Fight Night in Worcester, Massachusetts: Part One.

The first bout of the night featured “Honey Boy” Lou Del Valle against the well-traveled journeyman Dan Sheehan. In an eight round match-up that was nothing more than a snooze fest, Del Valle won via a unanimous decision. The scores on the judge’s scorecards read 78-74, and 79-73 twice.

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Usually the first fight on most under-cards turn out be the most exciting fight of the whole night, for the simple fact that they are trying to be recognized as well as trying to steal the spotlight from the main event. I assure you that this was the total opposite. Although he struggled, Lou Del Valle improves to 35-3-1 and Dan Sheehan falls to a pitiful 10-32 record. Yes, you read it right 10-32. My assessment is very simple; someone of the caliber of Lou Del Valle should be fighting much better opposition than Dan Sheehan. There were several fights that could have been made. The first one that comes to my mind is a bout between Lou and Daniel Judah. A Brooklyn-Bronx match up could prove to be very interesting. However, he took the easy way out against Dan Sheehan. From being the first person to ever knock Roy Jones, Jr. down to this is unexplainable. To sum up Lou’s performance last Saturday night in one word, I say pathetic.

Do not miss this exclusive coverage from Saturday night’s huge boxing event in Worcester, Massachusetts, brought to you by our very own Edwin Gonzalez who was there at ringside.

The second bout featured the number two ranked welterweight in the WBC Miguel Angel Rodriguez (26-1, 21 KO’s) vs. Hartford Connecticut’s own Luis Maysonet (32-10, 25 KO’s). Miguel knocked Maysonet down in round five via a straight right to the head then finished him off moments later. Time of the referee’s stoppage was 1:45. Maysonet gave a valiant effort but Mexico’s own Miguel Angel Rodriguez proved to be too much. As the number two ranked contender in the WBC expect a championship fight in the near future for Rodriguez.

In the third bout of the evening, top cruiserweight prospect Steve Cunningham battled the resilient Panamanian Guillermo Jones. In what was a very competitive match-up, it had appeared that Guillermo Jones did what he had to do to pull out the win. However, two out of the three most important people watching the fight thought differently. In this important battle between cruiserweight contenders, the unbeaten Steve Cunningham 17-0, 9 KO’s remained undefeated. He won via split decision. Guillermo “El Felino” Jones unfortunately dropped to 31-3-2, 24 KO’s. Cunningham had a few more bumps and bruises than his counterpart. Two of the scorecards read 96-94 and 97-93 in favor of Cunningham, the other read 97-93 in favor of Guillermo Jones. If you ask me, I felt that Guillermo was robbed hands down, and I am not the only that feels this way. There was a ringside consensus on Saturday night.

The fourth bout of the evening featured the Dominican sensation Elio “The Kidd” Rojas. The unbeaten featherweight improved 11-0, 9 KO’s as he dominated Angelo Torres. Torres now drops to 12-12-3 with 3 KO’s. Elio won via a 60-54 shutout on all scorecards. This top prospect has a tremendous future at 126-pounds. Expect more great things to come from him in the near future. His next bout is on 05/14 against Lenny Mercardo in Brooklyn, New York. Elio dropped this exclusive bombshell to SaddoBoxing.com first: “I am gunning for you Rocky Juarez.” Wow, I can’t wait for that!

The fifth match of the night was a bout between the top two contenders in the IBF junior middleweight rankings. In this IBF junior middleweight title elimination bout, Roman “Madein Hell” Karmazin duke it out with the veteran Keith Holmes. In what as a very boring fight to watch, Karmazin won a majority decision. In this IBF 154-pound title eliminator, Scores of the bout were 116-112, 115-113, and 114-114. The bout was very technical from the get go. Both fighters were unwilling to trade punches early, much to the displeasure of the crowd. For most of the fight, the crowd was booing. Karmazin who improved to 33-2-1,21KO’s was easily slipping the punches of Holmes, while Holmes was blocking whatever Karmazin threw. However, there was a shift in momentum in the fourth round. Things began to open up a bit as both fighters were able to land a few significant punches, with Karmazin seeming to get the better of the exchanges. However, things continued to remain lackluster with both fighters getting in a few shots here and there.

The rounds were close, until the eleventh round when Karmazin seemed to hurt Holmes with a straight right hand to Holmes head on the ropes. Karmazin then followed up with a flurry of hard punches, with most of them most landing cleanly. Holmes who now drops to 39-4, 25 KO’s, was saved by the bell to end the eleventh. In the final round, Karmazin again seemed to hurt Holmes at the end of the round with a straight right, but the Washington, DC native Holmes was once again saved from further punishment as the final bell of the fight sounded. With the win, St. Petersburg, Russia’s Karmazin now becomes the mandatory challenger to IBF titleholder Kassim Ouma. It would have been more exciting to watch paint dry. I’ll tell you that Keith Holmes has had his; his best days are behind him. I just hope that Keith Holmes sees it the same way. It was unbelievable to see how the entire crowd stood up to give a standing ovation when the fight was over. Against Kassim Ouma, I don’t see Roman Karmazin surprising anyone. This is going to be an easy night at the “office” for Kassim.

In the fight before the main event, little known New Yorker Luis Collazo saw his dream finally manifest into reality. He was fighting for a world title on just two weeks notice; Collazo was subbing for Thomas Damgaard who pulled out of the fight yet again. Coming into Jose Antonio Rivera’s hometown of Worcester, Luis had his back against the wall. This was the most anticipated fight of the entire night. The crowd was really behind their man; the entire crowd was chanting Jose, Jose, Jose! When Louie’s name was called, all you heard were boos. Luis Collazo improved to 25-1, 11 KO’s after coming away with a split decision win over Rivera in his own backyard. Jose Antonio Rivera falls to 37-4-1, 24 KO’s. Luis Collazo now claims the WBA welterweight title (regular). Rivera applied the pressure, but Collazo countered effectively and landed many good punches. Scores were 115-113, 115-113 for Collazo, and 115-113 for Rivera, who was making the first defense of the title. As would be expected, the decision was very unpopular with Rivera’s hometown followers and the boos continued long after the fight was over. This was one hell of a fight. This falls in the same category as Jorge Arce vs. Hussein Hussein and Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao. Although it wasn’t televised, this fight deserves fight of the year nominations. This was an unbelievable, action packed match. I am honored to have covered such ah epic battle of mythic proportions.

And in the main event that saw the two best cruiserweights go head-to-head with each other since Evander Holyfield fought Dwight Muhammad Qawi. The WBA cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck retained his WBA belt and seized Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite’s WBC crown with a clear-cut unanimous decision Saturday night. The previously undefeated Braithwaite now falls to 21-1, 17 KO’s. Braithwaite started strong but Mormeck, who now improves to 31-2, 21 KO’s) was able to connect with some good right hands. Mormeck, who outweighed Braithwaite by ten pounds or more, really began to press the action in round two. Both fighters landedbig shots in rounds three and four, but Mormeck began imposing his size by pinning Wayne on the ropes and punishing him in rounds five and most of round six, although “Big Truck” closed the sixth with a flurry. It was not enough to steal the round. Mormeck knocked Braithwaite down with a big right hand to the temple in round seven. Wayne held on to last the round, merely surviving.

“Big Truck” was deducted one point for holding in the eighth without any prior warning from the referee. When the round was over, he came back to his corner with a cut over the left eye. The cut came as a result of an accidental head-butt. Mormeck continued to punish Braithwaite in round nine with some vicious right hands to the head. The action slowed considerably, especially on Mormeck’s end through rounds ten and eleven, but by this time, Wayne was just too tired. Mormeck punctuated his win with some big shots in the final round. This was a very good and entertaining fight. “Big Truck” gave it his all, but it wasn’t enough to neutralize the size of Jean-Marc. Wayne was very effective in the middle of the ring. He used his one-two combination and worked the body well. But Mormeck got the best of him whenever he pinned Braithwaite was against the ropes. One thing is for sure though, Wayne has an awesome chin and he showed a tremendous amount of courage. The scores at the end of the night read 114-112, 115-111, 116-110 all in favor of the new unified cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck. Wayne deserves a long much-needed rest. I am confident that he will back on top again. It just seemed that “Big Truck” had no plan “B.” But this is boxing, no excuses, Jean-Marc Mormeck did his thing. He deserves all of the “props” in the world, Mormeck handled his business. Jean-Marc is the man right now.

In closing, I’d say that it was great night of boxing. We have a unified champion in the cruiserweight division. Jose Antonio Rivera and Luis Collazo treated us to one hell of a fight. And we now know what to expect from Elio Rojas in the future. There were a few dull moments, but the good ones definitely outweigh the bad ones. Much love to Don King for making the fights that people want to see. He sure comes through with his promises.

Please stay tuned for part two of Fight Night in Worcester.

Edwin Gonzalez can be reached at prpapa427@aol.com