Professional boxing returned to the
Birchwood Manor in
Whippany, New Jersey on
Friday,
May 4th. A number of familiar faces to the state’s boxing scene were in the house for the
KEA Boxing Promotions card, including former multi-division world champion,
Bobby Czyz, and
New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame president,
Henry Hascup.
Hascup also served as the emcee and ring announcer for the evening’s boxing extravaganza.
The main event featured a six round bout in the
super middleweight division between
Darren Goodall (5-0-1, 4 KOs) and
Tahlik Taylor (3-10-1, 1 KO).
Freeport, New York’s
Taylor answered the opening bell by swinging for the fences. He connected on multiple punches that clearly caught
Goodall off guard.
Goodall, the fan favorite from
New Milford, New Jersey, staggered
Taylor with a left hook to the head later in the round.
Taylor answered by knocking
Goodall down with a straight right to his head. This punch caused blood to stream from the nose of the
New Jersey native.
Goodall applied pressure to
Taylor in the second round by pinning him up against the ropes with a series of vicious punches.
Taylor broke out of this trap with a big multi-punch combo of his own that redirected the action to the center of the ring.
Goodall hammered
Taylor with left and right hooks to the body in the third round. These punches appeared to drop
Taylor, but the referee ruled that the knockdown was caused by a low blow, and gave the fighter adequate time to recover.
Taylor’s body was again hammered with hooks in the fourth round, but the fighter fought back and landed a hard left hand to
Goodall’s head that sent the fighter stumbling back into the ropes. By this point, both men were on shaky legs, and appeared badly hurt from previous exchanges. In the fifth round,
Taylor connected with a left hand to
Goodall’s face.
Goodall, desperately hoping for a knockout, bullied
Taylor with a series of left and right hooks to the head and body in the sixth round.
Taylor demonstrated his toughness by staying on his feet and fighting until the final bell. The judges’ scored the blood bath 58-55 for
Goodall, 57-56 for
Taylor, and 56-56 a draw. To the displeasure of the crowd, the six round war ended in a split decision draw.
Philadelphia’s Ardrick Butler (7-5, 3 KOs) has not fought professionally in just under seven years. The
ex-con fought
Lafayette, Louisiana’s
Marcus Beckford (5-8-3, 1 KO) in a
welterweight contest, and had some expected ring rust.
Beckford hurt
Butler with a right hand to the body in the first round. In the second round,
Beckford caught
Butler with a straight left hand to the face. In the third round,
Butler knocked down
Beckford with a straight right hand to the head. In the fourth and final round,
Beckford landed two nice left hands to
Butler’s head. The judges’ scored the bout 38-37 for
Butler and 38-37 for
Beckford twice.
Jersey City’s Robert Terry (2-0), a
2017 runner-up in the
National Golden Gloves Tournament, fought
York, Pennsylvania’s
James Robinson (5-10-4, 1 KO) in a bout that featured a crowd-pleasing first round. Both men answered the opening bell by exchanging big shots with one another.
Terry caught
Robinson with a nice right hook to the head during this round.
Robinson came out in the second round appearing to be smoked by the first round’s heated exchange. He wrapped up the offensive-minded
Terry multiple times to prevent any unnecessary damage during the round.
Robinson’s strategy was punished by the referee who warned the fighter for holding, and later deducted points for holding in the third and fourth rounds of the
middleweight contest.
Robinson was beaten with big right hands to the body in the fourth round, that caused the fighter to cringe in pain. The judges scored the bout 39-35 and 40-34 twice for the winner by unanimous decision,
Robert Terry.
Emmanuel Folly (11-0, 9 KOs) fought
Pablo Cupul (9-25, 5 KOs) in a
super bantamweight bout that was scheduled for four rounds.
Folly landed a crushing left hand to the body of
Cupul in the first round that caused the
Mexican fighter to wince in pain.
Cupul responded to this blow by landing multiple rabbit punches on
Folly in the opening frame. In the second round,
Folly hurt
Cupul with a straight right to the head that knocked him into the ropes.
Cupul fought back with several more rabbit punches that surprisingly went unnoticed by the official.
Cupul’s night came to an end at the 1:53 mark of the fourth round, when
Folly connected with a double left hook to
Cupul’s head.
John Bauza (10-0, 5 KOs) of
North Bergen, New Jersey faced
Hugo Padilla (5-14, 2 KOs) in a six round,
super lightweight contest. In the opening round,
Bauza appeared to hurt
Padilla with a left hand to the head. In the second round,
Bauza caught
Padilla with a right hook, counter punch that again hurt his opponent. Later in the round,
Padilla was caught with a straight right hand to the head as he attempted to duck to avoid another shot.
Padilla, a
Mexican fighter, displayed his toughness through the first two rounds by staying on his feet, despite being hurt by
Bauza multiple times.
Padilla, seeking to gain the upper hand in the fight, began to fight dirty in the fourth round. He was warned by the referee multiple times in the fourth and fifth rounds for rabbit punches, but points were not deducted.
Bauza controlled the tempo of the fifth and sixth rounds, and coasted to a unanimous decision victory on the judges’ scorecards, with all three officials scoring the bout 60-54.
Jersey City's Andrew Bentley (4-3, 1 KO) fought
Cleveland's Arrel Love (1-1, 1 KO) in a four round,
super featherweight match up.
Love fought aggressively in the opening round, but the taller
Bentley landed the harder punches. In the second round,
Bentley dominated
Love with an offensive onslaught.
Love was knocked down with a right uppercut. He recovered from this knockdown only to be knocked out with a multi-punch combo that was highlighted with a brutal right hook to the head.
Love was pinned up against the ropes and defenseless when the referee stopped the bout at 2:42 of the second round.
The opening bout of the evening featured
welterweights,
Steve Moore (1-3, 1 KO) and
Laquan Lewis (2-10, 2 KOs) in a fight that was scheduled for four rounds. Towards the end of the first round,
Moore landed a hard right hand to the head of
Lewis that sent his mouth piece flying into the front row. In the second round,
Moore continued to put the pressure on his opponent.
Lewis responded by throwing several wild punches that appeared to have little to no effect on
Moore. In the third round,
Moore hurt
Lewis with a right hook to the body.
Moore, smelling blood in the water, hurt
Lewis again with a straight left to the head.
Lewis, overwhelmed by
Moore's offensive surge, dropped his guard and was pushed into the ropes. Seconds later,
Lewis was knocked out by a right hand to the head that sent him crashing to the canvas. The fight ended at the 2:41 mark of the third round.
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