Ringside Boxing Report: Arnaoutis v Cuello
© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing
Thursday night at the Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom in New York City, local fans were treated to what Star Boxing’s Joe DeGuardia called, “the rebirth of Mighty Mike†Arnaoutis as he put on a boxing exhibition to win the vacant USBA Junior Welterweight title.
Back in 2006, Arnaoutis was a rising star of the division, he was undefeated and fought for the vacant WBO Light Welterweight title in November against Ricardo Torres. Although Torres was down in the seventh round Arnaoutis lost the bout by split decision.
Returning to the ring in April 2007, Arnaoutis was given the opportunity to fight an eliminator match for the same WBO Light Welterweight title against Kendall Holt losing by a lopsided decision.
After nearly a year layoff “Mighty Mike†entered the ring and looked in great shape, showing no signs of ring rust as he outboxed Harrison Cuello over the twelve round title match. He appeared very comfortable in the ring as he landed punches with great accuracy wobbling the tough Cuello on a few occasions.
Cuello tried to rally a few times but his attempts were met with the precision punching onslaught of Arnaoutis. The action packed fight was an impressive return to the ring for “Mighty Mike†who won by unanimous decision by scores of 119-109 from all three judges, improving to 18-2-2 (9) while Cuello drops to 15-6-2 (11).
In a Heavyweight co-feature, local favorite Vinny Maddalone 29-4 (20) needed only two rounds to stop Jeff Yeoman 21-9 (8) of Indiana. Yeoman appeared awkward in the ring and at no point a threat to the hard-hitting Maddalone who knocked him down twice in the second round, forcing the referee to stop the bout at 2:11 of the round.
In a thrilling display of strong will and heart, Brooklyn favorite Curtis “Showtime†Stevens showed he has what it takes to push through adversity by coming back after a second round knockdown to stop Thomas Reid with only seconds left in the final round.
Stevens came out of his corner strong landing good combinations through the end of round two until he was caught with an overhand right from Reid dropping him just before the bell rang at the end of the round. Stevens rose at the count of eight and was clearly wobbly as he made his way back to his corner.
Stevens used the next round to clear his head, rather than tying up Reid he seemingly chose to brace himself for Reid’s punches by putting his gloves up and planting his feet firmly as some of Reid’s punches made it through Steven’s defense.
The next few rounds were full of back and forth action as the Brooklyn native was cheered on by his fans. Going into the final round the judges’ scorecards had it even with one scoring it as a draw, one for Stevens and one for Reid.
Both fighters fought hard with Stevens finally getting the better of the action landing a flurry of punches putting Reid on the ropes. Stevens continued punching landing a strong left hook that had Reid out on his feet forcing the referee to stop the bout at 2:55 of round eight. Stevens truly dug deep for his victory which brings his record to 18-2-1 (13) while Reid drops to 35-22-1 (13).
UNDERCARDS
In a four-round Welterweight bout Raymond Serrano 4-0 (3) made short work of Abe Bruno 6-11-4 (3) finishing him off in one round. Serrano used his speed and punching power to destroy Bruno at 2:59 of the first round.
Heavyweight Nagy Aguilar 7-0 (5) also won by a first round knockout against Mike Jones 6-14 (2) in a scheduled six-round bout. Aguilar stopped Jones with an overhand right at 1:35 of the round.
Heavyweight Tim Sklonick 1-0 (1) made his professional debut against Shawn McLean 2-2 (1) in a scheduled four-round bout. Skolnick was dropped in the second round but came back in round three to knock out McLean with a straight right at :28 of the round.