Report and Photos by Bob Ryder

Albert “Prince” Bell scored a destructive second round TKO over Jayson Velez at Toledo’s Glass City Center Saturday night. Despite his post-fight statement to the contrary (“I just wanted to put on a performance”) Bell seemed much more intent on scoring a stoppage win than usual. Sometimes criticized for his perceived lack of power, Bell jumped on Velez quickly. Velez went to the mat in the first round in a flash knockdown and did not seem to be badly hurt. In the second round, however, Bell really poured it on. He opened up a bloody gash over Jayson’s left eye and floored him heavily for a second knockdown in the fight. Velez arose only to be again sent down hard requiring referee James Easter to immediately rush in and wave off the bout at 1:39 of the round.

Bell’s speed and precession punching did not allow Puerto Rico’s Velez to get any offense going as Jayson declines to (30-12-1, 21 KOs). Bell rated #1 at super featherweight with the WBO emphatically retained that spot. Bell now (25-0, 8 KOs) was understandably thrilled with his performance stating to Fightnews.com®. “I’m the best at 130 pounds in the world. It’s time for my title shot immediately!”. Bell must now wait to see what develops with WBO “Super Champion” Emanuel Navarrete who has a voluntary defense this coming week. Hopefully for Bell, his title opportunity will come sooner rather than later.

Promoter Vick Green (Pulse Boxing) had a corker of a semi-main event that also featured super feathers. Cleveland’s Thomas Mattice had all he could handle in Mexico City’s Cesar “Corazon” Juarez in their scheduled eight round bout. Juarez came out throwing punches in a nonstop attack that had Mattice trapped along the ropes. Although Juarez failed to inflict any real damage it appeared that he had taken the first couple of rounds on the scorecards as Mattice was not able to back him off. Mattice started to warm to the task in the third round, catching Juarez as he bulled in with some sharp uppercuts. The fourth round saw an extended exchange along the ropes that had the crowd cheering and it seemed to take a toll on Juarez going into the second half of the match. Mattice was timing Juarez and landing effective counters and leads. At the bell to begin the eighth and final round, Mattice moved forward and unloaded on Juarez with hard shots. He stunned Juarez and as Cesar leaned back to the ropes and dropped his hands, referee Lonnie Scott decided to step in and call a halt at :58. Game all action Juarez now (28-15, 21 KOs) while Mattice improves to (22-3-1, 17 KOs). A very entertaining fight.

An eight round super middleweight contest had Toledo’s Antwan “Lunchman” Jones matched with Argentina’s Abel Nicolas Adriel. Adriel was the aggressor as he plugged forward only to be thwarted by Jones’ solid jabs and counters. Things changed in the fourth round as Jones began to move less and sit down on his punches. A solid body blow slowed Adriel up noticeably in that round. Jones hammered Adriel with right hands in the fifth round sending him to the canvas for a knockout win at :55. Jones improves to (14-0, 8 KOs), Adriel takes the long trip back to Argentina at (27-29-3, 6 KOs).

Pontiac, Michigan’s super bantamweight hopeful Cameron Pankey (9-0, 4 KOs) gave his fans who traveled to Toledo a solid performance as he out-boxed Columbia’s Wilner Soto (23-14, 12 KOs) over the six round scheduled distance. Pankey looked much improved from his last fight as he slickly moved in and out while landing and avoiding punches. Scores were 60-54 x 2 and 59-55.

A four round super lightweight match saw David Craddock of Columbus move his record to (5-0, 2 KOs) as he used a consistent body attack to outpoint Venezuela’s Wilfredo Petit on scores of 40-36 x 3. Petit remains winless at (0-4) but his record is somewhat deceptive as he showed he can fight.

In the opening bout of the night Arrel Love (3-1, 3 KOs) scored a way too easy first round knockout at :53 over Matthew Wills (0-2).

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