On
Friday, March 11th, I had the opportunity to cover live boxing ringside from the
2300 Arena in
Philadelphia. The card was part of
Peltz and BAM Boxing Promotions’ Philly Fight Night series, and featured ten professional boxing matches.
The opening bout of the evening featured Philadelphia flyweights,
Basyzbek Baratov (2-1-1) and
Tyrone Arzeno (0-1-0). In four rounds of action, two judges scored the bout 39-37 in favor of the Baratov, while one judge scored the bout 39-37 for Arzeno. Baratov’s split decision victory spoiled Arzeno’s professional debut.
The second bout of the evening featured West Philadelphia’s
Cassius Chaney (9-0-0, 5 KOs) and Lansing’s
Tom Washington, Jr. (6-10-1, 2 KOs) in a six round heavyweight contest. Cassius Chaney won the fight via majority decision. Two judges scored the contest 59-55 in favor of Chaney, while one judge scored the bout a draw (57-57).
The third fight of the evening featured two Philadelphia flyweight fighters,
Ernesto Almodovar (1-0-0) and
Steven Lopez (0-1-0), making their professional debuts. Almodovar controlled the bout through four rounds of action, and walked away the winner via unanimous decision. The judges scored the bout 39-36, 39-36, and 40-35.
Joseph Adorno (3-0-0, 3 KOs), a 17-year-old fan favorite from Allentown, defeated Mexico’s
Marco Ocano (1-1-0, 1 KO) in a junior lightweight contest, scheduled for four rounds. The TKO victory came at the 45 second mark of the first round, after Adorno landed a brutal multi-punch combo that left Ocano dazed and defenseless.
Puerto Rican lightweight
Victor Padilla (3-0-0, 3 KOs) faced
Carlos Castillo (4-5-0, 3 KOs) of Tucson, Arizona in the fifth bout of the evening. Padilla dropped Castillo at the 48 second mark of the first round, and secured his third career win and knockout.
In the sixth contest of the evening,
Isaiah Wise (4-1-0, 3 KOs) of South Philadelphia fought
Jeffrey Wright (4-6-1, 4 KOs) of Milwaukee. Wise recovered from a second round knock down to defeat Wright via TKO, 32 seconds into the fourth round of a scheduled six round junior middleweight matchup. Referee Gary Rosato called an end to the action after Wise landed a vicious left-right combo to Wright’s body.
North Philadelphia’s
Fred Jenkins Jr. (10-4-0, 3 KOs) faced
Roque Zapata (3-1-3) of Culpeper, VA in a junior middleweight contest. Jenkins was knocked down in the first round by Zapata, who proved to be the more aggressive fighter through six rounds of boxing. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Zapata (59-54, 59-54, and 57-56).
The main event of the evening featured two tough North Philadelphia lightweights,
Anthony Burgin (10-3-0, 2 KOs) and
Avery Sparrow (6-1-0, 3 KOs). In the sixth round of the action packed eight round bout, Sparrow landed a right uppercut that sent Burgin to the canvas. Burgin recovered from the knockdown, and the two men battled through the remaining rounds. The judges scored the bout 76-75 (Burgin), 76-75 (Sparrow), and 77-74 (Sparrow). Sparrow, the winner by split decision, won his second straight bout.
Following the main event, there were two more four round contests. Super bantamweights
Crystian Peguero (1-0-0, 1 KO) of Northeast Philadelphia and
Alonzo Davis (0-1-0) of West Philadelphia faced off in a four round bout. In the third round, Peguero knocked out Davis with four body shots at the 2:12 mark.
The second and final contest of the evening, featured super middleweights
Chris Thomas (5-0-0) of Beachwood, New Jersey vs.
Mike Rodriguez (0-5-0) of Springfield, Massachusetts. Thomas defeated Rodriguez via unanimous decision after four rounds of boxing.
