Ringside Boxing Report: Shannon Miller – Ralph West

Friday Night Spectacle In Albany

Pugnacious Promotions set off their second show of the year last night at the Albany Armory with a card billed as Spring Time Spectacle. It was a repeat performance of their last show held in March, earlier this year. A lot of local talent showcased their skills with the enthusiasm of a major PPV for the hometown crowd, making the night exciting as any big time show held by the major players in the game.

The night started off with four round light heavyweight bout featuring Curtis “Spice” Jones from Brooklyn, NY, facing Tiger Allen out of Philadelphia, PA. The bout started out with a slow feeling out process that looked to have Jones being the better boxer of the two, but Allen was by far the stronger puncher. After Jones tasted a few of Allen’s hooks he was holding and hitting with hopes of stealing rounds by handing out last second flurries. Allen was not impressed and by the fourth, Jones was just hoping to get by as he held and hit on the break (he even punched Allen from behind at one point). At the final bell, Allen was given the split decision with scores of 39-37 (twice) and one judge (who obviously was watching another fight) scored it 40-36 for Jones. Allen moves up to 2-0 (1) and Jones drops down to 2-2-1 (0).

Super middleweights were next, featuring a six round rematch between Brandon Mitchem out of Kingston, NY against Keith “Tomcat” Sonley of Warrensburg, NY. In their first bout, Mitchem outboxed Sonley for the decision. This time around Sonley wanted to change his game plan by making Mitchem slug. Sonley set the pace and made it a very close bout throughout. He pressured Mitchem from bell to bell. Mitchem was dropped in the fifth by a clear punch that for some reason was ruled a slip and caused some boos from the crowd. However, Sonley kept at his attack and continued to bring his type of fight to Mitchem. At the bell the judges saw it different and gave Mitchem the decision in a fight that should have been at least a draw in my opinion. Mitchem moved up to 24-4 (8) and Sonley drops down to 4-13-5 (1).

Welterweights took the stage next as hometown favorite Wayland “Showtime” Willingham of Albany, NY faced Shad “The Crazy Train” Howard of Jefferson City, MO. The bout started with Willingham showing right from the start why he may soon be a factor in the welterweight division. He went right after Howard, catching him with a vicious body shot that echoed in the Armory and had Howard running. One more shot and Howard went down for the 8 count. Willingham, wanting to live up to his nickname, went after Howard with the intensity of a top contender. Dropping Howard two more times within the next 90 seconds gave Willingham his fifth knockout, winning the bout at 2:45 of round one. Willingham improves to 9-0 (5) while Howard drops to 12-7-3 (6).

Then Jonathan Tubbs out of Rochester, NY met Allan “Dream Shatterer” Conyers out of Bronx, NY in a junior middleweight bout held at a catch weight (Tubbs came in 3/4 pound over the welterweight limit). Tubbs, a tall lanky fighter with a Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., of build, came out with a strong jab and good movement, controlling the first two and a half minutes of the round before he was caught by Conyers on the ropes and TKO’d with ten seconds remaining of the round. Conyers improved to 9-2 (7) while Tubbs drops to 7-2-1 (3).

In the main event, heavyweight Shannon Miller out of Troy, NY faced Ralph “Wild Wild” West from Nixa, MO. Miller was coming off a knockout win over Dave Chappell in March and again was again stepping in the ring with a more experienced and bigger opponent in West. As Miller showed in his bout with Vinnie Maddalone last year, it’s not always the size of the dog in the fight that matters. Even though Miller lost his fight with Maddalone, he did share honor’s with Vinnie by giving us one of ESPN’s top 10 fights of the year and was about to show us why he can be a dangerous opponent for anyone.

West came out strong in the first trying to bully Shannon and use his 20+ lbs to full advantage. Miller, with his all out style, came right back at West, giving as much as he took. After two round of action with each fighter winning one apiece, the third frame started out quick. West jumped on Miller trying to get him out of there before Miller had a chance to answer back.

After giving some of what he took, Miller was caught on the ropes and momentarily stunned and tried to counter and move to the center of the ring but was caught in the corner by the bigger, stronger West. West started to hammer Miller with clean shots to the head and body and it looked as though Shannon’s night may be over quick, as the referee started to pay close attention to what was happening.

Then, out of nowhere, Miller fired a right hook that dropped and finished West, leaving no reason for the referee to even give a 10 count. With an impressive KO and his improving record, Miller should be in line for a shot at a minor title sometime with in the next year. Miller improves to 14-1 (8) and West record drops down to 16-8 (13).

It was a fairly good night of action and another step for Pugnacious Promotions moving up in the ladder as a major player in the game. They are looking to do another show in Saratoga, NY sometime this August.