Ringside Boxing Report: Matthews Dominates Jolly in Reading !

Last Friday in the main event of a nice combined boxing and mixed martial arts card promoted by Marshall Kauffman the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, Julio Cesar Matthews won the biggest fight of his career by defeating Harvey ‘Candy Man’ Jolly.

Matthews, 9-0 (5), a southpaw from Reading, Pennsylvania, stalked Jolly, 10-12-1 (5), of Adrian, Michigan, from the opening bell and applied relentless pressure, coming forward and trying to cut off the ring for all six rounds. Jolly ran circles around the edge on the ring, playing possum, but Matthews did not fall for the trap.

Julio easily won rounds one, two, four, five and six, landing overhand rights to the head and right left body shot power punch combinations. Occasionally Jolly landed a very good overhand left jab to the head, but he always ran away without following up as Matthews was right on him putting on the heat.

Jolly won the third round as he ran less and landed more. But Matthews was always countering with heavy power shots that did damage. Jolly actually threw a great many wild hooks throughout the contest, but Matthews, 39, for whom age was just a number, magically slipped and ducked all of them with superior head movement. Jolly expended a lot of energy running away and throwing wildly. By round six, he was nearly out of gas and in serious trouble.

In the sixth and final round, Matthews’ patience and hard work paid off as he now successfully cut off the ring and Jolly, who was tiring and couldn’t run away anymore, began to get hit too much. All that was left for Jolly, now breathing hard, was to grab and hold on whenever he could for dear life to survive. Matthews, who wasn’t tired and never broke a sweat, then gave Jolly a good old-fashioned beating to finish the contest strongly.

In the post fight interview, Mike Melendez, a trainer of Matthews, called out for Rob Calloway to stop running and face Matthews, his former sparring partner who dealt Calloway many beatings in the gym. Calloway, who’s scheduled to fight Pawel Kolodziej on December 18, 2009 in Lodz, Poland, could be a future opponent of Matthews in 2010.

Melendez stated Matthews will fight in February, 2010 in a six rounder against an unnamed opponent. Melendez said, “We will fight all challengers. All they have to do is call us. We’ll fight Madison Square Garden, Blue Horizon, Bally’s, Europe. After one more tune-up fight, I can move Julio up to an eight rounder.”

Matthews, who lost ten years of his career due to personal problems, is now married with children, focused on his boxing career, and appears to have put his promising career back on track. Matthews discounted his age as a factor, “I used my last three fights as more of a workout, to show people that I can go the distance,” he said.

“My age doesn’t mean anything. I can go twelve, I am prepared to win. Rob Calloway was my friend when we sparred together. The question is does he want to fight me?”

Scoring: 59-55, 59-55, 58-56 Matthews, UD6.

Preliminary Bouts

On the undercard, welterweight Jason Cintron of Pennsylvania, the brother of light middleweight contender Kermit Cintron, won a unanimous six round decision over journeyman Martinus Clay.

Sporting a red Mohawk hairdo, Cintron, 11-1 (3), pitched a shutout, landing numerous left jabs to win nearly every round on the scorecards. Clay, 13-22-4 (5), was still dangerous, landed an occasional counter and was ‘in the house’.

However, Clay was warned by the referee for numerous low blows throughout the bout, and was also warned for throwing back punches which could damage the opponent’s kidneys. He could have been disqualified, but wasn’t, resulting in a clean fight for Cintron and a dirty fight for Clay.

The Cintron corner shouted at Jason to keep his left hand up but he did not listen for all six rounds, giving Clay chances to score punches that should not have hit their target. Cintron looked in great shape, but his technique, as evidenced from the shouts from his corner at ringside, still needs a great deal of work.

The Cintron corner was warned by the commissioner at ringside twice for leaving excess water and ice on the canvas between rounds.

Scoring: 60-54, 59-55, 58-56 Cintron UD6.

In a brief but bloody affair between light middleweights, experienced veteran Clarence ‘Sonny Bono’ Taylor, 14-23-4 (7), and Keenan Collins,12-5-2 (8), fought a technical draw. What was ruled an accidental head butt forced a stoppage at 1:21 of the first round.

As soon as the opening bell rang, Marshall Kauffman, the trainer of Collins, began shouting and screaming at ringside that “Taylor is leaning with his head!” Just after that, the butt and the blood occurred. Collins had a huge bloody gash over his left eye, while Bono had a gaping cut on top of his forehead. Both fighters needed to be stitched on site, and Collins again at the hospital.

A corner man in the Cintron camp remarked “ Taylor’s head was neatly shaved exactly to accomplish its objective!” However, the butt appeared to be accidental from ringside view. It occurred during a heated exchange in ring center.

Result: NC1.

In a four round light welterweight match up, Hawaiian fighter Van Oscar Penovaroff fought a disputed draw with Francisco Palacios of Stamford , Connecticut . The bout was extremely difficult to score due to a contrast in fighting styles.

Palacios came forward as the aggressor for the first three rounds, throwing punches in bunches. Nothing landed as Van Penovaroff’s defense picked off every thing Palacios threw.

Palacios’ punches had absolutely no power. When Penovaroff countered, he landed solid power shots that clearly scored. The fight looked about even entering the fourth round, when Penovaroff attacked and scored with jab combinations in the first half of the round and it looked like he had the fight won. But in the second half of the round, he stopped throwing, allowing Palacios to get back into the fight and be the aggressor.

One judge gave Penovaroff every round. Another saw it for Palacios The third judge had it even. According to trainer and promoter Mike Melendez, a rematch between these two fighters is planned in 2010. Penovaroff, of Kailua Kona, Hawaii, is now 4-0-1 (3) Palacios is now 4-9-4 1 (1).

Scoring: 60-54 Penovaroff, 59-55 Palacios, 57-57 Draw. Result: D4.

In a comeback worthy of Rocky Balboa, 43 year old heavyweight Craig Tomlinson won the second bout of his comeback with a four round decision over veteran journeyman Willie Palms. The 267 pound Palms stood taller and bigger than his 225 pound opponent, enjoyed a substantial reach advantage and was six years younger.

What emerged in this bout was an incredible display of poor sportsmanship. Palms showboated, danced silly around the ring with his back turned to his opponent, mugged and taunted his foe and was acting like a clown in the ring, triggering a deafening chorus of boos from the crowd at the Sovereign Center .

Whenever the smaller Tomlinson tried to land a punch, gigantic Palms pushed him around like a cardboard dummy. At the end of round one, the referee warned Palms that if his back was turned and he got hit and bounced off the ropes it would be considered a knockdown. Palms laughed him off, continuing to treat the bout as a joke.

In the second, after showboating for half the round, suddenly Palms emptied his guns and tried to end the show then and there. A badly battered and aging Tomlinson headed face first to the canvas, and the bout-and Tomlinson’s comeback attempt-seemed to be over.

Suddenly Tomlinson jumped up from the canvas and just beat the count. Discarding the rationale of attacking a gargantuan opponent, Tomlinson attacked with everything he had left in the tank and won the second half of round two, surprising Palms that a smaller fighter would do battle with such a mismatch of size. The crowd cheered.

Rounds three and four went life and death, as David attempted to slay Goliath. Palms continued to taunt, showboat and mug, in an attempt to get Tomlinson emotionally charged, but Tomlinson did not fall for the trap. Instead, Tomlinson carefully looked for openings, throwing meticulous left jabs and left hand power shots to the head and body that scored, winning both rounds and demonstrating superior boxing skill and great courage in the face of his much larger opponent.

Late in the fourth, a picture perfect over hand right from Tomlinson sent the showboating Palms staggering across the ring, off the ring ropes and then draped through the middle of the ropes. He managed to struggle to his feet, and then realized the referee was counting him out! Palms protested, and he beat the count, but he lost the round and the bout. The Sovereign Center crowd went wild, giving Tomlinson a well-deserved standing ovation!

In a shameful display of poor sportsmanship, Palms continued to taunt the crowd from the ring, and when the chorus of loud boos didn’t stop, Palms left the ring, and continued to taunt the booing crowd at ringside. Finally, a commissioner at ringside told Palms to “Please get out of here.”

Palms has lost eight straight bouts in the past eight years, was both a sore loser and a disgrace to boxing. While he wasn’t disqualified, the line between what should or shouldn’t be allowed to take place in the arena was thin. Palms probably could have won this bout, playing the part of devil’s advocate, the fighter the crowd loves to hate and getting the crowd angrily involved. Needless to say, it was entertainment at its worse.

Tomlinson, Reading, Pennsylvania, rose to 24-15-1 (13). Palms, Jersey City, New Jersey, fell to 10-8-1 (5). Despite eight straight losses, Palms somehow still has a winning record in the heavyweight division. Go figure.

Scoring: 39-36- 38-36, 38-37 Tomlinson UD4