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 2nd
consecutive match via King’s Promotions/Titans Boxing Promotions and likewise
was his 2nd 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 2nd
to its inevitable conclusion.
Henderson in the 3rd 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 1st
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 1st 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.
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