Ringside Boxing Report: Brian Minto – Dan Batchelder

Duva Boxing and ESPN collaborated for Friday Night Fights at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, last Friday night in what turned out to be a real snoozer. Headlining the card was undefeated heavyweight Brian Minto, who went on to take a ten round decision from Danny Batchelder. While a heavyweight match is supposed to be the one that excites the fans, this one had the majority of the crowd with the palm on the chin. The fight was even through the first six rounds and both fighters occasionally traded punches and wanted to work the body.

Minto was able to land more often in the later rounds although none of his shots ever did much damage. Batchelder, who normally fights at cruiserweight, showed that he is a tough customer and was willing to exchange with the bigger man. Minto, even with this lackluster performance, could now be in line for a fight against a name heavyweight. Minto improves to 25-1 (14) while Batchelder falls to 24-2 (11).

Middleweight prospect Harry Yorgey also kept his undefeated streak intact with a one sided, eight round unanimous decision win over Ronnie Warrior. Yorgey, a Bridgeport PA native, handled his southpaw opponent with ease. He was able to find spots against a very defensive minded Warrior as his ability to move and his hand speed proved to be too much. All three judges scored the fight in favor of Yorgey who improves to 15–0 with 8 ko’s.

Philly Super middleweight prospect LaJuan Simon, 14-0 (9) picked apart Joe Park in their scheduled eight round affair. Simon put in a workman like performance, which gave Park’s corner no choice but to stop the fight after the seventh round.

Atlantic City seat filler Chuck Mussachio, 7-0 (3) once again had the most fans in the crowd and they watched him overcome an early knockdown and two point deductions to squeak out a unanimous decision victory over Santiago Hillario. Mussachio applied pressure for most of the bout, leading with the left jab and following with a straight right. Hillario did connect with a looping right early in the fight to give Chucky a taste of the canvas. Mussachio regrouped and used his distinct height advantage and superior speed to earn the duke. While the win was deserved, one judge mistakenly saw the fight 59-55 while the other two had it at 57-55.

Chicago Heavyweight Malachy Farrell was also on the bill and he scored an impressive 1st round kayo victory over Rick Zufall. Farrell improves to 14-0 (11)

Vinnie Maddalone, 26-3 (19), made quick work of Dan Whetzel, scoring a 2nd round TKO.

Raymond Briggs beat up Gerald Jordan and scored a 2nd round kayo.

Audley Harrison’s, 20-2 (15) career is in the toilet but tonight’s performance may have flushed him out completely. The former Olympic Gold medallist mopped up the nine fight card with a very unimpressive third round stoppage of hand picked Louisiana peach Andrew Greeley. Greeley took a knee in the third after a couple of love taps and did not rise because of trouble with his eyesight.