By John Unland

Brandon Bea and his Wings Promotions presented a six bout card Saturday at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa. The main event was an eight rounder for the Iowa State super welterweight title between homegrown fighters Daijohn Gonzalez (8-3, 4 KOs) and Jason Phillips (3-5-2, 0 KOs).

The first round saw both men keep their distance and try to establish their jabs. Gonzalez looked to have a reach advantage and took advantage of it early. He was able to land the cleaner shots and forced Phillips to stay out of range and land the occasional counter. The second and third rounds saw Gonzalez patiently stalking and picking his shots while Phillips was able to land the occasional right hand to keep Gonzalez from landing at will. The fourth round saw both fighters pick up the pace. Gonzalez was able to land combinations behind his jab and Phillips for his part was trying to be the aggressor. Gonzalzes ended the fourth with a nice flurry that had Phillips pinned on the ropes and he carried that momentum into the fifth. Phillips came out flat footed and started dropping his hands which left huge openings for the power shots of Gonzalez. Gonzalez cut of the ring nicely and had Phillips on the ropes landing almost at will until the towel was thrown in halfway through the round. It was an impressive performance for Gonzalez.

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The co-main event saw Stephen Edwards and Carlos Barbosa meet in a 6 round light heavyweight contest. This fight has been a long time coming as these two first met in 2018 with Edwards taking a UD. This one was no different. Edwards set the tone early and dictated the pace throughout the fight. He simply outworked Barbosa and had him down twice, once in the third and again in the fifth. Edwards took it 60-52 on all three cards and improved to 19-1-1. Barbosa drops to 2-9-1 with the loss.

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Jardae Anderson put Skyler Thompson down twice in the first to pick up the knockout win in their heavyweight bout. The Davenport native Anderson is now 2-0 with 2 KOs and the veteran Thompson falls to 14-29.

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In somewhat of an upset Gilbert Gonzales, who is a former MMA fighter and a realtor by day, stopped undefeated local fighter Najee West in the second round of their super middleweight tilt. Both fighters came out aggressive, but West looked to be the more polished boxer of the two. He was landing more shots and was able to counter and land some combinations. Gonzales was able to land a few shots, but they didn’t seem to do much damage and West kept pushing forward. Towards the end of the round Gonzales went down from a vicious body shot and not only beat the count but survived until the bell. Gonzales came out aggressive to start the second and was looking to land a big right hand to end it. This strategy seemed to confuse West and he walked into an overhand right that put him on the canvas. He beat the count, but was in no condition to continue and the ref waved it off. Gonzales wins his debut and West falls to 2-1.

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The second bout of the evening saw undefeated heavyweight Dainier Pero (5-0, 3 KOs) of Cuba make quick work of Quintell Thompson (5-21) who made the short trip up from Missouri. Thompson was dancing around the ring and tried to go to the body, but his punches either missed or had no effect. The difference in skill and class was evident as Pero backed Thompson into the ropes and landed combinations at will until Thompson went down. He did not beat the count and the fight was waved off at 1:00 of the first, capping off an easy night for Pero.

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Up first was a super middleweight bout between debuting local fighters McKinze Jackson and Adam Frederick. Jackson was more aggressive and tried to dictate the pace early, but Frederick was calmer and was able to walk Jackson down. Jackson was wild and could not land much early as Frederick could easily counter, but he showed a good chin and some decent power which kept Frederick form landing at will. The first two rounds were hard to score with Frederick landing more often, but Jackson landing the harder shots. At the end of third Jackson finally connected and nearly sent Frederick through the ropes. Frederick beat count and survived the follow up of Jackson as the bell rang. Early in the fourth and final round Frederick appeared to dislocate his right shoulder and the bout was waved off. Jackon picks up the TKO in his debut to start his career at 1-0, while Frederick starts off 0-1. If Jackson can learn to fight more controlled and with a little more finesse he might be able to make some noise on the local scene.