Ringside Boxing Report: Chuck Mussachio vs. Anthony Ferrante

Â© Robert Brizel / Saddo Boxing

All-Italian East Coast Light Heavyweight War in Atlantic City!

Last Friday at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Diane Lee Fischer’s Dee Lee Productions hosted an exciting â€œItalianâ€ fight card.

In the main event, Chuck ‘The Professor’ Mussachio of Wildwood, New Jersey, won an exciting ten round war to win the lesser known WBF Light Heavyweight title over unbeaten champion Anthony Ferrante of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Mussachio, now 16-1-2 (5), emerged as the man to beat after an early feeling out period in the first round. He won rounds 2 through 8. Wild-eyed and hungry, Mussachio threw power shots and jabs that shook a frustrated Ferrante all night.

Ferrante continued to plot in and try to counter, but nothing bothered ‘The Professor’. Mussachio landed accurate power shots in center ring and off the ropes. Ferrante was getting hit too much and could not defend against the punches coming in, which were too numerous, and could not change his game plan.

In round seven, a huge mouse appeared under Ferrante’s right eye. In rounds seven and eight, Mussachio battered Ferrante from one side of the ring to the other, but Ferrante would not fall. At the end of round eight, a huge cut appeared under Mussachio’s left eye.

During the ninth round the bout changed tempo 360 degrees as a Ferrante uppercut appeared to break Mussachio’s nose. Ferrante then landed some big overhand lefts to win the round, as Mussachio hung on for dear life.

Mussachio and Ferrante were both out of gas in the tenth, and besides a few desperate swinging punches from both fighters which found the air, both men hung onto each for most of the last round to survive to the final bell.

Scoring: 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 Mussachio. Main Event Referee: Brian O’Melia.

Â© Robert Brizel / Saddo Boxing

In the post fight interview, Mussachio introduced his new wife of three weeks, and stated he had been offered an IBO Intercontinental bout in Germany with Karo Murat for fall 2010, but would need time to heal as Ferrante had broken his nose.

Mussachio also noted his position as a Special Education teacher in New Jersey would be lost on June 30, 2010, due to the current budget crisis, and he hoped to secure a new teaching position.

Mussachio commented, “I give Ferrante all the respect in the world, I underestimated my opponent. He gave a good fight. His gloves touched the canvas in the second; it should have been scored a knockdown. They didn’t call it a knockdown, no big deal.”

Mussachio continued, “You have to beat the champ to win the title. A close fight goes to the champion. He has a lot of class; I have a lot of respect for him. He might have broken my nose with an uppercut in the ninth round. I’ll take some time off now to heal, and enjoy some barbeques and parties.”

In other bouts, world ranked female featherweight Amanda ‘The Real Deal’ Serrano of Brooklyn, New York, remained unbeaten with a four round unanimous decision over Nydia Feliciano of Bronx, New York.

Serrano, a Former New York City Golden Gloves champion, now 6-0-1 (3), used a combination body power shot followed by head power shots to wear her opponent down. Her corner, seeing the plan working, stuck by it winning every round. Serrano is ranked # 4 in the world by the WBF and # 7 by the WIBA. Feliciano falls to 2-1-2.

Scoring: 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55 Serrano. Referee: Ricardo Vera.

In a close four round bantamweight bout, Jose ‘Chili’ Rivera of New Rochelle, New York scored a minor upset with a majority decision win over previously unbeaten Dwayne Larry Jr. of Tampa, Florida.

Larry had height, reach and age advantage. At 27, he is older than Rivera, who barely looked 18. Rivera fought smartly, fighting the bout from a low level stance neutralizing Parry’s height and reach advantage.

Rivera landed a lot of overhand left power shots to win round one, while crowding Larry along the ropes and restricting his movement. Larry used right-left jab combinations to slow Rivera down and win round two, who countered but had trouble landing.

In round three, Larry continued his jab attack, but was getting hit by Rivera’s power shots. The fourth round appeared even as both fighters traded jabs and power shots.

Scoring: 38-38 (draw), 39-37 and 39-37 Rivera Referee: David Franciosi.

Althea ‘Lady Thunder’ Saunders, the former 2008 National Police Athletic League amateur champion at 138 pounds, won her professional debut with a four round unanimous decision over Ashleigh Curry.

The first round was an even feeling out round. Saunders used an overhand counter left to score points and was more aggressive than Curry over the last three rounds to win the bout. Curry remains winless at 0-3-1, but is far better than her record would indicate.

In a four round super middleweight bout, Gabriel Pham of Atlantic City, New Jersey, a southpaw, remained unbeaten at 3-0 with a unanimous decision over Rondu Campbell of Brooklyn, New York.

Working quietly and patiently, Pham threw jabs and counter jabs to the head that scored and appeared to win every round. Campbell, who looked like something between a ringer and spoiler, threw wild jabs, but missed most of his punches.

Campbell tried an old classic trick, sitting on the ropes several times to bait Pham in, but Pham remained at center ring the whole bout boxing well and didn’t fall for ‘the trap’. The generous judges somehow gave Campbell one round.

Scoring: 39-37 from all three judges for Pham. Referee: Ricardo Vera.

Victor ‘The Viper’ Valenzuela, an unbeaten featherweight from Passaic, New Jersey, scored a split decision win over Delvin Placencia, a Dominican out of Irvington, New Jersey, in a bout difficult to score where it appeared the decision could go either way.

The bout was fought on the inside in center ring, with a lot of jab exchanges and grappling. Placencia threw more punches, but Valenzuela landed the more effective blows.

When the split decision was announced, it was not stated which judge voted for Placencia, leading a ringside sports reporter’s inquiry. One judge gave Valenzuela every round, perhaps because the bigger punches he landed were noticeable. Vanenzuela improves to 8-0 (1), while Placencia drops to15-4 (6), losing his last four.

Scoring: 60-55, 58-56 Valencia , 58-56 Placencia. Referee: Ricardo Vera.

Middleweight Mike Tiberi, of Smyrna, Delaware, (whose father Mario is the brother of noted promoter Nick Tiberi) used a wide mix of shots to stop Brian Bernard of Saint Joseph, Missouri.

Bernard looks like a smaller version of cruiserweight Rob Calloway. Tiberi wore down Bernard with jab combinations to the head and body. Bernard came forward and landed a few counters, but was taking a lot of punishment.

Near the end of round three, Tiberi’s accurate combinations dropped Bernard twice, but he beat both counts. On rising the second time at 3:00, Bernard appeared dazed on his feet in a corner, prompting the referee to make the only stoppage of the night on a highly competitive fight card. Tiberi is now 13-1 (6), Bernard falls to 8-7-2 (4).

According to Mike Tiberi, “I was very disappointed I was on the Kelly Pavlik undercard. We’ll get another chance. It would have been exciting.”

According to his father, trainer Mario Tiberi, “Mike has just turned 22 years old. We would like to try to get on the bigger venues. Our game is to fight for a title of some kind. Dover Downs is running a show on August 29, and will be on that card.”

Result: Tiberi TKO 3 (3:00) Brian Bernard. Referee; David Franciosi.

Jaywon Woods of Danville, Virginia, whose father is Darroll Wilson (who knocked out heavyweight Shannon Briggs some years ago), won a four round majority decision in a cruiserweight bout over Mazur Ali of Brooklyn, New York, in a competitive up and down bout.

Both fighters fought a close first round, looking to counter in center ring. Woods backed up Ali with left jabs in rounds two and three, and used an overhand left to drop Ali for a flash knockdown in round three to win the bout on points.

Ali won the fourth round by coming forward throwing jabs as Woods ran from side-to-side with good legs, but didn’t throw any counters, perhaps because he was arm weary. Ali, a last minute heavyweight sub who got stopped in the first round by Tor Hamer at B.B. King’s last December performs much better as a cruiserweight, and gave a good accounting of himself here. Woods now 8-1-1 (5), Ali falls to 6-6 (3).

Scoring: 38-38 (draw), 40-35 and 39-36 Woods. Referee: Ricardo Vera.