LINCOLN, Rhode Island (Mar. 19, 2010) – Unbeaten light welterweight prospect Danny O’Connor celebrated St, Patrick’s Day a few days late as he pitched a complete shutout against Franklin Gonzalez, headlining tonight’s (Friday) “ShamRock’d” card in front of a packed house at Twin River Event Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island. O’Connor’s (11-0) steady body attack allowed the 2008 US Olympic Boxing alternate to dominate fellow southpaw Gonzalez (13-4) from start to finish. O’Connor won very round on all three judges’ scorecards in his first 8-round bout..
“It was a great night of boxing,” CES president Jimmy Burchfield said. “We had our second sell-out in a week. All of the boxers gave everything and the fans responded with tremendous support. Micky Ward is turning into as good a trainer as he was a fighter.”
In the co-feature, 4-time world champion Jaime “The Hurricane” Clampitt (21-4-1, 7 KOs) outworked junior welterweight Jill Emery (9-3), a former IFBA titlist, to take a 6-round decision.
“Irish” Joey McCreedy and super middleweight Dafir “No Far” Smith battled to a 6-round draw.
In the opening 3-minutes of what could easily be the Round of the Year, Jason “Schoolboy” Pires (22-3-1) got off the canvas to rock John “The Renegade” Revish (10-1-1), who on wobbly legs decked Pires again right before the bell sounded. The resilient Pires, former USBA title-holder and active New Bedford (MA) police officer, came right back to bust-up Revish in an all-out welterweight war. The non-stop action continued right to the final bell and the result was a 6-round majority draw.
Cape Cod heavyweight Jesse “Bad News” Barboza (3-0), 3-time New England Golden Gloves champion, kept his perfect record intact with his third straight win by knockout, starching pro-debuting Richard Mason with a vicious left hook in the second round.
Sean Eklund (7-4), trained by his uncle “Irish” Micky Ward, dealt Eddie Soto (12-1) his first loss. Eklund avenged his loss last year to Soto by outworking his opponent, who hit the deck in the fifth round, by a unanimous 6-round decision for the vacant EBA New England super lightweight title.
Unbeaten super middleweight Keith Kozlin (5-0) battered Roberto Burgess around the ring, flooring the Philadelphian twice, until referee Charlie Dwyer stopped the action at 1:59 of the opening round.