Saturday, June 3, 2017

Philly Fight Night - Lundy vs. Evangelista - Friday, June 2nd (Philadelphia, PA)

Tonight's show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia was promoted by Peltz Boxing in conjunction with BAM Boxing, CES Boxing, Joe Hand, and Raging Babe. The nine bout card featured 46 rounds of professional boxing. The guest of honor was Philadelphia boxing legend, former WBA Bantamweight Champion, and International Boxing Hall of Famer Joltin Jeff Chandler

The opening bout of the evening featured junior middleweights Ishmael Altman (0-0-1) and Tyree Crowder (0-0-1). Both North Carolina’s Altman and North Philadelphia’ Crowder made their professional debut in this contest. Altman, who had an advantage over his opponent in both height and reach, appeared to hurt Crowder in the first round with a series of left hands to the head, but could not capitalize on this for a knockdown. When the final bell rang after the four round fight, it was evident to many spectators, including the judges, that neither fighter had done enough to capture a majority of the rounds. All three judges scored the contest a draw, 38-38.

The second bout featured welterweights Jamaal Gregory (1-1-0, 1 KO) and Marcel Rivers (2-0-0, 1 KO). Rivers, a North Philadelphia native, landed a series of powerful shots in the second round. In the third round, he knocked Gregory down with an overhand right to the head. The Charlotte fighter was able to recover from this knock down and finish the round. Both fighters fought a hard fourth round to finish off the bout that ended in favor of Rivers. All three judges scored the bout 39-36.

Lightweights Marko Bailey (5-0-0, 3 KOs) of Durham, NC and Vinnie Denierio (1-2-0, 1 KO) of Geneva, NY stepped into the squared circle next for a four rounder. Denierio, a lengthy and somewhat awkward fighter, appeared to give Bailey problems in the first round. However, as the contest progressed Bailey adjusted to his style and began to land punches on his opponent. The fourth round was action packed with both fighters exchanging blows throughout the round. In the end, the bout went to Bailey via a majority decision. One judge scored the bout a draw, 38-38, with the other two judges scoring the contest 39-37.

Local featherweight fighter and fan favorite Crystian Peguero (2-0-0, 1 KO) took on New York’s Saquan Felton (0-2-0) in the fourth bout on the card. Early on in the fight, Peguero landed numerous hooks and upper cuts to his opponent, which continued into later rounds. Felton appeared to never be able to defend against Peguero’s speed, and the scorecards reflected that. After four rounds of boxing, all three judges scored contest in favor of the Philly native (39-37, 40-36, and 40-36).

The fifth contest of the evening was a much anticipated matchup between Rockledge, PA’s Scott Kelleher (5-1-0, 3 KOs) and Newark, NJ’s Dion Richardson (2-1-0, 2 KOs). The previously undefeated Kelleher, who weighed in at 139.3 pounds, stepped into the ring looking for his fifth career victory over Richardson (137.4 pounds). Kelleher was knocked down three times over the course of the first round. The first knockdown came after a Richardson barrage of punches that appeared to break Kelleher’s nose. Kelleher was able to recover from the knockdown as blood gushed out of his nostrils.  Kelleher, who was clearly dazed, was attacked yet again with a multi-punch combo that sent him to the canvas. He recovered from the second knockdown only to be TKO’d at the 2:19 mark of the first round of a scheduled four rounds by yet another vicious series of punches to the body and head.

Germantown’s Jaron Ennis (12-0-0, 10 KOs) faced veteran Nicaraguan fighter Wilfredo Acuna (17-21-0, 13 KOs) in a six round welterweight contest. Ennis got to work early by knocking his opponent down in the first round with a right hook to the bed. The hurt Nicaraguan got up only to be knocked out later in the round by an Ennis right hand to the body. The knockout came at the 1:23 mark of the first round.

Junior Middleweights Mark Daniels Jr. (3-1-0, 1 KO) of Wisconsin and North Philadelphia’s Isaiah Wise (5-1-0, 3 KOs) squared off in the seventh match of the evening. Wise controlled the tempo of the fight through all six rounds of action. He landed numerous shots, especially in the later rounds, which appeared to hurt his opponent. However, the Wisconsin native was able to absorb the blows and make it to the final bell. Wise walked away with a lopsided unanimous decision victory for his efforts in the bout. One judge scored the contest 60-54, with the other two scoring the bout 59-55.

The main event of the evening featured Hank Lundy (28-6-1, 14 KOs) and Ricardo Lara replacement, Daniel Evangelista (19-8-2, 15 KOs). This eight round lightweight contest was billed as the “Return of the Hammer”. Lundy did his part to not spoil his own homecoming to Philadelphia by landing numerous big hooks on his Mexican opponent. Evangelista proved his toughness by taking a number of powerful shots through five rounds of boxing. The end came at the 2:53 mark of the fifth round after Lundy connected on a brutal multi-punch combo. Evangelista was able to pull himself up off the canvas but he was clearly badly hurt. Referee Gary Rosato deemed him unable to continue and called an end to the action. As Lundy exited the ring, he was overheard yelling, “I didn’t want to knock him out. But, he hit me and that made me mad.”

The final bout of the evening featured cruiserweights Juan Reyna (6-7-1, 2 KOs) and Alvin Varmall Jr. (11-0-1, 9 KOs) in a six round contest. Varmall came out at the bell the far more aggressive fighter, and scored two knockdowns from multi-punch combos in the first round. The second knock down resulted in a TKO at the 2:02 mark of the first round.  


MW

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