18.02.07 – NEW YORK – By Mike Indri – Retired Boxers Foundation – Saturday night’s HBO televised fight card, billed as the “Triple Play at the Hammerstein”, actually turned out to be a “Homerun” for promoter Lou DiBella. All three fights, televised on the popular HBO Boxing After Dark series, featured DiBella Entertainment fighters: headliner Paulie Malignaggi, Sechew Powell and Andre Berto; and all three came away with impressive wins.
The night’s main event pitted Malignaggi against highly skilled Edner Cherry, from Wauchula, Florida. It was obvious from the onset of the ten round lightweight contest that the “Magic Man” Malignaggi was the quicker fighter, and his blazing hand speed enabled the likeable Brooklyn native to get off to an early lead as he was thoroughly out-boxing Cherry.
Whether this was obvious to Cherry, and his corner, is another question; as why the talented veteran fighter didn’t see the dire need to change his approach to the fight and get more physical with the slick Italian boxer.
Malignaggi, coming off his admirable 12 round decision loss to WBO champion Miguel Cotto this past June 10th at Madison Square Garden, put on a boxing clinic for the capacity crowd of 1,624 in attendance and the millions of HBO television viewers. Already proving he has the heart of a champion and a solid chin, Malignaggi thwarted the few late round aggressive advances by Cherry and secured the surprisingly one-sided victory with his superior jab and overall boxing skills. All three judges came back with lopsided scores: 98-92, 100-90 & 98-92. Cherry dropped to 21-5-2 (10 KO’s) and missed a golden opportunity to shine in the spotlight, while Malignaggi improved to 22-1 (5 KO’s) and seems eager, and ready, to step up and challenge current champions Junior Witter (WBC) or Ricardo Torres (WBO) for their light welterweight titles. Malignaggi is also strongly being considered as the July 14th opponent for Arturo Gatti.
The first of the two co-feature bouts saw Sechew “Iron Horse” Powell also turn in a unanimous decision winning performance against Ishe Smith, a participant of last season’s “The Contender” reality boxing show.
While seeming to hurt Smith on several occasions, it was Powell who got knocked to the canvas midway through round four. With this knockdown in mind Powell appeared to give Smith an undue amount of respect and contently did just enough to win most rounds, instead of finishing off the fight like it seemed the talented New Yorker had the ability, and power, to do on more than one occasion. Al three judges saw the fight 97-92 for Powell, whose records jumps to 21-1 (12 KO’s), while Smith heads home to Las Vegas, at 18-2 (8 KO’s).
The “Fight of the Night”, while it lasted, saw boxing’s hottest and brightest young prospect, welterweight Andre Berto, totally annihilate, dismantle and punish the thought to be formidable Norberto Bravo. Bravo, who also took part in the second season of “The Contender” reality boxing show, had replaced veteran Ben Tackie (immigration problems) and was projected to be competitive against the powerful Winter Haven, Florida resident.
Berto’s crisp, strong jabs hurt Bravo from the opening bell and is wasn’t long before a short, compact left hook dropped the overwhelmed Tuscan, Arizona native. As quickly as Bravo got to his feet, a frightful two-handed combination drove him thudding to the canvas again. With the crowd sensing the inevitable, Berto swarmed his prey and blasted a final right hand, which dropped Bravo backwards onto the canvas as referee Joe Cusano mercifully jumped in to stop the scheduled 10 round bout at the 2:28 mark of round one. Bravo, now 23-13-3 ( 12 KO’s), later said “He (Berto) was too strong, too much power.”
Berto, whose career is on a meteoric rise, stays perfect at 17-0 with 15 knockouts. While many are surprised by the rapid pace of Berto’s career, the charismatic, yet humble 23-year-old comes from a true “fighting family”.
Andre’s father, Dieusuel “Tiger” Berto was a well known “Pride/MMA” fighter in Japan and the USA. Brother James recently became the first RFC MMA Lightweight Title Belt holder, and younger brother Cleveland is a state wrestling champion in Florida.
Needless to say Andre Berto is destined to become a “champion”, and obviously does possess all the tools – as well as the family genes!
On the non-televised portion of the “Triple Play at the Hammerstein”…..
Brooklyn featherweight Algenis Mendez opened the show with a four round unanimous decision over a game Ruben Jacoby from Colorado Springs, Co. Mendez remained unbeaten (2-0, I KO) in his young career, while Jacoby is still winless, 0-3.
In a female battle of skilled bantamweights New York’s Eileen Olszewski had to work hard to earn a split decision win over popular Noriko Kariya, who fights out of Jersey City, NJ. Olszewski’s, extensive amateur career proved to be the main factor in her victory as she hurt Kariya, now 6-2 (1 KO) during round two and countered effectively against her aggressive opponent during the six round contest.
In an eight round jr. middleweight bout, undefeated James McGirt Jr. made his former world champion father, James “Buddy” McGirt Sr., very proud with his 4th round technical knockout win over Anthony Little. McGirt used his superior reach and skill advantage over the game, yet over-matched, Akron, Ohio native, whose record fell to 7-6 (1 KO). McGirt applied a constant and brutal body attack which wore down Little and forced referee Pete Santiago to stop the beating at 2:46 of the fourth round. McGirt Jr., from Brentwood, NY stays perfect at 14-0, with 8 wins coming via the knockout route.
Pawel “The New Raging Bull” Wolak thrilled the strong contingent of Polish fans who came to root him on, including former heavyweight contender Andrew Golota, with another solid, workman-like victory. The unbeaten jr. middleweight, now prospect, now 13-0, pounded on his Sarasota, Florida opponent, Luis Hodge, until Hodge was unable to come out for the fifth round of their scheduled 8 round bout. Hodge was a willing combatant and had his moments, as was evidenced by the cut he had opened up on Wolak’s right eye by the end of the second round. With the blood pouring down and bruises over most of his face, Wolak never stopped coming forward and never stopped banging away, making Hodge, who fell to 5-3 (3 KO’s), his eighth knockout victim.
A great night of boxing which was obviously enjoyed by the packed house on hand and those at home watching the HBO broadcast.
Sechew Powell proved he has the talent and skills to be competitive in the jr. middleweight division, there is an intriguing question in who will Paulie Malignaggi fight next?, and all of the boxing world is thirsting for more of Andre Berto…..Lou DiBella’s world keeps getting brighter and brighter – which is good, because he is one of the straight shooters in a business comprised of very few straight shooters.