Ringside Report: Campbell vs Martinez

30.07.04 – By Don Deane: Broadway Boxing made an appearance at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT Friday night featuring an IBF #2 ranking eliminator between Nate Campbell and Edelmiro “Tiger” Martinez. The support bouts were showcases of Lou Dibella’s young prospects.

Nate Campbell vs Edelmiro Martinez- Junior Lightweight IBF #2 Eliminator: Its an interesting situation if you sit back and wonder how Edelmiro Martinez earned a shot at the #2 ranking; or even why a sanctioning body would bother putting Campbell in this bout seeing how he got knocked out in his last fight which was, oddly enough, for the IBF #1 ranking. Ok, digressing. The fight was very entertaining for its 10 minute length. Both fighters went to the body and below for the majority of the 3 and one-third rounds. In round one Campbell came out firing and landed a stiff left-right combo in a neutral corner. Both fighters traded in tight and Martinez held Campbell’s left hand while Campbell battered him with the right. Round two is when it got interesting as it was the first (and hopefully only) time this writer has ever put a score of 9-6 on a score card. Campbell planted Martinez with a big right hand and after the count got back in close and went to work on the body. An accumulation of body shots sent Martinez to the canvas a second time and all in attendance roared with excitement. Upon his ascent, Martinez was again greeted by gloves and descended for the third time thanks to a sharp right hand. As Campbell went in to finish the job he was detained by referee Michael Ortega and deducted a point for continuous low blows. After 3 knockdowns and a point deduction we have our 9-6 scorecard. Round three saw Martinez docked 2 points for low blows and finally another southerly paw in round four sealed the deal as Ortega disqualified Martinez for aiming for the wrong…body parts. When the dust settled, Campbell claimed his 25th pro win as he moved to 25-2-1. Martinez falls to 20-3-1.

Undercard Results

The main support bout was an 8 round rematch between Light Heavyweights Aneudi Santos and Sam Reese. Reese was content to make this a very sloppy affair and unfortunately for Santos, Reese succeeded. Santos possesses the superior boxing skills but he never took the reins and used them. The fight had a lot of flailing, holding and rough infighting as Reese earned a 78-74, 77-75, 79-73 unanimous decision. Eastside had it 77-75. With the win Reese gets to 14-11-4 and Santos falls to 11-2 with both losses coming against Reese.

In a 6 round cruiserweight showdown, Ehinomen “Hino” Ekikhamenor took on Gary Gomez in a very physical fight. This fight was toe to toe for all 6 rounds with both fighters absorbing each other’s best without slowing down. In the end, Hino took a 57-56 win on all cards (including Eastside’s) and improves to 6-0. Gomez falls to 11-4.

Super Middleweight super prospect Jaidon Codrington got to 2-0 with his second stoppage by pounding out a stiff named James North. The fight ended in round 2 as Codrington dropped North and then finished the job with a flurry that forced the ref to end things. For a fighter with only 2 fights in the books, Codrington is very polished and is a name to stick in the back of your mind. North drops to 4-4.

In another super middleweight bout, Ronald Hearns the son of Tommy Hearns scored a unanimous 40-36 decision on all cards (including Eastside’s) over William Johnson. Hearns improves to 3-0 and Johnson drops to 1-2.

In the opener, Kronk Gym’s newest Cruiserweight made his pro debut. Johnathon Banks scored a 40-36 on all cards victory over Deandre McCole to start his career. Banks, obviously, becomes 1-0 while McCole drops to 3-8-2.