Ringside Boxing Report: Ishe Smith vs Pawel Wolak
© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing
Friday night at the Aviator Sports Arena in Brooklyn, NY, two local fighters made their debut on the Showtime boxing series, Shobox The New Generation. The main event featured undefeated Pawel Wolak from Mt. Arlington, NJ, taking a step-up in competition against season one Contender star Ishe Smith. The co-feature also featured an undefeated local, Jorge Teron from the Bronx, NY, who faced off against Michael Lozada of Mexico.
In the main event, Wolak was the aggressor from the beginning of the fight, moving forward constantly but unable to land his punches effectively through Smithʼs strong defense. Both fighters fought on the inside through most of the fight with Smith getting the better of the exchanges landing short uppercuts on Wolak.
The crowd cheered and chanted for Wolak as he continued moving forward but it was not enough to get through the defensive style of Smith. During the middle rounds Smith slipped and fell on a couple occasions due to excessive water in his corner as well as slipping on the painted advertisement in the middle of the ring, which was deceiving to the crowd who roared as if the falls were from Wolakʼs punches.
After a hard fought ten rounds by both fighters it was interesting to watch the fightersʼ anticipation of the judgesʼ scorecards. Wolak could be seen smiling, as his corner seemed ready to celebrate his victory. While Smith looked depressed and seemed sure he would not get a decision in the hometown of his opponent and would suffer his second consecutive loss.
The final judgesʼ scorecards read 97-93 and 96-94 twice all for the winner, Ishe Smith. Smith leapt into the air being caught by one of his corner men celebrating with his arms extended and his previously depressed expression replaced by pure jubilation. Wolak and his team seemed to be in disbelief; he walked over to congratulate Smith and then immediately left the ring.
Smith improves to 20-3 (9) while Wolak suffers his first loss dropping to 21-1 (14).
In the co-feature, the six foot Teron needed only six rounds to retain his WBO NABO Lightweight title from the Mexican challenger Lozada.
Although Teron used his height advantage well, he was also not afraid to work on the inside and trade hard shots with Lozada. The first two rounds were full of back and forth action with Teron taking control of the fight in the third round. The tough Lozada was wobbly on his feet and nearly down from Teronʼs straight rights but he managed to make it through the round.
Lozada was far from giving up when he came out strong in the fourth firing off punches and pinning Teron to the ropes where he was able to land several shots to the head and body.
Teron came back strong in the next two rounds dropping Lozada with a hook to the body in the sixth. Although Lozada beat the count, another body shot sent him back to the canvas at 1:23 of the round.
Teron remains undefeated and improves to 22-0-1 (15) while Lozada drops to 29-5-1 (22).