By Matt Richardson and Arvin Nundloll at ringside
Photos: Emily Harney

Staten Island’s own Marcus Browne blew away Canadian Francy Ntetu in the first round of a scheduled 10-round light heavyweight match-up. Browne (21-0, 16 KO’s) came out aggressively and, in the midst of a wild combination along the ropes, dropped Ntetu (17-2, 4 KO’s) to the seat of his pants with a right. Ntetu rose unsteadily after taking a count from referee Arthur Mercante Jr. and Browne jumped on his wounded opponent.

Ntetu briefly punched back and tried to keep Browne off of him but his attempts were for naught. After Browne connected with another combination that occasionally broke through Ntetu’s guard, Mercante decided to jump in and call the fight off with Ntetu still standing. The fight lasted a total of 135 seconds.

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Adam Kownacki put up with a tough and aggressive challenger in Iago Kiladze for 6 rounds in a back-and-forth action-packed heavyweight battle before finally stopping Kiladze in round 6. Kownacki took a heavy right hook flush on the nose and began bleeding in round 1. Kiladze grew in confidence and began trading with Kownacki although showed little head movement and took too many unnecessary counter punches.

Kiladze used the ring to force Kownacki to chase him down in the second round in an attempt to slow down his opponent while getting off some heavy-handed body combinations.

By the end of the third round, Kownacki’s face resembled a war zone with a cut appearing near his right eye and blood running from his nose. Kiladze stepped off the pedal to force Kownacki to exert more energy chasing him down much to the anger of those in attendance.

Kownacki turned the fight around and knocked down Kiladze in round 4 with a sharp inside right hook. Kiladze got complacent and paid the price. Round 6 brought out a faded and fatigued Kiladze as he was unable to land anything meaningful and was being tagged by nearly every shot Kownacki threw. After an uppercut stunned him, Kownacki followed up with a sharp right hook again that floored Kiladze. The ringside doctor had seen enough and stopped the fight even though Kiladze beat the count. Official time of the stoppage was 2:48 in round 6. Adam Kownacki is now 17-0, 14 KOs while Iago Kiladze is 26-2, 18 KO.

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Ivan Golub gave a thrilling, knockdown fueled bout against Fidel Monterrosa in a junior middleweight bout scheduled for 6 rounds. After a quiet 1st round, Monterrosa delivered a flash knockdown to Golub in round 2 but Golub returned the favor, twice! First knockdown through a right to the head and the second being a brutal left hook to the body. Golub delivered another knockdown in round 3 with a crisp right hook and followed up with shots to the body that left Monterrosa helpless. The end came as his corner stopped the fight in round 3, official time of 2:48.

Golub rises to 14-1, 12 KO’s while Monterrosa is now 38-15-1, 30 KO’s.

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In the first swing bout of the night, Matthew Gonzalez took a game Alexander Serna the full distance in their 4 round welterweight bout. Gonzalez dominated the fight from start to finish and had Serna fighting on the back foot the entire time. No surprises with the scorecards as they all awarded the fight to Gonzalez by way of 40-36 all round. Gonzalez is now 3-0, 2 KO’s while Serna drops to 1-2, 1 KO.

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Bantamweight prospect Dylan Price made easy work of Nestor Ramos when the latter decided not to come out for the second round of a scheduled four. Price (5-0, 5 KO’s) had his way with Ramos in the early going but didn’t dominate so dramatically that a stoppage or knockout was threatened. But Ramos (7-8-3, 3 KO’s) decided three minutes was enough action and remained on his stool, prompting referee Sharda Murdaugh to call the fight off.

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Anthony Peterson, Lamont’s brother, chugged along the comeback trail in the second fight of the night, winning a 10-round unanimous decision against journeyman Luis Eduardo Florez in a 140-pound fight. Peterson (38-1, 24 KO’s) was effective if not scintillating; putting on a workman-like performance to earn shut-out scores of 100-90 (twice) and 100-89. Florez (23-9, 19 KO’s) had trouble figuring Peterson and was largely outworked and outboxed. He did have one fleeting moment of success in the ninth, though, when Peterson got rocked after absorbing a hard, flush right. But Peterson, boxing for the first time since 2016, recovered well and connected with his own series of hooks to Florez’s mid-section at the end of the frame.

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Welterweights Keeshawn Williams and Denis Okoth fought to a spirited four-round draw in the first fight of the evening. Judges scores read 39-37 for Williams, 39-37 for Okoth and 38-38. Both men came into the fight with identical records and both left with the same: 1-0-1, 1 KO. There were no knockdowns in the fight.