Ringside Boxing Report: Mike Arnaoutis vs. Ben Ankrah
© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing
The Star Boxing show at Roseland Ballroom in New York started off with a thrilling four rounder between lightweights Jose Guzman and Luis Lopez, which ended with a win by knockout for Guzman, still undefeated at 4-0 (3) while Lopez dropped to 2-8-1 (2).
The next undercard bout was between cruiserweights, Ahmed Samir, 4-0 (0), and Tyronne Smith, 5-6-2 (2). Samir threw effective combos, and accurately switched his foot positioning, which led him to victory.
Bryant Pappas was most certainly the crowd favorite as his name was chanted when he stepped into the ring with fellow junior middleweight Chris Morton. Pappas displayed how he is a fast, rightfully aggressive fighter, and Morton did his best to keep up, showing great determination and effort.
It was Pappas that the crowd was cheering for, as he won by knockout in just the first round, advancing his perfect record to 7-0 (7) while Morton dropped to 1-3.
Following that bout, “Crazy” Eddie Irizarry took on fellow featherweight Jose Zamora. Zamora stepped into the ring very accelerated and hungry being that it was his pro debut. But in the following round, Irizarry landed three right hands and claimed victory by knockout, improving to 4-0 (2).
The co-feature of the night was an eight rounder featuring heavyweights Vinny Maddalone and Terrell “Baby Bull” Nelson. Nelson was very consistent in stopping any developing combos Maddalone had to offer during the first round.
During the second round, both fighters were up to par tempo with each other and “Baby Bull” was still very much effective delivering his hooks, while cornered. Maddalone took full advantage of the situation and used it as his own opportunity to win by technical knockout. This was a controversial decision as most people felt that the fight was ended too early to declare the winner.
This was Maddalone’s fourth straight victory since his loss to Evander Holyfield in 2007 and he improves to 31-4 (22), while Nelson, 8-7 (5) suffered his third straight loss.
The main event featured a ten rounder between “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis and Ben Ankrah. Arnaoutis was fast in the first round, with Ankrah reacting to every punch. During the second round, both were fitting into the rhythm of one another, with Arnaoutis consistently throwing his right hands and Ankrah still in steady form.
By the third and fourth rounds, both had their defenses up and there were more shots being missed than landed. Arnaoutis seemed to adequately avoid Ankrah’s hooks and block his jab. By the fifth round, Arnaoutis’ jab proved to be sharp, while Ankrah didn’t change his rhythm from round one.
In round six, Arnaoutis threw a powerful left hook, and set the pace for the rest of the round. Both fighters were in tune with each other in the seventh round, and Ankrah delivered some efficient right hooks, but by the eighth round he was down. Arnaoutis threw a forceful combo of a right jab and left hook.
By the ninth round, Arnaoutis maintained his leverage and succeeded at landing some left uppercuts to Ankrah’s body. Arnaoutis led the tenth round with more vigorous uppercuts to Ankrah, who carried out ineffective right hooks. It was no surprise that “the Pride of Greece” Arnaoutis, 21-2-2 (10), was triumphant over Ankrah, 19-7-1 (9).