Chris Traietti Dominates Lavin, Retains His New England Cruiserweight Title

By James Stillerman - 11/23/2018 - Comments

Chris Traietti dominated Nick Lavin en route to an eight-round unanimous decision victory, in which he won every round on all three scorecards (80-72), and made his first successful defense of his New England cruiserweight title. This main event was a rematch in which Traietti also won by an eight-round unanimous decision on August 5, 2017.

“We had a great turnout and I am glad that we are keeping this tradition alive,” said Traietti, who also co-promoted the fight card. “Fans enjoyed themselves, fighters came to fight, and I cannot wait to do it again next year.”

Traietti aggressively landed just about whatever he wanted throughout this one-sided bout. He pinned Levin on the ropes and connected on hard jabs and several punch combinations throughout the fight. Traietti also connected on the vast majority of power shots that staggered Levin several times, however, Levin demonstrated a great of heart by somehow staying upright and not going down despite taking a great deal of punishment from Traietti. Levin did not offer much of an offensive return as he seemed more content to hang on the ropes and cover up.

Traietti improved to 27-4, 21 KOs. The Iraq War veteran and college graduate has won six in a row. Levin dropped to 5-10, 4 KOs.

Traietti stated after the fight that he is going all in on his career next year when he is expected to be reunited his head trainer, Jimmy Farrell, who is currently incarcerated but is expected to be released in 2019. With Farrell in his corner, he won eleven consecutive fights by knockout, but without him, Traietti believes that he has gone backward.

“When Jimmy went away, I did not take it well. I took the Mike Lee fight [ten-round unanimous decision loss] and I was in shape, but for the past two years, I have trained myself and regressed. Jimmy knows how to get the best out of me. I am not easy to train because of my personality,” said Traietti. “I have been buying my time, fighting locally, nothing too big. I will stay afloat until he gets back. I want to work up to a big fight and see what happens. I am going to give it my all and, if things do not work out, I will hang up my gloves for good.”

Granite Chin Promotions promoted the seven-bout card “Championship Boxing at the Armory” which took place at the National Guard Armory in Dorchester, Massachusetts. This was their third and final show of the year.

Derek “The Surgeon” Silveira crushed Francisco “El Mono” Medal via a second-round knockout victory, in the co-feature. Silveria landed a vicious right hook to the body which Medal was unable to beat the ten-count and ended their junior middleweight bout at one minute and three seconds in the second. The former New England welterweight titleholder, upped his record to 15-2, 8 KOs. He has won two in a row. Medal fell to 12-16, 8 KOs.

Middleweights, Ricky Ford (3-1-2, 1 KO) and Saul Almeida (0-10-3) battled to a competitive, back-and-forth four-round majority draw. One judge scored it 39-37 for Ford, while the other two judges had it 38-38. Ford controlled the first two rounds. He was the more active fighter and connected on the hard shots. Almeida came back the last two rounds, as Ford appeared to tire, and out-landed Ford. Ford was bleeding from his nose by the end of the fourth. Ford is unbeaten in his last five fights.

“Handsome” Henry Gedney, the winner of the 2017 Rocky Marciano Tournament, knocked down Francisco Neto twice in the first-round via rights hooks. Neto was unable to beat the ten-count on the second knockdown, which ended their super middleweight bout at one minute and sixteen seconds in the round. Gedney improved to 2-0, 1 KO. Neto dropped to 0-2.

Vinnie “American Nightmare” Carita destroyed Steve “The Spoiler” Walker via a first-round knockout. He knocked Walker down twice from right hooks to the body. Walker was unable to continue after the second knockdown and the cruiserweight fight was stopped at one minute and fifty-eight seconds in the round. Carita, a court officer in Brockton, upped his record to 19-1-1, 18 KOs. He has won fifteen in a row. His last loss was in 2006. Walker, the former Midwest middleweight champion, fell to 26-36, 18 KOs.

Junior welterweight prospect, Ray Jay Bermudez dominated Bruno Dias in the first-round and then knocked him down three times in the second, all from right hooks to the body, which prompted the referee to end the fight at two minutes and twenty-four seconds. Bermudez kept his unbeaten record intact with the knockout win and improved to 5-0, 3 KOs. Dias dropped to 0-5.

Undefeated Anthony Concepcion scored a second-round knockout win over Roberto “El Viejo” Valenzuela. Concepcion connected on two knockdowns via left-right hooks to the head. The middleweight fight was stopped at two minutes and sixteen seconds as Valenzuela was unable to beat the ten-count after the second knockdown. Concepcion upped his unbeaten record to 2-0, 2 KOs. He is trained by WBO middleweight champion, Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade. Valenzuela, the former Mexican Pacific Coast lightweight champion, fell to 69-73-2, 56 KOs.