Saturday night at Resorts World Casino NYC in Queens, NY, Evander Holyfield’s The Real Deal Boxing presented a thrilling eight-bout card to a capacity crowd of over 2,000 people.
Headlining the event was a battle for the Jr. NABF Middleweight title between Kingston, Jamaica’s Kemahl Russell and Patterson, NJ native Ian Green. In his most impressive outing to date, Russell stopped the very game Green in the seventh round of a scheduled eight-round bout. Russell was in control from the outset as he stalked Green, landing hard shots to the body and head. The assault continued over the next few rounds as Russell continually backed up Green hurting him on several occasions. Green valiantly tried to stand his ground but the ringside doctors had seen enough and stopped the contest in the seventh round. Russell improves to 12-1. 10 KO’s as he wins the Jr. NABF Middleweight title while Green falls to 12-2, 9 KO’s.
The co-feature of the evening was an eight-rounder that saw Queens native Devaun Lee (now 9-2-1, 4 KO’s) score an impressive fourth round TKO over former World Title Challenger Giovanni Lorenzo (now 37-8, 28 KO’s), from Washington Heights, NY via the Dominican Republic. The action was hot from the outset as both fighters traded freely until the 4th round as Lee caught Lorenzo with a devastating combination that forced the referee to call a halt to the action.
Fan-favorite and Real Deal’s newly-signed phenom Edgar “The Chosen One” Berlanga improved to 5-0 5 KO’s with a sensational first round knockout of previously undefeated Saadiq Muhammad, who falls to 4-1. The NYC native Berlanga caught the Rochester, NY fighter right off the bat with a left hook dropping Muhammad and followed up with a devastating right hand which knocked Muhammad out cold. Muhammad stayed on the canvas for several minutes but thankfully rose to his feet as the sellout crowd gave him a nice round of applause.
In other bouts, Julian Sosa, (9-0-1, 3 KO’s), from Brooklyn, NY had to work hard in capturing a six-round decision over rugged veteran James Lester, (11-13-1,4KO’s), from Detroit, MI, in a Welterweight matchup.
In a four round Super Bantamweight scrap, Yemen native now living in Brooklyn, Khalid Twaiti improved to 2-0, 1 KO as he outworked the very game Rigoberto Miranda, 0-5-2, Bronx, NY.
Another transplanted Yemen fighter Salem Almuaki, currently residing in Queens, NY, looked spectacular taking out Assel Lashoon, 0-1, Bronx, NY, with a crushing overhand right in the first round of a bout scheduled for four rounds in the Super Bantamweight division. Almuaki goes to 1-0 1KO.
Greg Outlaw, 4-0 1 KO, who came up from Bowie, MD and Sidney Maccow, 4-7 3 KO’s, out of NYC, NY engaged in a highly-entertaining six round Jr. Welterweight fight which saw the Maryland native squeak out a unanimous decision victory, 59-56, and 58-56 on the other 2 judges scorecards.
Cesar Francis, 2-0 1KO, Brooklyn, NY blasted out pro debuter Eduardo Rodriguez, 0-1, NYC, NY.
Real Deal Sports & Entertainment COO Eric Bentley had these comments after the nights’ festivities “This is more than we could have hoped with our New York debut. All the hard work that went into this event by our amazing staff and fighters showed that there is a place for grassroots boxing in New York. I’m very proud of these fighters, each of them taking a chance and testing themselves in competitive fights. Edgar Berlanga is a superstar, mark my words: he will be a world champion one day. How many young prospects are willing to step up and fight another one? Much respect to both him and Saadiq for their competitive spirit. Also, Kemahl Russell and Devaun Lee just put the middleweight division on notice with their very impressive victories. We’re excited to keep bringing these types of events to New York and we’re only going to get better.”
Evander Holyfield, co-founder of the company, had this to say: “Wow was this an exciting night or what? What a great crowd and these young men who fought tonight put on a great show; that’s what this is company is about. Competitive fights, opportunities, and excitement… let’s do it again.”
The first part of the fights streamed live on Facebook through the FightNight Live Platform with the final 3 bouts streamed live on The Real Deal Boxing site, www.therealdealboxing.com.
The next Real Deal Championship boxing event is scheduled for September 28th in Louisville, KY. The card will feature Toka Kahn Clary (22-1, 16 KO) vs Braulio Rodriguez (19-2, 17 KO) for the WBC Continental Americas Featherweight Title, and the co-feature will include Duke Micah (20-0, 18 KO) vs Mario Diaz (16-1, 6 KO) for Micah’s WBC International Bantamweight Title. Also on the card will be Joshua Davis (11-1, 5 KO) vs Ray Lampkin (10-0, 4 KO) and Real Deal’s newest prospect Joshua Temple (4-0,4 KO) taking on fellow undefeated prospect Bryan Daniel (5-0, 3 KO). The card will also feature 3 of Real Deal’s top prospects JaNelson Bocachica, the pro debut of Justin “The Brooklyn Torch” Biggs, and Louisville’s own Carlos Dixon.