Ringside Boxing Report: Punchin’ at the Paradise 8
© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing
The Paradise Theater was filled with boxing action last night with a triple co-feature promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing. This marked the eighth installment of “Punchin’ at the Paradise†in the Bronx, NY.
Elvir “The Kosovo Kid†Muriqi 35-4 (22) executed the better of the hard-hitting action against the game Jemeel Wilson 13-12-3 (8) in four rounds, forcing Wilson’s corner to throw in the towel. Although Wilson was a late substitute he came in throwing hard punches but the more experienced Muriqi landed at a much higher rate and with devastating accuracy.
Wilson made a theatrical entrance to the ring dressed as Michael Myers from Halloween. Muriqi stepped through the ropes energized by the local crowd and was excited to be back in the ring after his majority decision loss to Antonio Tarver last June. Having the pleasure to have interviewed Muriqi earlier in the week he commented that he wanted not only to look impressive but to look spectacular in his performance and he delivered on both counts.
It seemed as if the “The Kosovo Kid†would end the fight with a knock out in nearly each of the rounds, hurting Wilson with a viscous body attack and following up with a variety of combinations. Wilson retaliated with hard punches most of which hit the arms and gloves of Muriqi who was able to remain patient while he measured his opponent and continued his onslaught.
Near the end of the fourth round Muriqi landed several unanswered punches as Wilson wobbled and refused to drop to the canvas. His corner had seen enough and threw the towel into the ring stopping the fight at 2:58 of the round.
In the second co-feature former Light Heavyweight Champion, Lou “Honey Boy†Del Valle 36-5-1 (22) defeated Newton “The Butcher†Kidd 6-7-1 (4) by split decision in an eight round Cruiserweight bout.
Del Valle was cheered into the ring by the crowd as he faced “The Butcher†who oddly enough was not the one dressed as Michael Myers. The fight produced a lot of back and forth action which met a variety of scoring from the judges; 78-74, 77-75 for Del Valle and 78-74 for Kidd.
The third co-feature showcased an aggressive Alicia Ashley 14-7-1 (1) winning a unanimous decision over Brooke Dierdorff 4-2-1 (3) for the NABF Female Super Bantamweight Title.
Ashley out-boxed and out-punched the slower Dierdorff for eight rounds landing several power shots that bloodied Dierdorff in the later rounds. All three judges recognized Ashley’s ring generalship scoring the bout 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74.
UNDERCARDS
In the Cruiserweight division Jon Schneider 7-1 (5) made short work of Jerry Spiegel 3-3 (2) finishing him off in one round. Schneider came out swinging and backed Spiegel into the corner where he dropped him twice forcing the referee to stop the fight at only 46 seconds of the first round.
Featherweight Eddie Irizarry won a frustrating professional debut against Joe Arroyo 0-1-1 who was deducted multiple points in the four round bout. Arroyo was deducted two points in the second round for holding and hitting and lost another point in the fourth round for holding. Scores were 40-33 and 39-34 twice for Irizarry.
Super Featherweight Carlos Zambrano also won his pro debut against Jose Guzman 1-3-1. Although Zambrano used superior hand speed to out-point Guzman the theme seemed to be holding and hitting which in a rare occurrence both fighters were each deducted a point in the third round. Scores for Zambrano were 39-35 twice and 38-36.
Both making their pro debuts in the Super Bantamweight division, Brooklyn native Ronica Jeffrey defeated Karen Dulin hailing from Mystic, CT. The four round fight was full of action which was dominated by Jeffrey who won by scores of 40-36 on all three judges’ scorecards.