Hart, Jennings win Philly ring wars

By John DiSanto at ringside
Photo:Darryl Cobb Jr.

North Philly super middleweight Jesse Hart, 24-1, 20 KOs, scored a seventh round TKO over Demond Nicholson of Laurel, MD, 18-3-1, 17 KOs, on Saturday night at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA. Nicholson hurt Hart with a right in the first, but Hart dominated most of the action on this night. Hart dropped Nicholson twice in round three and then finished the fight in round seven of the scheduled 10-rounder. In the seventh, Hart wobbled Nicholson, and Demon squatted down, touching both gloves on the mat. Referee Shawn Clark did not call it a knockdown. Nicholson got up and when the fight resumed, Hart swarmed him, drove him across the ring, and put him down again. Nicholson refused to get up and Clark waved the fight to an end at 2:26 of the seventh. The win earned Hart the vacant NABF super middleweight title.

North Philly’s Bryant Jennings, 23-2, 13 KOs, defeated Tacony’s Joey Dawejko, 19-5-4, 11 KOs, by 10-round unanimous decision to win the vacant PA State heavyweight title. The first half of the all-Philly fight was fairly close. However, Jennings pulled away in the second half to nail down the victory. Both fighters landed many good shots, but Jennings was the clear winner. All three judges scored the bout 98-92 for Bryant. My tally was a point closer, 97-93.

In the final off-TV bout, Newark, NJ southpaw featherweight Shakur Stevenson, 6-0, 3 KOs, issued Atlanta’s Patrick Riley his first-ever defeat, 12-1, 6 KOs, stopping him at 1:35 of round two. In the second, the Olympic Silver Medalist dropped Riley with a pair of lefts. Riley got up, but Stevenson jumped right on him. After Shakur landed a flurry, referee Shawn Clark stepped and stopped the fight.

Olympic Gold Medalist Robson Conceicao, of Brazil, 7-0, 4 KOs, won a lopsided unanimous decision over Canadian Alex Rynn Torres, 6-2, 3 KOs, in their 6-round junior lightweight bout. All three official judges scored the fight a 60-54 shutout.

Local bantamweight Christian Carto improved his record to 15-0, 11 KOs, but had to work hard for it against Edwin Rodriguez of Ponce, PR, 8-5-1, 4 KOs. Carto won a competitive 8-round unanimous decision by scores of 78-74 and 77-75 twice, in clearly the toughest fight of his young career.

In an eight round junior welterweight bout, Kent Cruz, St. Louis, MO, 14-0-1, 9 KOs, and Mexican Mohamed Rodriguez, 10-4-1, 4 KOs fought to a majority draw. The scores were 78-74 for Cruz, 77-75 for Rodriguez, and 76-76 even.

Reading junior lightweight Joseph Adorno, 7-0, 7 KOs, knocked out Mexican Jorge Padron, 3-2, 3 KOs, at 1:11 of round one. Adorno landed a solid right to the body and Padron went down. There, from a kneeling position, he took the full ten count from referee Shawn Clark.

In the opening bout, Marcel Rivers of North Philadelphia, 5-0, 4 KOs, won by TKO in round two over New Yorker Ronald Logan. Rivers was in control of the bout from the start. Early in the second, the fighters clashed in the red corner and Logan fell to the canvas. Referee Gary Rosato ruled it a slip (no punch landed). However when Logan regained his feet, he grimaced and limped forward, claiming an injured ankle. When he refused to fight on, Rosato halted the fight and called it a TKO at 49 seconds of round two.

Josesito, Dirrell, Marrero, Lubin win in El Paso
Lejarraga crushes Skeete in two

Top Boxing News

PLEASE READ
We have a few rules to make our comment section more enjoyable for everyone.
1. Keep comments related to boxing.
2. Be respectful, polite and keep it clean.
3. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Offending posts will be removed.
Repeat offenders will be put on moderation.
>