By Rick Scharmberg at ringside
Late sub Kevin “The Scarecrow” Womack shocked “Jolt’N” Joey Tiberi, stopping him in the opening round of the scheduled six round junior welterweight main event last night at the packed Hockessin PAL Center in Hockessin, Delaware. With the win, Womack picked up the USBU Americas title. In the co-feature, Lamont “The Problem Solver” Singletary won the USBU North East Regional belt with an impressive one-punch KO of Hafiz “Flash” Montgomery in the fourth round of a scheduled eight round cruiserweight bout. The nine-bout card was promoted by Night Night Promotions.
When you are the co-promoter of a big night of boxing, and you are fighting in the main event, as fan favorite Joey Tiberi was, the potential is there for distraction. Throw in a late sub with a deceptive record, and you have an upset waiting to happen.
Kevin Womack (8-14-4, 6 KOs) can fight, and the stars lined up for him last night. Thin and willowy like a scarecrow, Womack fired a long, pinpoint jab from the beginning, and with Tiberi (15-3, 8 KOs) offering little head movement, he couldn’t miss with it. Womack backed Tiberi into a corner with a series of solid shots, and then put him down with a big right hand.
Tiberi got up, but was clearly hurt. It was time for him to grab, hold, and do anything within the rules to try and get thru the round. But that’s not his style. Instead he stood in front of Womack, trying to land something back. Womack connected with two big right hands that sent Tiberi down again. Joey gamely pulled himself up, but was met with Womack’s follow-up barrage, and referee Dave Braswell made a timely stop at 2:27 of the round.
Kevin Womack got the biggest win of his career, and takes a regional title belt back to Baltimore. Joey Tiberi got caught cold this time, but he can learn plenty from this night and become a better fighter from it.
Singletary stops Montgomery
In the co-feature, heavy-handed Lamont Singletary (9-2, 6 KOs) used a much improved left jab to figure out the tricky style of Hafiz Montgomery (5-2, 2 KOs). Singletary jabbed to the head and body of Montgomery from the opening bell. Montgomery tried to surprise Singletary with counter left hooks and right hands. He landed some, but Singletary always fired right back with power shots of his own.
Although he got a little wild at times, Singletary was obviously working on that in the gym. Singletary took the first two rounds, which featured some good two-way exchanges. He stuck to his game plan, and continued softening Montgomery up with hard jabs to the head and body. After Montgomery opened the third round with a hard right-left combination, Singletary’s power shots started taking its toll on Hafiz.
Singletary worked behind his jab in the first minute of the fourth round, before landing his money punch, an overhand right, on the chin of Montgomery in the center of the ring. The shot dropped Montgomery face-forward and referee Vic DeWysocki stopped the fight without a count at 1:33 of the round.
Undercard Bouts
Baldwin decisions Byers
Shamelle “Real Deal” Baldwin (1-0) was successful in her pro debut, boxing her way to a unanimous decision over Crystal “CoCo Vicious” Byers (0-2) in a four round welterweight contest. Byers came to fight but found it difficult to get inside against the taller and busier Baldwin.
Baldwin showed overall skills with good movement, and consistently beating Byers to the punch with combinations to the head and body.
Mullins decisions DeShields
Highly popular Brandon Mullins (1-0) was impressive in his pro debut, scoring a unanimous decision over Leon DeShields (0-1) in an entertaining four round super middleweight bout. DeShields was also making his pro debut.
Mullins started fast, using a variety of punches that had DeShields holding excessively by the second round. He pounded the body of DeShields throughout the round. Mullins landed a big combination to open round three. DeShields looked like he was ready to go when he started blinking his left eye in the middle of the round. Mullins began opening up with power shots, landing two nice double right hands up the middle to win the round big.
DeShields looked the worse for wear in the third round, but to his credit he finished strong and outworked Mullins and seemed to take a close final round. The scores were 40-36 (twice) and 39-37 for Mullins.
Woods decisions Crain
Anthony Woods (1-3) took a narrow unanimous decision over Michael “The Hammer” Crain (0-1, 1 NC) in a four round junior middleweight bout. Crain started strong, taking the opening round with straight left hands to the body of Woods from his southpaw stance. Crain continued working his left in round two, but a series of lead right hands from Woods opened a cut on the corner of Crain’s right eye. The cut would bleed the rest of the way, and required two stitched after the fight.
Crain offered more movement in round three, and may have had the edge in what was a very close round. Woods lost his mouthpiece in the opening seconds of the final round, but came on strong with big right hands that landed clean. Crain remained busy, and landed just as much, but Woods landed the harder shots that earned him the round, and ultimately the fight. The scores were 39-37 (twice) and 38-37 in favor of Woods.
Horne stops Anderson
Promising cruiserweight Maurice “War Time” Horne (2-0, 2 KOs) impressed with an opening round stoppage of debuting Mike Anderson (0-1) in a scheduled four round bout.
Anderson circled the ring using a modified Archie Moore crab defense, but it didn’t prevent Horne from pounding his body with powerful combinations. Working exclusively to Anderson’s body, Horne pinned Anderson in a corner in the last 30 seconds and unloaded no less that ten consecutive right hands to the left side of Anderson’s body.
Anderson made it through the round, but his well-respected trainer, Fred Jenkins, had seen enough. He advised referee Dave Braswell that his charge could not make it out for the second round. The fight was stopped between rounds.
Lopez stops Carvajal
Mexico’s Ariel Lopez remained unbeaten with a sixth and final round stoppage of rock-chinned, but limited, Angel Carvajal (2-8) in a six round featherweight bout. Lopez (8-0, 6 KOs) worked primarily underneath his much shorter opponent. He blasted Carvajal’s body with left hooks, at times continuing his combination with hooks to the head.
Lopez teed off with uppercuts that landed flush throughout the first three rounds. Carvajal rushed Lopez, hoping to crowd him and smother his punches. At one point, Carvajal ignored referee Dave Braswell’s command to break, and was sternly warned. His antics almost justified a DQ, but Braswell is an outstanding referee. He took control and the fight continued.
Carvajal started clowning a bit in round four, bringing a smile to Lopez’ face by wiggling his hips like a poor man’s Jorge Paez. Lopez immediately took it to the next level in round five, driving Carvajal to the ropes with heavy combinations to the head. Carvajal was forced to dip so low, that only the bottom rope kept him from exiting the ring. Lopez was credited with a knockdown at the end of the round.
Lopez hurt Carvajal badly with a right uppercut about a minute into round six. Clearly hurt, Carvajal was forced back to the ropes, and Lopez pounced. Lopez rendered Carvajal defenseless with five clean power shots and ref Braswell stopped it at 1:28 of the sixth and final round.
Duversonne draws with Peralta
In a battle between skilled fighters making their pro debuts, this fight pitted the taller Sanny Duversonne (0-0-1) against the shorter but sturdy Dino Peralta (0-0-1) in a four round middleweight bout.
Being the shorter man, Peralta’s job was to get inside Duversonne’s longer reach and do damage on the inside. The problem was, Duversonne has an excellent jab, and he used it to stop Peralta in his tracks every time he tried to work his way inside. Duversonne landed his punishing jab throughout the first two rounds, but Peralta kept coming. When he did get inside, Peralta punished Duversonne’s body, and worked his way to the head while continuously punching. There were some big exchanges, and Duversonne seemed to hold a slight edge over two rounds.
After slipping to the canvas to open round three, Duversonne rocked Peralta with a right. Peralta came right back with the pressure. He sent Duversonne’s mouthpiece flying into the second row. By the end of the round, Duversonne’s jab was losing steam, as Peralta took what was a close round.
The final round was nothing short of war. With blood streaming down his face, Peralta continued his relentless pursuit. But Duversonne stood his ground, responding with powerful left hooks and right hands of his own. They thrilled the crowd and finished the fight with a furious exchange.
The bout was very close, and was rightfully scored a draw.
Cortes decisions Johnson
In the opening bout, Edgar Cortes (5-4) edged Wesui “The Truth” Johnson (2-6), taking a majority decision in an exciting four round featherweight bout. Johnson out-boxed Cortes in the opening round, punctuating it with two nice right hands at the bell ending the round. Round two was closer, and contained the same two-way action as the opener. Cortes may have gotten the edge after landing several flashy left hooks.
Johnson turned it up in round three, landing lead right hands and left-right combinations against his southpaw opponent. Cortes did some body work in this round, but Johnson clearly won round three. The final round was another close one, with Johnson landing several lead right hands. Again, Cortes landed a flashy left-right combination, which may have given him the round.
It was a close, well-fought contest with Cortes getting the majority decision by the scores of 39-37 (twice) and 38-38.
Notes
This was just the third boxing card in Delaware in 2017, with the fledgling Night Night Promotions putting on two of them. The show was well attended and well run. Matching a 9-bout card is not easy, but Nick Tiberi had some hungry young fighters to work with, and he was able to do an excellent job as always.
It should be mentioned that Delaware has no state boxing commission, so once again the Alabama Athletic Commission answered the call. Patrisha Blackstock and her crew did a fantastic job of administrating, maintaining order, and keeping things moving along. Their efforts are greatly appreciated by the Delaware boxing community.