TalkingBoxing Articles
Estrada, Andrade Impress at "Holiday Havoc"
WED December 2, JAMES STILLERMAN - Jimmy Burchfield`s Classic Entertainment and Sports sponsored the “Holiday Havoc” in which Jason “Big Six” Estrada and Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade both former US Olympics emerged victorious in front of a full house at the Twin River Events Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island last Saturday night.
The 2004 US Olympian, Estrada won a unanimous decision over former contender Derek Bryant in their eight round heavyweight fight by two scores of 80-72 and the other being 79-73, in a fight that was a great deal closer than what the scorecards indicated. Estrada got his birthday wish with the win as he turned twenty-eight the day after the fight and improved to 15-1, 3KOs. This was his fifth victory of the year. Bryant fell to 20-5-1, 17KOs. With the victory Estrada will certainly moved up in the heavyweight ranking especially with a win over a solid opponent and will inch closer to a possible title fight in the future.
Estrada dominated the first four rounds of the action as he was the aggressor, displayed a solid jab, and worked Bryant’s body well in the opening rounds. Estrada had a numerous effective uppercuts and doubled up his combinations in the second round as Bryant really didn`t do anything offensively. In the third round, there was a stoppage in the fight as Bryant complained to the referee that something was in his eye and he was granted time to get it cleaned out. When action resumed, Estrada opened up a cut above Bryant’s left eye which started to bleed as Estrada continued to dictate the action.
There was great two way action in the fourth round as both pugilists were connecting with numerous punches at the other. At the end of the round some shouting ensued at one another as they headed to their respective corners. Bryant came out much more assertive in the fifth round as he pinned Estrada to the ropes where both fighters went after each other. Bryant attacked Estrada with powerful shots while Estrada returned with jabs as the action continued to heat up. Bryant landed the harder shots in the sixth and seventh round as Estrada looked tired and many of Bryant’s punches seemed to have Estrada in a great deal of trouble while he covered up on the ropes. However, Bryant’s cut above his eye started to open up even more as more blood came out. In the eighth and final round, both fighters started off slowly as they seemed tired before Estrada came back and closed out a strong round despite getting cut on the lip which started to bleed.
Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade entered the ring to a thunderous applause as he made his first appearance in front of his home crowd and he certainly did not disappoint them. He dominated the overmatched Eric Marriot throughout their four-round super welterweight fight. Andrade went right after Marriot and connected on numerous head and body shots which he continued to do throughout the fight. He was extremely effective with his combinations and landed numerous powerful punches especially to the body. Marriot was able to land some jabs and combinations here and there. In the fourth round, Andrade continued to press the action and landed a couple of vicious combinations to the body and head before referee Joey Lupino stepped in and stopped the fight fifty seconds into the round. Andrade improved to 2-0, 2KOs with the technical knockout victory while Marriot fell to 0-2.
Andrade certainly looked impressive, granted it was not against the best competition but nonetheless he still dominated the fight. He’s a strong tall fighter who has extremely quick hands. He is also a southpaw and goes to the body a great deal which are two distinctive traits that many boxers don’t have. Andrade has a lot of potential to do some big things in the future, so it will be exciting to watch his career unfold.
Jason Pires returned to boxing after a five and half year layoff got off to a rock start as he struggled in the first round against Frank Houghtaling. Houghtaling came out extremely aggressive and landed numerous punches before throwing a three punch combination that was followed up with an uppercut that sent Pires to the canvas. Pires easily beat the count and didn`t appear to be hurt. Houghtaling continued the attack for the rest of the round as Pires didn`t throw many punches and simply covered up anytime Houghtaling went on the attack.
Pires came back in the second round by being more aggressive and landed the harder punches although Houghtaling got in his fair amount of shots as well. However, for the next four rounds Pires demonstrated he was the quicker and more powerful puncher as he was able to control the fight down the stretch. In the fourth round, Pires stunned Houghtaling while he had him on the ropes and then broke Houghtaling`s nose which started to bleed. Houghtaling`s nose continued to bleed the rest of the fight as Pires continued to controlled the action in the fifth round. Houghtaling came out stronger in the sixth round by taking the fight to Pires and what was a good close round. Pires obtained the victory in the welterweight division and improved his record to 21-3, 9KOs with the six round unanimous decision with scores of 58-55 twice and 58-56 once. Houghtaling dropped to 19-15-5, 4KOs.
“Irish’’ Joey McCreedy looked good against James Johnson in their six-round light heavyweight bout. McCreedy started off to a strong start and was the more active puncher as he went right after the fifty-six fight veteran. McCreedy demonstrated effective combinations all night long especially his hooks and uppercuts that landed throughout the night. Johnson stuck with his jab which he landed from time to time.
In round three, McCreedy connected on numerous powerful punches that had Johnson in some trouble but Johnson was able to weather the storm and get out of trouble. McCreedy kept Johnson on the ropes and pounded away at him in round four and five but Johnson came right back in the last thirty seconds of the fifth with a couple of good combinations and did a respectable job at blocking many of McCreedy`s shots in those rounds.
Early in the sixth round, Johnson got pushed to the ground but it was ruled a slip and not a knockdown. McCreedy close out the fight chasing Johnson around the ring and landed at will. McCreedy garnered the unanimous decision with two scores of 60-54 and the other 60-53. McCreedy improved to 9-2-1, 5KOs and now has fought six times this year while going 4-1-1. McCreedy also won the NABC championship belt from Johnson. Johnson fell to 23-29-3,13K0s.
Eddie Soto remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision one scorecard reading 40-36 and the other two being 39-37 over Blake Franklin in a four-round bout in the lightweight division. Franklin started off strong and was the more active fighter in the first round as he was able to connect on many of his punches. It was an even second round but after that Soto took over and dominated the last two rounds. He landed numerous hard shots down the stretch that had Franklin stumbling backwards. Soto was effective at landing his combinations especially since Franklin didn’t throw much of anything down the stretch and when Soto went on the attack he simply covered up. Soto improved to 10-0, 4KOs while Franklin dropped to 1-2.
Keith Kozlin looked impressive with his first round stoppage over Vincent Robbins in their supper middleweight fight. Kozlin dropped Robbins to the canvas with 2:13 into the opening round. Referee Joey Lupino gave Robbins a standing eight count but after the count was rendered Lupino stopped the fight when Robbins said he didn`t want to continue fighting. Kozlin is now 2-0, 2KOs with both victories coming within the last three months while Robbins dropped to 3-8-2.
Omar Pena won a four-round unanimous decision over Lindberg Freeman in a junior lightweight fight by three scores of 40-36. Pena easily dominated the fight by being the more active fighter and throwing the more powerful punches thought out the bout. Pena improved to 1-0-1 while Freeman dropped to 0-2.
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