By John DiSanto at ringside
Photos: Darryl Cobbs Jr.
In the main event, Dominican Ricardo Garcia, 14-3-1, 9 KOs, and North Philly’s Tyrone Crawley Jr., 7-1-1, fought to an eight round draw in their junior welterweight fight for the WBF title belt on Friday night at Philadelphia’s Sugar House Casino.
Garcia had the edge on my scorecard, but only led on one of the official tallies after eight rounds. The other two judges had the fight 76-76, making the result a majority draw. The nine bout card was promoted by Marshall Kauffman’s Kings Promotions.
In the co-feature bout, Eric Moon, 8-1, 6 KOs, came from Marietta, GA and upset Philly’s Christopher Brooker, 13-6, 5 KOs, in their eight round super middleweight fight. The action was two-way, but Moon landed the more telling blows, hurting Brooker more than once. Moon built an early lead and stayed ahead when Brooker stepped on the gas late in the bout. Moon captured the decision by scores of 78-74 and 77-75 twice.
Philly welterweight Poindexter Knight, 5-0, 2 KOs, defeated tough and awkward Alabamian Greg (Averil) Young, 4-1, 1 KO, by unanimous decision in their six rounder. Knight chased and fired away at Young all night long. He landed often, but Young was a puzzle. In round five, southpaw Knight caught Young with a perfect right hook that dropped him, but only momentarily. Young got up and withstood a storm of punches to survive the round. Knight dominated the final round, but never had Young on the brink again. All scores were 60-53.
In an all-Pennsylvania battle between two young junior lightweights, Reading’s Joshafat Ortiz, 5-0, 3 KOs, dropped Philadelphian Javier Oquendo, 3-1, 1 KO, in round three and stopped him moments later. After winning the first two action packed rounds, Ortiz began landing freely in the third. His blows landed with more and more authority until a sharp right sent Oquendo down. He rose, but Ortiz jumped right on him and after a few more telling shots hit home, referee Shawn Clark stopped the fight. The time was 2:06 of the third.
Philly welterweight Rasheed Johnson, 4-2, 1 KO, pitched a six round shutout over Tony Morris of Jacksonville, FL, 4-2–1, 2 KOs. All three official scores were 60-54.
2016 Olympian Paul Kroll, 1-0, 1 KO, North Philly, stopped DeAngelo Alcorn, 0-2, after just 2:33 in round one. Kroll pounded the Arkansas fighter with heavy power shots, nearly knocking him down several times. Finally, after a hard right hand buckled Alcorn in a neural corner, referee Shawn Clark halted the bout.
West Philly’s Rasheen Brown, 1-0, made a flashy and impressive pro debut with a four round unanimous decision over Texan Bryann Perez, 2-11-1, 1 KO. Brown looked sharp and withstood a final round, last-ditch onslaught by Perez to win on the cards by scores of 39-37 and 40-36 twice.
In a four round junior middleweight bout, James Martin of Philadelphia, 2-0, spoiled the pro debut of Hagerstown, MD’s Jonathan Burrs, 0-1, winning an exciting but lopsided unanimous decision. All three scores were 40-36.
In the bruising show-opener, Jersey City heavyweight Nicoy Clarke, 2-1, beat debuting Jose Nunez of Reading, PA, 0-1, by majority four round decision. The scores were 38-38, 39-37, and 40-36.
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