“Hot Sauce” Henderson Harnesses His Dozenth Victory

By Steve Peacock, Ringside

Pro boxer Kalvin “Hot Sauce” Henderson returned to the City of Brotherly Love on Friday night to attain win #12, preserving an undefeated record by repeatedly knocking down and ultimately taking down Antowyan Aikens.  

Referee Benji Estevez stopped the bout at 2:14 of the third round after the Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Henderson (12-0; 8 KOs) sent Aikens (13-7-1; 1 KO) of Mays Landing, NJ to the canvas for the fifth time.

This successful contest was Henderson’s 2^nd consecutive match via King’s Promotions/Titans Boxing Promotions and likewise was his 2^nd consecutive victory at the 2300 Arena in South Philly.

At the start of this super-middleweight competition Henderson appeared to hold, at best, a slight advantage over Aikens. But by round two, “Hot Sauce” clearly established himself as the dominant pugilist.

A left jab by Henderson during the second round had hurtled Aikens to the mat—the very place to which Hot Sauce then returned him moments later.

Indeed, Aikens actually took a trio of trips to the canvas that round, including another one immediately prior to the bell bringing the 2^nd to its inevitable conclusion.

Henderson in the 3^rd once again downed Aikens with a left jab then dropped him to the canvas yet again before referee Benji Estevez stopped the bout, thereby giving the TKO victory to Hot Sauce.

Back in December, Henderson at this same arena had handed to Brandon Robinson only the second defeat of “B-Rob’s” career. Though Robinson in that bout fared slightly better—duration-wise, anyway—than Aikens on Friday, he nonetheless had received an eye-bloodying, mat-visiting loss at the hands of Henderson in late 2018.

Robinson likewise returned to South Philly this weekend to face a different opponent—and with different results as the following segment of this report will show.

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHTS

Brandon “B-Rob” Robinson (13-2; 8 KOs ) of Upper Darby, Pa. in the evening’s co-main event emerged victorious over DeVaun Lee (10-6-1; 5 KOs) of Jamaica, Queens.

B-Rob soon after the bout had begun threw a right jab that stunned Lee, but by the end of the round Lee reciprocated, stemming his opponent’s brief momentum and momentarily causing Robinson to wobble.

Over the next two rounds B-Rob held the advantage, with Lee remaining in contention to say the least. Indeed, by the fourth a resilient Lee looked like he was gaining and not losing ground, though the fifth revealed—however briefly—that Lee could be in trouble.

A relatively even exchange took place between the two boxers in the last three. Robinson appeared to minimally maintain the edge in the sixth, but barely.

Notably, Robinson and Lee took turns connecting a hard right just before the 10-second warning at each of the final rounds, with B-Rob landing a furious fist at the end of the seventh and Lee similarly reciprocating prior to the timekeeper’s “clack” nearing bout’s end.

The judges scored 77-74 for Robinson, 76-75 for Lee, and 77-75 in favor of Robinson, who won by split decision.

SUPER BANTAMWEIGHTS

Raeese Aleem (14-0; 8 KOs) of Las Vegas quickly set Ramiro Robles (15-9-2) of Queretaro, Mexico on his ass. Upon standing, Aleem slammed Robles with a left uppercut and right jab. Moments later, after a brief respite thanks to an inquiring referee, Aleem leveraged that same combo and dropped Robles to his knees. The bout was over at 1:51, and Aleem won by way of 1^st round TKO.

LIGHTWEIGHTS

This match can be summed up in two sentences: Alycia Baumgardner (7-1; 5 KOs) of Fremont, Ohio quickly pummeled Gabriella Mezei (9-18-5) of Romania with multiple left-right combos, jabs and uppercuts. As a result, the bout barely made it past the one-minute mark (1:08) before being stopped, and Baumgardner by way of TKO was subsequently crowned USBF Women’s Silver Champion.

WELTERWIGHTS

Philly favorite Paul “The Punisher” Kroll (3-0; 3 KOs ) unleashed a combo of head and body shots against  Vincent Floyd (4-7-1; 2 KOs) in the first—that alternating barrage of rights and lefts quickly indicated the end was near for Floyd. Sure enough, the referee stopped the bout at 2:27, and Kroll was deemed victor by way of TKO.

MIDDLEWIEGHTS

The first of four consecutive 1^st round victories at this event, Ryan Umberger of Philly (2-0;  1 KO) just seconds into the match knocked to the mat a befuddled Daryl Fenton (1-5-1), who fights out of Washington, D.C.  “The Cockney Reject,” as the London-born Fenton is nicknamed, continued to sustain a battery of unrelenting Umberger shots until the ref jumped into to the stop this beating at 1:34. Umberger is now on a three-win, three KO streak.

FEATHERWEIGHTS

Antonio Dubose (11-2-1; 2 KOs) of Philly and Weusi Johnson (3-12-1) of Wilmington, Delaware went the full length of the scheduled six rounder. Dubose landed several left jabs that elicited responses from the audience throughout the first two rounds. At the very end of the third, Johnson was striking Dubose with significant force, and appeared further reinvigorated in the fourth.  Dubose at one point slammed an overhand right into the face of his opponent, but there was not much more to speak about either contender. Dubose emerged victorious by way of majority decision, with the judges scoring the bout 57-57, 58-56 and 59-55.

JR. MIDDLEWEIGHTS

First up was LaQuan Evans (1-1) out of Philly, facing Hector Mercado (3-10) of Puerto Rico. Evans started out literally on the wrong foot, nearly sliding a leg out of the ring, and Mercado wisely seized upon that error. Undaunted, Evans came back and mightily landed multiple shots that reminded his opponent that one slip does not make for a less formidable foe.  By the third, Mercado seemed fatigued, and could not get a break until Evans slipped to the canvas, albeit momentarily. Despite Mercado’s seemingly uncertain position, he landed enough shots to achieve a point advantage over Evans. The judges scored it 38-38, 39-37, and 40-36 for the majority decision in favor of Mercado. 

Support The Weigh-In: Your Home for Combat Sports by Shopping World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Products!

“Hot Sauce” Henderson Halts Robinson; Remains Undefeated

By Steve Peacock, Ringside

Pro boxer Brandon “B-Rob” Robinson confidently prowled the ring the first four of ten possible rounds in the main event of King’s Promotions’ boxing spectacular on Friday. But soon after, he would find himself on all fours, staring at the canvas of the 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia.

Indeed, Robinson, the local favorite from Darby, PA, initially maintained a slight edge over his opponent, Ft. Worth, Texas-born Kalvin “Hot Sauce” Henderson. By 2:08 of round seven, however, the referee stopped the bout after Robinson—his swollen left eye almost completely closed and dripping blood—had been dropped to the mat for a third time, courtesy of Henderson, the new Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) Inter Continental Super Middleweight Title champion.

Although Henderson ultimately overwhelmed Robinson, at first glance it looked like B-Rob was most likely to emerge as the dominant pugilist. Toward the end of the first round, for instance, Robinson initiated a rapid-fire offensive halted only by the ring of the bell, followed next round by a couple of powerful shots to Henderson’s face.

Though Robinson remained strong throughout the third round, it was then that Henderson first offered a clue that the balance of power was about to change: as the round neared its end, “Hot Sauce” landed a glove powerful enough to send B-Rob one unsteady step backwards while eliciting an audible response from the 2300 Arena audience.

Blood began visibly dripping from the corner of Robinson’s left eye in the fifth round, which is when Henderson took control. Indeed, segments of the South Philly crowd gasped when a solid Henderson punch dropped B-Rob to a single knee. As Robinson walked to his corner, additionally it became obvious that his left eye was now battered shut.

The climax came as Henderson (11-0) dropped Robinson (11-2) to his hands and knees, albeit briefly, and soon delivered him helplessly again to all fours. It was this back-to-back flooring that caused the referee to stop the bout at 2:08 of round seven by way of TKO.

Bout 5/Co-Main Event: Heavyweights

Big boys Paul Koon of Philly and Cade Rodriguez of Monroe, GA immediately came out swinging and attempting to damage to each other. Koon after the first round held a slight edge over his opponent, largely because Rodriguez failed to land multiple, hard shots that—fortunately for Koon—missed their intended target.

While Koon briefly had Rodriguez against the ropes in the next round, his efforts were soon repelled. Similarly, though Rodriguez appeared to give Koon a scare in the third, those offensive measures were largely ineffective. In the fourth and final round, the two behemoths clearly were fatigued, and the pace of the battle nearly slowed the competition to a halt.

The judges unanimously scored in favor of Koon (4-0), who remains undefeated. Rodriguez is now 2-3.

Bout 4: Super Bantamweights

It wasn’t until round two that Romuel Cruz of Philly and Hugo Rodriguez of Mexico stepped up the action; while both peppered each other with a variety of punches, Rodriguez wildly missed several of his attempted shots. Cruz maintained the upper hand throughout the remainder of the four-round bout, which he won by way of unanimous decision.

Bout 3: Super Welterweights

Andy Gonzales (6-3-1) of Worcester, MA started out strong against—indeed, briefly appeared to dominate—North Philly boxer Isaiah Wise (7-2-1). The resilient Wise, however, was undeterred, turning the bout into an all-out brawl and subsequently landing a solid right hook that caused Gonzales to suddenly stare into space, defenseless, arms down.

Wisely taking advantage of the situation, Wise once again struck Gonzales and sent him backwards into the corner, where Gonzales’s bottom landed on the mat. Had it not been for the corner ring pads and adjacent ropes, surely he would have been on his back.

Briefly saved by the bell, a one-minute reprieve enabled Gonzales to muster enough strength to fight back at the start of the second round. A barrage of uppercuts and hooks from Wise, however, quickly rendered useless any effort by the battered Gonzales.

The referee stopped the potential six-round contest 40 seconds into round two, and Wise won by way of TKO.

Bout 2: Lightweights

James Bernadin (3-0-1) of Philly and Sheldon Deverteuil (2-0-1) of Lancaster, PA from the beginning of the bout appeared evenly matched, each exchanging punches consistently albeit with Bernadin doing so with greater frequency. Deverteuil wasted no time in round two, landing a hard cross that seemed to temporarily startle Bernadin, who responded with a series of consecutively missed shots.

Bernadin briefly had his opponent against the ropes, but failed to capitalize on those brief moments of domination in the 3rd. Despite giving his best, it was insufficient to cause Deverteuil to capitulate. In the fourth and final round, Bernadin appeared to take control of the ring, twice stinging Deverteuil in the early moments.

After four rounds, the judges deemed the bout to be a draw.

Bout 1: Light Heavyweights

Prospects for victory quickly withered for Ronnie Lawrence, who faced Travis "Holy" Toledo in the opening bout. Toledo about a minute into the match clearly was the dominant pugilist. An alternate barrage of Toledo-thrown body punches and jabs soon made Lawrence wobble his way to the mat. By way of KO at 2:30, Toledo extended his victory streak to 4-0, while Lawrence dropped to 0-3.

Support The Weigh-In: Your Home for Combat Sports by Shopping World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Products!

Kings Promotions Presents Robinson vs. Henderson Preview

By Matt Ward

The 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia will be filled and loud this Friday night when Marshall Kauffman's Kings Promotions returns to Philly's most famous fight arena. 

The eight bout card is headlined between a super middleweight battle between Upper Darby, Pennsylvania's Brandon Robinson (11-1, 8 KOs) and Kalvin Henderson (10-0, 6 KOs) of Fort Worth, Texas. The two men will compete for the Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) Inter Continental Super Middleweight Title. Henderson, an undefeated fighter who has had an active 2018, won his last two bouts by knockout. Robinson, a Philly fan favorite, won three fights in 2018. His most recent victory was on September 14th, when he knocked out Ernest Amuzu. This will be the first time both fighters will will box in a ten round contest. 

Super welterweights, Isaiah Wise (6-2-1, 3 KOs) and Andy Gonzales (6-3, 5 KOs) will face off in a six round contest. Both fighters are looking for their seventh professional victory this Friday. Wise, a product of Philadelphia, is coming off of a loss and a draw in two hard fought bouts against his rival Anthony Prescott. Worcester's Gonzales is looking to end a two fight losing streak that extends back to June 2017. 

Michael Polite Coffie (5-0, 4 KOs), a heavyweight from the Bronx, New York, is looking for his fifth professional knockout and sixth straight victory. The orthodox fighter, who has fought all of his professional contests in Pennsylvania, is 32-years-old. His opponent, Juan Goode (8-8, 6 KOs), has lost his last four bouts, two of which were by knockout. The 34-year-old steps into the 2300 Arena ring on Friday looking to right the course of the ship that is his boxing career. 

The card also features the following bouts: 

James Bernadin (2-0, 1 KO) vs. Sheldon Dverteuil (1-0) - four rounds, lightweights

Paul Koon (3-0, 1 KO) vs. Cade Rodriguez (2-2, 2 KOs) - four rounds, heavyweights

Romuel Cruz (2-0-1, 1 KO) vs. Hugo Rodriguez (0-1) - four rounds, bantamweights

Travis Toledo (3-0, 2 KOs) vs. Ronnie Lawrence (0-2) - four rounds, light heavyweights

Jerome Rodriguez (7-11-3, 2 KOs) vs. Luis Arcon (3-0, 3 KOs) - four rounds, super lightweights 

Stay tuned to The Weigh-In for Steve Peacock's post-fight report. 

Tickets for this great night of boxing start at $50 and can be purchased on the 2300 Arena website. 

Support The Weigh-In: Your Home for Combat Sports by Shopping World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Products!