By Matt Yanofsky: In the first fight card ever held at the Aviator Sports Arena, rising junior middleweight star Yuri Foreman improved to 25-0 (8 KO’s) after an impressive ten round decision over Saul Roman 24-5 (20 KO’s). Foreman began the bout by doing what he does best as he effectively boxed and moved. Roman, who scored a shocking upset over Kassim Ouma in his previous fight, was cut in the second round from a punch.
Foreman continued to box well and land quick crisp punches while making his opponent miss wildly for most of the fight. To his credit, Roman was never in danger of being knocked out and stole a few rounds by aggressively stalking Foreman while landing a few decent shots to the head. Scores were 98-92 and 97-93 twice for Foreman who retained his NABF title with the victory.
“I feel I won 9 of ten rounds and I am happy with my performance tonight. Roman is a tough guy and he was coming off a big win in his last fight”, said Foreman who is rumored to be nearing a world title shot.
IBF #1 ranked welterweight Joshua “The Hitter” Clottey 34-2 (21 KO’s) showed why he is perhaps the most avoided man in boxing today by stopping tough veteran Jose Luis Cruz 36-4-2 (29 KO’s). Clottey came out using his tight defensive style while landing many hard blows to both the body and head of Cruz. In the second, Cruz was rocked and forced to hold on. In addition, Cruz was cut on his forehead from an accidental headbutt.
In the third and fourth, Clottey continued to land hard power shots while avoiding most of Cruz’ blows however, Cruz elected to taunt Clottey. Clottey came out in the fifth very strong and tagged Cruz at will before referee Ricky Gonzalez stopped the contest at 2:48 of round 5 to a chorus of boos.
The stoppage was somewhat premature as Cruz, who had never previously been knocked out was alert and on his feet but it was all one way traffic throughout the first five rounds. Clottey looms as the mandatory for the winner of the Kermit Cintron-Antonio Margarito fight but he will more then likely be fighting for a vacant belt as the winner of that fight is expected to face Miguel Cotto if he beats Alfonso Gomez.
Highly touted junior lightweight prospect Argenis Mendez improved to 10-0 (7 KO’s) after an impressive 5th round stoppage over Oscar De La Cruz. Mendez, who is very tall for a junior lightweight showed he was the superior fighter from the opening bell as he landed most of his blows in the first round. Mendez was badly rocked with a picture perfect right hand in the second round but held on just as a stoppage appeared imminent.
Mendez continued to take it to his game opponent and finally stopped him in the fifth round as he landed a beautiful counter combination off the ropes to drop his opponent violently and force the stoppage at 1:18 of the fifth round.
New York welterweight prospect Martin Wright 6-0-1 (3 KO’s) scored a TKO victory following the third round when Artie Bembury 2-3 retired on his stool after getting dropped hard in the second and third round.
Chris Algieri 1-0 (1 KO) had a successful pro debut by stopping Ken Dunham 3-4 (2 KO’s). Algieri came out aggressively over the first two rounds and slugged on the inside with Dunham in the first while clearly getting the best of it. Algieri, who is a former kick boxer pressed Dunham in the third round and landed many good shots before severely staggering his opponent from North Carolina making referee Ricky Gonzalez top the bout at 1:54 of round three. After the fight, promoter Sal Musumeci was very impressed with his fighter’s debut.
“He showed a lot of poise and skill for a kid in his first fight. He stopped an opponent who had 7 fights coming in and I was very impressed”, said Musumeci who recently promoted a show in China.
Junior welterweight Anthony Lenk 1-0 scored a shutout victory over Bernell Ayres 0-1 as he was able to control the pace by using his height and reach advantage to help him land the better blows.