By Bob Caico at ringside
Light heavyweight Callum “The One” Johnson of England dominated Sean Monaghan of New York early and often and stopped him at :23 seconds of round three. In the first round, Johnson came out with punishing body shots and straight right hands. The beating continued in the second round and a counter right hand finally dropped Monaghan. A follow-up barrage had Monaghan reeling and dropped again only to be saved by the bell after an eight count. Sensing the end Johnson overwhelmed Monaghan from the opening gong for round three finally forcing the referee to call a halt. Johnson improves to 18-1 with his 13th stoppage. Monaghan must reassess now at 29-3.
#7 WBA, #11 IBF and #15 WBC rated heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin (15-0, 11 KOs) of Russia defeated game Joey Dawejko (19-7-4) of Philadelphia by a majority 10-round decision. The fight was a chess match that had more feinting and taunting than punches landed over the first half of the fight. Kuzman landed some jabs that put a mouse under Dawejko’s left eye while Dawejko landed one shot at a time to Kuzman’s body. In the later rounds Kuzman began to land more combinations and that seemed to swing the fight his way. Dawejko took the fight on two weeks’ notice and that may account for some sluggishness on his part. Scores were 95-95, 96-94 and 96-94. With the win Kuzmin keeps the WBA Inter-continental title.
In the walkout bout, light heavyweight Junior Younan of Brooklyn defeated journeyman Derek “Superman” Findley by unanimous six-round decision. Youman raised his record to 15-0-1, 10 KOs while Findley who came to fight drops to 30-25-1. Scores were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.
Israil “The Dream” Madrimov of Uzbekistan overwhelmed Frank Rojas of Venezuela in a 10-round battle for the WBA Inter-Continental super welterweight belt. Madrimov pushed down Rojas in the second round a hit him with a grazing blow as he was down. Referee Benjy Esteves warned Madrimov and gave Rojas a minute to recover. Madrimov immediately landed a combinations that dropped Rojas in the corner. The follow up barrage was scary as Madrimov landed a right uppercut followed by a left hook that had Rojas unconscious as he hit the canvas. A stretcher was called to carry Rojas out of the ring. Time was 1:56. Madrimov is now 2-0 with two KOs as Rojas drops to 24-5.
Lightweight Otha Jones of Toledo, OH won his professional debut over Giorgi Gelashvili of Brooklyn, NY. Jones recently decided to turn pro after he amassed 280 wins as an amateur in just under 300 fights, winning 13 National titles and representing the USA national team in multiple tournaments around the world. Although he won the decision by 59-53 and 58-55 twice this was hardly in easy bout for a six-round debut. After Otha took the first round Gelashvili responded by throwing combinations to the body and head in the preceding rounds. In the fourth round Jones was credited with a knockdown even though he stepped on Gelashvili foot. The fight was very competitive and Gelashvili (5-2) can hold his head high.
In the opening bout at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY, Nikita “White Chocolate” Ababiy of Brooklyn, NY tore into Cory Dulaney (5-9-3) of Whitehall, OH forcing a stoppage at 3:00 of round one. Ababiy went to work on the body with powerful accuracy knocking down his opponent two minutes into the fight. A left hook to the body and an overhand right dropped Dulaney for a second time as the 10-second warning was issued. While he struggled to stand upright after an eight-count referee Gary Rosado waved off the contest. White Chocolate improves to 3-0 all by KO.