Bernadin Annihilates Robles on Top of Kings Promotions Card

By Frank Bartolini, Ringside

Marshall Kauffman's Kings Promotions staged a four-bout card on Friday night at South Philly's the 2300 Arena. In the feature bout, James Bernadin of Lancaster annihilated Kenny Robles of Staten Island, to obtain a unanimous 8-round decision. Approximately 750 fans came to watch fights that showed how quality, instead of quantity, will always send the consumer home satisfied.

The main event showcased Bernadin, an undefeated fighter with less than ten fights and Robles, a ticket-selling prospect. Robles, 138.8 lbs., started fast and took it to Bernadin in the first two minutes of round one. However, from that point on, the fight was all Bernadin. A dedicated body puncher, Bernadin, 138.9 lbs., continuously landed blows to the pit of Robles' stomach while mixing in strikes to the sides of his foe's torso.

During the contest, Bernadin was warned for low blows, but this did not deter his commitment to attacking Robles' midsection. Able, to stay in the pocket and deflect punches, a confident Bernadin gained momentum by initiating his offense from that position.

Although Robles was taking a shellacking, he never stopped trying to change the tide of the fight. In the last three sessions, Bernadin began stalking Robles, landing heavy wallops with both hands to the head. Finishing strong, Bernadin stunned and rocked Robles, scoring bombs off his cranium. Floundering all around the ring, Robles did all he could to finish the match on his feet - which he did.

All three judges had Bernadin ahead by a large margin, 79-73 by two judges and 78-74 by the third. Bernadin improved his record to 7-0-1, 4 KOs. At 32 years old, Robles, 9-2, 3 KOs, must decide his next course of action.

After witnessing Bernadin fight several times on the club circuit in Eastern Pennsylvania, this scribe sees a boxer who gets wild at times, but with some fine tuning, can advance in the junior welterweight ranks. Unbeknownst to most of the boxing community, Bernadin is one of the hottest professional prospects in PA.

DiBella Sports and Entertainment-promoted lightweight southpaw, Victor Padilla, Williamstown, NJ, improved to 10-0, 9 KOs by stopping tough journeyman, Jesus Perez of Culiacan, Mexico, at 1:53 of round three. Padilla, 136 lbs., dropped Perez, 136 lbs., in the second and third stanzas. Unable to rise after the second knockdown, referee Eric Dali counted out the defeated battler. Perez' record fell below .500 to 13-14-1, 7 KOs.

Two very skilled welterweights slugged it out in one of the best four-round scraps a fan could ask for. Thanjhae Teasley, Allentown, PA, 144.8 lbs., squeezed out a four-round majority decision over Jetter Burgos, Bronx, NY, 145.8 lbs. Teasley took two of the official scores, 39-37, while the third judge had it 38-38. Burgos, 1-1, lost for the first time. Teasley improved to 3-0, 2 KOs.

Light-hitting Philadelphia native James Martin, 156.5 lbs., nearly pitched a shutout against Lukasz Barabasz, of Mikolow, Poland, to commence the evening. Winning by scores of 39-37 and 40-36 twice, Martin improved to 8-3. He is scheduled to fight again on June 4th in Houston. Barabasz, 157.5 lbs., slid to 1-4, 1 KO. 

Robinson, Mathie continue winning ways in Philly

By Matt Ward

Kings Promotions returned to Philly's premier fight venue, the 2300 Arena, on Friday night. The card featured eight professional bouts across various weight classes, and genders. The main event of the evening featured a super middleweight contest between Brandon Robinson (14-2, 9 KOs) and Martez McGregor (8-3, 6 KOs). 

In the opening frame, Robinson moved in and connected with a hard right hand to McGregor's face, a shot that snapped his head back. In the third round, McGregor effectively applied pressure to Robinson. McGregor controlled much of the tempo of the fourth round. He knocked Robinson into the neutral corner with a big left hand as the round approached its end. 

This was a sloppy fight through the first five rounds. The crowd rose to their feet in the sixth round, as Robinson connected with a series of straight right and left hands to McGregor's head and body. As the sixth round approached its end, the two fighters had a good exchange near the blue corner. Throughout the eighth and final round, the two fighters swung wildly and wrapped one another up to avoid any unnecessary damage. All three judges scored the bout for the winner by unanimous decision Brandon Robinson. The judges scorecards read 77-75 twice and 78-74.

Avril Mathie Remains Undefeated 

Australian bombshell, Avril Mathie (4-0-1, 2 KOs), remained undefeated with a unanimous decision victory over Karen Dulin (3-22-1, 1 KO). The  swimsuit model turned bantamweight boxer, Mathie, established her jab in the opening frame and outpointed the veteran Dulin. In the third round, Mathie control the tempo of the fight by landing a series of hooks to the head and body of Dulin. After four rounds of action, all three judges scored the bout 40-36 for the winner by unanimous decision, Avril Mathie.

Accidental Headbutt Halts Bunch vs. Floyd

In what was a highly entertaining fight before it was stopped in the third of six scheduled rounds, Trenton's Shinard Bunch (3-1, 3 KOs) fought Philadelphia's Vinny Floyd (4-8-1, 2 KOs) in a welterweight contest. A Bunch right to the body and left to the chin knocked Floyd down in the first round. Bunch had Floyd on shaky legs after the knockdown, but failed to put pressure on his taller opponent to secure the knockout. In the second round, Floyd was knocked back into the ropes with a multi-punch combo that was highlighted by a right hand to the head as time expired. The referee ruled this a knockdown. 

In the third round, the fight was stopped due to a cut on Floyd's scalp, that was opened up due to an accidental headbutt. Because the fight did not reach the fourth round, it was ruled a no-contest. The two men will  fight again on December 6th when King's Promotions returns to the 2300 arena.

Allen Returns to his Winning Ways in Front of Hometown Crowd

Damon Allen (16-1-1, 5 KOs) bounced back from his first career loss last August with a victory over Dieumerci Nzau (11-10, 8 KOs). Allen answered the opening bell by controlling the tempo of the fight and landing shots at will. He rattled Nzau with a big left hand to the head in the first round. Nzau swung wildly and ineffectively at his opponent in the second, clearly frustrated by Allen's poise and fight plan.

Allen punished Nzau with repeated left hands to the head in the third round. In the fourth round, the sound of two of Allen's left hands connecting with Nzau's head echoed through the arena. 

A left hand to the head shook Nzau in the sixth round. Both fighters looked exhausted later in the sixth and final round. The last-minute was filled with instances of both men hanging all over one another. To the delight of the pro-Allen crowd, all three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of the local fan-favorite.

Nelson Bounces Back from Three Straight Defeats

The former Pennsylvania Lightweight champion, Naim Nelson (14-4, 1 KO), halted his three fight losing streak with a unanimous decision victory over Harrisburg's Roy McGill (6-4, 3 KOs). The junior welterweight contest was evenly matched through the first two rounds. Miguel put his foot on the gas in the opening seconds of the third round, and then the action seemed to settle down. The two men spent the last three rounds chasing each other around the ring to the displeasure of the crowd. The judges scored the bout 58-56, 59-55, and 60-54, all in favor of Nelson.

Umberger Kayos DeShields

Chestnut Hill's Ryan Umberger (3-0, 3 KOs) increased his knockout streak to three with a victory over Camden's Leon DeShields (0-7). An Umberger right hook to the body sent DeShields to the canvas in the opening seconds of the first round in this junior middleweight bout. DeShields recovered from the knockdown only to be finished off later in the round at 2:49, when Umberger nailed him with a overhand right to the head. 

Rivera Wins by Second Round TKO

Cruiserweights Angel Rivera (5-1, 4 KOs) and Nicoy Clarke (2-5) squared off in a fight that was scheduled for four rounds. The opening round was filled with lots of action. Clarke tried to trap Rivera in the first round, but Rivera kept punching his way out of these traps. Rivera finished off Clark in the second round with an uppercut followed by left and right hooks to the head and body. Clark crashed to the canvas and referee Erik Dali waved off the fight at the 1:41 mark of the second round.

Martin, Down in One, Recovers for Win

James Martin (5-1) defeated Juan Rodriguez (8-16-1, 6 KOs) by unanimous decision in the opening bout of the evening. A Rodriguez body shot in the opening round caused Martin to take a knee. Later in the first round, Martin appeared to hurt Rodriguez on two occasions, but failed to press the attack and secure a knockdown. A right hand from Martin in the second sent Rodriguez tumbling back into the corner. Rodriguez wrapped Martin up to kill the multi-punch onslaught.

Rodriguez showed his ring experience in the third round by smothering multiple attacks by Martin. There was a big exchange of shots in the center of the ring to start the fourth round. Unfortunately, this early action in the round would be negated by excessive holding throughout the last two minutes of the final round. The judges scored the bout 38-37 and 39-37 twice for Martin.

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Philly fighters battle for title, but Brunson beats Davis via TKO

By Steve Peacock, Ringside

Tyrone Brunson as early as the first round appeared poised to bring to an abrupt end his Jr. Middleweight State Championship boxing title-fight against fellow Philadelphia native Jamaal Davis. After Davis suddenly sustained a brutal right that surprised him (as well as the roaring South Philly audience), Davis attempted to step up his game against the clearly dominant Brunson. But Davis fell short of outperforming the more aggressive Brunson, who emerged victorious by way of TKO and retained his title just one round short of the scheduled 10-round fight.

This main-event contest—the last of 11 bouts on the King’s Promotions/Titans Boxing Promotions card—was one of several fights in which the corners as well as the crowd seemed to demand that the respective aggressor simply bring the match at hand to an abrupt end.

It may have been unwillingness to capitalize on otherwise stunning punches, or perhaps part of a personal strategy to gradually wear down his opponent. No matter what justification might be offered, from an outside-the-ring-looking-in point of view, it seemed logical—or maybe just selfishly preferable— that Brunson should instead leverage those intermittent moments of punch-induced unsteadiness that Davis displayed.

Indeed, by round three someone in the Brunson corner kept hurling a KO-tinged baseball metaphor to their man, repeatedly shouting, “Give me two jabs and a home run! Give me two jabs and home run!”

But such an outcome would not start to come until the end of the eighth, with the fruits of those efforts finally emerging in the ninth.

In the final seconds of round eight, a powerfully thrown Brunson punch planted Davis on his ass, causing referee Gary Rosato to initiate an eight count. The subsequent bell then saved Davis, albeit briefly.

Soon after the ninth had begun, Brunson dropped Davis to the canvas once again. Davis arose, his nose slightly bloodied, and Rosato stopped the fight at the 2:11 mark.

Brunson retains his title and now has a pro boxing record of 28-7-2 with 24 KOs. Davis’s record falls to 18-14-1 with 7 KOs.

In the co-main event of the evening, super-middleweights Joseph George of Houston, Texas, and Oscar Riojas of Monterrey, Mexico, battled it out in a largely lackluster contest that drew repeated groans from the 2300 Arena audience. George initially came out as the aggressor in this match as he landed a few hard shots that elicited a “Read him a bedtime story!” response from the crowd, eager to witness a quick KO.

But in what appeared to be a more egregious failure to capitalize on moments of wobbliness that he inflicted on opponent, George consistently did not follow up on those shots, resulting in many boos and a verbalized “Yawn!” from several hecklers. Riojas nonetheless remained competitive throughout the bout, which went the full eight rounds. The judges ruled unanimously in favor of George, 80-72.

SUPER LIGHTWEIGHTS (2)

Nahir Albright (6-1; 1 KO) quickly caught the attention of his opponent, Roy McGill (6-2; 3 KOs), who in the first round remained undaunted by Albright’s swift attack. This attempted battering continued into the second, with Albright cornering and hurling a barrage of blows at McGill, who soon after was taken across the ring where Albright’s punches dropped him to his knees. At 1:10 of the second round, the bout was stopped and Albright declared victor by way of KO.

WELTERWEIGHTS (3)

Philadelphians Rasheed Johnson (5-2, 1 KO) and Vincent Floyd (4-6-1, 2 KOs) went toe-to-toe for all six scheduled rounds of the bout, with Johnson appearing to have the edge over Floyd for most, but not all of the contest. The judges’ scorecards—each 58-56—reflected that arguably uncertain dominance by Johnson, who won by split decision with two judges in favor of him and one against.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS

Kendal Cannida (3-1, 1 KO) opened the bout with a sweat-spattering blow to the face of Angel Rivera (4-1, 3 KOs) that hopefully was captured by the multiplicity of photographers at ringside. But all observers of this match needed not to wait long for additional pugilistic and potentially photogenic drama; a Cannida left hook sent Rivera plummeting to the floor, where he had time to ponder his first pro-boxing loss —if, while on his hand and knees in a befuddled condition, he was even capable of such cognitive processing.  The bout was stopped 2:59 after it began.

WELTERWEIGHTS (2)

James Martin (4-0, 1 KO) and Rick Pyle (1-2) went the full four rounds of this bout, which at first seemed like it could go either way until the final seconds of the third, when Martin unleashed multiple shots upon a seemingly startled Pyle. Martin emerged the victor by way of unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring 40-36.

SUPER BANTAMWEIGHTS (2)

Rasheen Brown (3-0) took an early lead over Hugo Rodriguez (0-3), who sustained several powerful shots in the first and briefly was sent to the canvas in the second. In the third, Brown had notably connected eight consecutive shots—all right jabs—to the face of Rodriguez. After four scheduled rounds, Brown won by way of unanimous decision

SUPER BANTAMWEIGHTS (1)

Yueri Andujar’s entered the ring with a limited but perfect three-win, three-KO streak, which came to halt literally at the hands of Weusi Johnson (3-10). The bout was competitive, unofficially measured by the number of gold beads flying from Andujar’s braids that were dangling from the back of this head; in one instance, Johnson hit Andujar so hard that several beads went tumbling to the canvas, while later in the match Andujar hit Johnson with such force that additional beads went traveling, including a few that catapulted past the judge’s table.  Johnson, however, in the fourth and final round had dropped Andujar to his knees. Then, in the final seconds of the bout, Johnson (3-1, 3 KOs) blasted him with two stunning shots. After the bell Johnson was deemed winner by split decision.

SUPER FEATHERWEIGHTS

In the first fight of the event to make it past the first round, Antonio Dubose (10-2-1, 10 KOs) defeated Danny Flores (15-15, 8 KOs) by way of unanimous decision after six rounds, 60-53. The bout likely would have ended sooner had it not been for evasive tactics taken by Flores following multiple thrashings at the hands of Dubose in the second and third. Indeed, it was obvious that Flores purposely kept holding on to Dubose—rather than actually boxing with him—to stave off what otherwise would have been an early defeat. Flores was saved by the bell in the fourth, after Dubose dropped him to his knees as we approached the round’s closing moments. In the sixth, Dubose caused some blood to become visible around his opponent’s right eye, resulting in a brief inspection by the ringside physician. The bout went on briefly before the end of the scheduled sixth round, and Dubose emerged victorious.

SUPER LIGHTWEIGHTS (1)

“No decision” (ND) was the outcome of the second bout of the evening, in which Shamar Fulton Banks (1-0-1) appeared to be making progress toward a potential victory over fellow Philadelphian Christopher Burgos (1-4-1, 1 KO). Referee Dave Franciosi called in the ringside physician at the 2:15 mark after Banks unintentionally crashed his head into Burgos and placed a gash in his nose. Ring announcer Mark Fratto explained to the audience that an ND ruling was required since the fight did not make it to the fourth round.

WELTERWEIGHTS (1)

In the opening bout of the night, Jerrico Walton (11-0, 6 KOs) seemingly out of nowhere landed an abrupt punch on Cesar Soriano Berumen (26-41-3, 16 KOs). That shot not only sent Berumen to the floor, but after lifting himself he noticeably limped back to his corner as if a knee or ankle had been injured from that brief journey to the floor.

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Kings Promotions Presents Live Boxing at the SugarHouse Casino Recap

Kings Promotions returned to SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia this evening with a six fight card, headlined by a bantamweight contest between Christian Carto (17-0, 11 KOs), Philadelphia, and Antonio Rodriguez (13-23-2, 6 KOs), Durango, Mexico. Carto, the hometown favorite, walked out to the ring in front of an enthusiastic crowd of supporters clang in orange Carto shirts that read, "Broad Street Bully," a homage to the Philadelphia Flyers hockey club. The "bully" put his skills on display through six rounds as he dominated the bout en route to his 17th professional victory.

Carto answered the opening bell by unloading an offensive onslaught on Rodriguez. In the final 30 seconds of the round, he backed Rodriguez up with a multi-punch combo, that was halted by the bell. Rodriguez swung wildly at the head and body of Carto in the second round, desperately hoping to counter the cleaner and more powerful Carto shots. Later in the round, to the crowd's delight, Carto tee'd off on Rodriguez with hard right hooks that pushed the Mexican veteran into the ropes. In the final ten seconds of the round, Carto sent Rodriguez crashing to the canvas with a left hand that found its mark on his body.

By the third round, Carto's go-to punch was the right hook, a punch that Rodriguez had difficulty defending himself against. In the fourth round, Carto punished Rodriguez with big right hands to the body. Rodriguez was warned for rabbit punches in the fifth round. Carto, clearly ahead on the cards, cruised through the sixth and final round. Midway through the round, he reminded Rodriguez he was still in a fight by snapping his head back with consecutive right hands. Rodriguez, hoping for a "last minute" knockout, viciously exchanged punches with Carto as the fight came to an end. All three judges scored the bout 60-53 in favor of Philly's own Christian Carto. 

The co-main event of the evening pitted welterweights Poindexter Knight (6-0, 3 KOs) against Travis Castellon (16-3-1, 12 KOs). This bout was the third time Castellon, a Fort Lauderdale native, fought against a fighter with a winning record, and it certainly showed. Early in the opening frame, a Knight left hook to the head stunned Castellon. He followed this big shot up with a left-right combo that staggered Castellon. At this point, referee Eric Dali pushed Knight away, and ushered the hurt Castellon into the corner. Castellon could not recover from the damage, and Dali waived off the fight at the 1:33 mark of the first round. 

James Martin (3-0), North Philadelphia, fought Denis Okoth (2-1-1, 1 KO), Kenya, in a battle of undefeated welterweights. Martin sent Okoth crashing to the canvas in the first round with a big left hook to the head. In the third round, Okoth had his revenge for the previous knockdown, by connecting with a hard left hand that sent Martin to the mat. The two men, not wanting to leave the decision in a close fight up to the judges, exchanged big shots as time winded down in the fourth and final round. All three judges scored the bout 38-36 in favor of Martin.

West Philadelphia's Frankie Trader (11-2-1, 3 KOs) fought Pablo Cupul (10-28, 5 KOs), San Diego, in a lightweight contest. Trader, who has not fought since 2014, shook off the ring rust in the opening frame by connecting with big right hands that found their mark on the head and body of Cupul. Later in the round, Trader, the faster fighter, landed a left hand to Cupul's body that made the more stationary fighter cringe. In the second round, Cupul was warned for rabbit punches. Trader, who had enough of Cupul by the second round, punished his opponent with a vicious multi-punch combo that ended the night for the veteran fighter from California. Eric Dali stopped the fight at 1:45 of the second round. 

Maurice Burke (1-0), Philadelphia, defeated Brandon Bey (0-1), the Bronx, by unanimous decision in a four round, middleweight contest. All three judges scored the contest 40-36 for Burke. 

Mark Dawson (5-0, 3 KOs), Philadelphia, won his fifth straight professional fight by way of unanimous decision over Chukka Willis (3-7, 2 KOs), Emporia, Kansas. The judges scored the bout 60-54 twice and 59-55 in favor of Dawson. 

MW

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