Parx Casino Xcite Center in Bensalem, PA, Nahir Albright, Sicklerville, NJ, 3-1, 1 KO, beat New Yorker Sidney Maccow, 3-8, 2 KOs, by unanimous decision in their 4-round junior welterweight bout. Albright nearly ended the fight in the first when he dropped his opponent twice with right hands. However, Maccow survived and even fought back well in the remaining rounds. After four, all three judges had Albright ahead by a mile, 39-35 and 40-34 twice. I saw the fight a bit closer for Albright, 38-36.
