16.02.08 – Bill Calogero, TheDailySports.com: Uncasville, CT – Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing continues to present entertaining boxing cards, with the latest taking place last night at the Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino. The main and co main events were broadcast live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights. In the main event of the evening, Delvin Rodriguez dominated previously unbeaten Troy Browning in their ten-round Jr. Middleweight bout..
The first round was the customary “feel-out” round for both fighters. Both landed very few solid punches, but the edge went to Rodriguez on my scorecard simply due to the fact that he clearly threw and landed more of them.
As the second round began, it became clear that Delvin Rodriguez wanted to control this fight. He used his jab, which was quick and crisp to keep Browning far enough away so he could use his major arm reach advantage. He was able to mix in a solid right hand following his jab to score. Troy Browning didn’t do much in the second round. He wasn’t able to get in close enough to do any kind of damage.
From the third round through the tenth and final round, what we saw was basically the Delvin Rodriguez show. He scored seemingly at will with his jab, and followed it with hard right hands. He was also able to work Browning’s body extremely well, landing both right and left hooks, which at times dug deep into Browning’s midsection.
Troy Browning scored several times, landing hard rights to the head of Rodriguez and kept the fight competitive and exciting to watch, but not enough to win any rounds on my un-official scorecard.
When it was all over, one ringside judge scored the bout 99-91 while the other two saw it at 100-90, all in favor of Delvin Rodriguez giving him the unanimous decision victory. He improves to 22-2-1 (13 KOs), while the tough Philly product, Troy Browning suffers the first defeat of his pro career, dropping to 20-1-1 (8 KOs).
In the co-featured event, Ali Oubaali edged Ashley Theophane in a ten-round Jr. Welterweight contest.
This fight was also very entertaining. It was a classic boxer vs. puncher and on the judge’s scorecards, the puncher came out on top. On my scorecard, and on the scorecards of several next to me in “press row”, saw the fight differently.
Let me start off by saying that the fight WAS tough to score, but if the judges were able to block out the fans who cheered for every punch Oubaali threw, regardless of whether it landed or not, AND gave credit to Theophane’s defensive skill, they too would have seen the fight the way I did.
Ali Oubaali came out fast in the first round. He was throwing punches from all angles, but not landing many. The ones he did land, landed flush on the chin and cheek of Ashley Theophane. He was clearly headhunting, looking for an early knock out.
Ashley Theophane clearly knew this was going to happen and during the first three rounds, was on his bicycle….big time. He was almost running around the ring to avoid Ali’s onslaught. On my scorecard, the first three rounds clearly belonged to Ali Oubaali.
The fight took a turn for the next three rounds, which featured Theophane landing the cleaner punches and outworking Oubaali winning all three on my card. In the sixth, Ashley scored a knockdown when the combination of his softly thrown left and an off balance Oubaali sent Ali to the canvas. Although it wasn’t a devastating punch by any stretch of the imagination AND Ali was clearly off balance, it STILL was a legitimate knock down, thus resulting in a 10-8 round for Theophane on my scorecard.
The last four rounds on my scorecard were even. I had Ali Oubaali winning two and Ashley Theophane winning two. Both fighters were busy throwing and landing punches, both jabs and meaningful shots in all four rounds.
For the most part, Ali Oubaali was throwing punches in bunches. He pressed the fight and seemed to be hunting Theophane for most of the ten-round bout. Every time Ali threw a punch, the hometown crowd cheered.
Ashley Theophane showcased excellent defensive skill in this fight. With the exception of the first three rounds, most of Oubaali’s punches hit air. There were several times it appeared that Ali was punching at spots, like someone was holding mitts for him. The problem was Theophane was not there. His head movement was suburb. He was also counter-punching very effectively. When Theophane landed his punches, they were right on the button and by the eighth round, both of Ali’s eyes were swollen.
Based on the fact that Theophane landed more meaningful and accurate punches, was able to avoid the majority of Ali’s punches and had the knockdown in the sixth, I had him winning the fight with a 95-94 score.
Too bad for Ashley Theophane my score was not official. One judge scored the fight 97-92, while the other two saw it at 96-93, all in favor of Ali Oubaali, giving him the unanimous decision win, officially.
Oubaali improves to 21-3 (17 KOs), while Ashley Theophane drops to 20-3-1 (7 KOs). I want to see more of Ashley Theophane. I also want to see more credit given to fighters for their defensive skill by the ringside judges. Enough is enough.
In another exciting bout, Brian Macy improved to 2-0 with a four-round unanimous decision over Oliver Musampa in their light heavyweight bout.
This fight was action packed from start to finish. Both fighters landed very hard punches throughout the contest. One judge scored the fight 40-36 while the other two had it 39-37, all in favor of Macy.
Macy demonstrated some impressive defensive skill in this fight too. He was able to avoid several hard punches thrown by Musampa with beautiful head movement. Oliver Musampa showed he has a chin of stone, absorbing some devastating shots thrown and landed flush by Brian Macy.
Ray Robinson made quick work of Shakha Moore, stopping him at 2:42 of the first of four scheduled rounds of Welterweight action. Robinson improves to 7-0 (3 KOs) while Shakha Moore drops to 10-12-3 (2 KOs).
In a fight that showed guts from one corner and talent from the other, Yathomas Riley stopped the extremely game Borngod Washington of Queens, NY in their scheduled four-round Light heavyweight contest.
The first and second round featured the very talented Riley, who was making his pro debut but clearly has learned his trade well, put on a boxing show. He was able to consistently land his jab followed by hard rights to the head and powerful hooks to the body while blocking punches exceptionally well. Washington was as game as they come, never once stopping his attack. He too landed some hard shots but was running low on fuel.
In the third, it was clear to all that Riley basically began beating up Washington, finally sending him down at the close of the third round. The tough Washington, got up AND came out for the fourth, but in less than a minute, the fight was stopped.
The official time was 58 seconds of the fourth round giving Riley his first win. Keep an eye this kid. He has talent!
Borngod Washington drops to 0-2.
To round out the card, Eddie Soto won a four-round majority decision over Jason Jordan in their Jr. Welterweight bout, and Raymond Serrano stopped Ashantie Hendrickson early in the first round of their scheduled four round welterweight bout.
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