In the main event, Wilfredo “El Sucaro” Pagan (6-1-2, 3 KOs) and Carlos Marrero III (2-6-3) battled to another hard-fought, extremely competitive six-round split decision draw (57-57, 58-56 for Pagan, and 58-56 for Marrero, on the judges’ three scorecards) for the second time, in yet in another New England Fight-of-the-Year. The USA New England super lightweight title will remain vacant with the draw.
This was another extremely difficult fight to score, as indicated by the judges’ scorecards. Both boxers once again threw non-stop punches for the entire fight that had the crowd on their feet cheering on the action-packed bout. Pagan was the more aggressive fighter, who threw more punches and connected on the harder shots, while Marrero was the more accurate boxer, who got the better of the exchanges and displayed the better defense.
Pagan was the busier fighter in the first-round while Marrero was the more accurate puncher. At the beginning of the second, Pagan was extremely aggressive and took control of the action, only for Marrero to stage a rally in the middle of the round. Pagan also hit Marrero below the belt towards the end of the round, and Marrero took about a minute to recover from the low shot. Pagan connected on more power shots in the third, while Marrero landed more jabs. There was a clash of heads later in the round, but it did not result in any damage for either fighter. Both boxers went toe-to-toe and connected on massive shots on each other over the last three rounds, as they desperately tried to take control of the second half of the fight.
This fight was identical to the one they fought in August, almost down to the exact same scoring. In their last bout, Marrero was originally announced the winner via a split decision, however, there was a mistake in the scoring, and it was quickly changed to a split decision draw (57-57, 58-56 for Pagan, and 59-55 for Marrero, on the judges’ three scorecards). After these two close bouts, there must be a third fight next year to decide, once and for all, who is the better fighter.
“New England’s Future VIII” was promoted by Rivera Promotions Entertainment from the Webster Town Hall in Webster, Massachusetts. The last bout that took place in Webster was twenty-seven years ago when former three-time, two-division world champion, now a promoter, Jose Antonio Rivera (then 11-0, 9 KOs) stopped Gerry O’ Campo in the fourth-round in 1994.
In the co-feature, super lightweight, Oscar Bonilla won a hard-fought, entertaining four-round unanimous decision over Seth Basler, in which he won every round on all three judges’ scorecards (40-36). Bonilla upped his record to 7-3-2, 1 KO, in his first fight in over two and a half years. He has won four in a row. Basler dropped to 0-18, however, he is a lot better than his record indicates, as he remained competitive throughout the fight and really made Bonilla work hard for this victory. Bonilla, who fought this bout in memory of his younger brother, highly-decorated boxer, Kevan, who was tragically murdered at just twenty-years-old this past July in New Haven, Connecticut, was the more active boxer, who out-landed Basler and got the better of the exchanges.
Former two-time national amateur champion and World Games silver medalist, Bobby “BH3” Harris III scored his first professional knockout, as he made quick work of David Rohn. He scored three knockdowns, which prompted the referee to stop the super middleweight bout at one minute and thirty-eight seconds in the first-round. Harris scored all three knockdowns from right hooks to Rohn’s head. Harris improved to 4-0-1, 1 KO. Rohn fell to 0-11-1.
Anuel “Tsunami” Rosa defeated Stacy Anderson via a four-round unanimous decision, in which he won every round on all three judges’ scorecards (40-36), in this super welterweight bout. Rosa kept his unbeaten record intact (3-0, 2 KOs), in his first fight in almost three years. Anderson dropped to 0-9. Rosa controlled the entire fight, as he out-threw and out-landed Anderson and connected on more power shots. He almost knocked Anderson down at the end of the third-round, as he landed a barrage of combinations on Anderson, who was pinned on the ropes. Rosa is the cousin of the late twenty-six-year-old super bantamweight contender, Luis “KO King” Rosa Jr. (23-1, 11 KOs), who was killed in an automobile accident in 2018.
Undefeated super welterweight, Josniel “TG” Castro dominated Lenwood “Mr. Composure” Dozier over three, one-sided rounds, after which Dozier’s corner stopped the bout after the third-round ended. Castro controlled the fight, as he landed just about whatever he threw at Anderson, including hard body shots and punishing combinations to his head, while Dozier offered very little resistance and barely threw any punches. Dozier, however, demonstrated a huge heart, as he did not go down, despite taking a great deal of punishment. Castro, a promising prospect, upped his record to 8-0, 6 KOs, with the technical knockout victory, in his sixth fight of the year. Dozier fell to 10-29-3, 5 KOs.
The former three-time New England Golden Gloves champion, Demek “Hightower” Edmonds scored a dominating first-round technical knockout over Wewerton Silveria Silva. Edmonds improved to 4-0, 3 KOs, with all of his fights happening this year. Each of his three knockout victories have come in the first-round. Silva dropped to 0-2. Edmonds scored three knockdowns. The first two were from left hooks to the body and the third was from a left, right combination to the body. The referee stopped the cruiserweight bout at two minutes and six seconds after the last knockdown.