TalkingBoxing Articles
Ayala, O'Connor Impress at the Roxy Nightclub
WED July 1, JAMES STILLERMAN - “The Showdown At Early Sunset” sponsored by Cappiello Promotions in Associations with Seminole Warrior Boxing featured an entertaining eight fight card at The Roxy Nightclub in Boston last Saturday afternoon where a couple hundred fans watch Elvin Ayala and “Irish” Danny O` Connor emerge victoriously in dominating fashion while Mike “Machine” Oliver got a tough luck no decision.
Oliver had two goals going into his fight with Castulo Gonzalez for the New England Junior Featherweight Title and that was to win in dominating fashion in order to atone for his two devastating third round loses to Reynaldo Lopez and Antonio Escalante, that he suffered last year. However, Oliver the former up and coming prospect in the super bantamweight division, who once held the IBO title and a perfect 21-0 record, will have to wait a little bit longer to accomplish those goals and get his career back on track since the fight was ruled a no contest.
“It was too bad they stopped the fight because it was going well for me,” said Oliver. “I felt I definitely won the first and second round and if they let this fight go on I’d have continued to dominate Gonzalez for the next eight rounds as well.”
Referee Dick Flaherty stopped the bout with 1:24 left in the second round when the ringside physician told him that the cut above Gonzales' right eye was too deep of a gash to allow him to continue fighting. Since Flaherty ruled the cut was caused by an accidental clash of heads the fight was ruled a no contest rather than go to the scorecards. Both fighters' camps were extremely interested in getting both men back in the ring for a third time. The other time they met, Oliver knocked out Gonzalez in ninth round back on February 18, 2006 at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Since the fight doesn’t affect their records, Oliver remained 21-2, 7KOs while Gonzalez stayed at 9-8, 3KOs.
“I wanted to continue fighting because the cut was not bothering me but when the referee stops the fight there is nothing I can do,” said Gonzalez. “I was boxing well and would have continue to do so if they didn’t stop the bout but hopefully we can fight again so I can get my rematch.”
Elvin Ayala picked up his second victory in a row after getting knocked out in the twelfth round to Arthur Abraham as he knocked out Eddie “Thunder” Caminero with 41 seconds left in the third round of their super middleweight bout.
“My hat goes off to Caminero because he box well tonight and he kept coming at me all night long especially for a guy who has only fought seven times,” said Ayala.
Ayala and Caminero fought at a fast pace with both men landing thunderous punches at one another although it was the more experienced and taller, Ayala who took the fight to Caminero for all three rounds as he constantly landed the harder and more efficient punches. In round two, Caminero landed a powerful punch below the belt which caused Ayala to take thirty seconds to walk off the low blow. Ayala continued to dominate the fight in round two when action resumed and then in round three he threw a sting left hook that knocked Caminero to the canvas. Caminero got up slowly and barely beat the count before Ayala was all over him again sending him down seconds later this time curtsey of a hard straight right jab. Caminero tired to get up but the referee wisely called the fight off as Caminero proceeded to stumble around the ring. Ayala with the win improved to 20-3-1, 9KOs while the very courageous Caminero dropped to 5-2, 5KOs and has lost two in a row.
“I’ve been living in the gym ever since losing to Abraham so I’m ready for another run at a world title,” said Ayala. “I want to take another tune up bout and then fight (John) Duddy, (Kelly) Pavlik and then I want a rematch with (Arthur) Abraham.”
O’Connor, the 2008 US Olympic alternate, enhanced his record to 7-0, 2KOs with a dominating six round unanimous decision by three scores of 60-54 over Sebastian Hamel who fell to 10-20-1, 1KO. O’Connor used his quick speed with his jabs and combinations to control the entire fight and landed whenever he wanted and displayed good defense that prevented Hamel from getting anything going. Hamel the 31 fight veteran hung in there and land shots from time to time. At the end of the fight, Hamel threw a couple of late punches after the bell which got O’Connor and his corner aggravated but things quickly quieted down.
O’Connor continues to be impressive in the light welterweight division as he won his seventh fight in less than ten months and has dominated each bout he has been in. It’ll be interesting to see how far O’Connor can go in the professional ranks but judging by his fighting abilities, his hard work ethic and what he accomplished during his amateur career it seems like the sky is the limit for him.
“This was another big win for Danny, and we couldn’t be prouder,” said Leon Margules, Executive Director of Seminole Warriors Boxing, O’Connor’s promoter. “We’ve got big plans for Danny, and the rest of the 140-pound division had better get ready for him.”
In the battle of the southpaws, Andrey Nevsky knocked out Roberto Burgess in the fifth round in an action packed fight that was fought at the super middleweight division. Nevsky controlled most of the fight weaving in and out landing his shots, working the body well and demonstrated pretty good defense that blocked a lot of Burgess` punches. Nevsky was the more aggressive fighter although Burgess who was fighting for the first time in almost four years was also able to connect on many powerful combinations throughout the fight. Nevsky who is from Russia, knocked Burgess down in the fourth round but Burgess was able to beat the count and then the bell rang ending the round.
In the fifth round, Nevsky jumped on Burgess again knocking him to the canvas where referee, Kevin Hope called the fight after Burgess` corner threw in the towel. Nevsky upped his record to 7-0, 4KOs while Burgess` record fell to 4-2, 2KOs. While Nevsky has not faced the best competition he’s certainly a boxer fight fans should look out for in the future because he’s a really good technically sounded fighter, likes to throw a great deal of punches each round and has an air tight defense.
Super featherweight Frank Trader dominated Gerardo Alarcon for all four rounds and with 28 seconds left in the fourth round the referee stopped the fight due to a terrible cut over Aaron’s eye. Trader improved to 5-0, 2KOs while Alarcon dropped to 0-5.
Derek Silveira enhanced his record to 2-0, 1KO with a four round unanimous decision victory over Antonio Chaves- Fernandez by three scores of 40-36 in their light middleweight fight. Fernandez fell to 0-2.
Heavyweight, Philip “Killa” Miller beat Steve Jaegar by decision with scores of 38-38 and 39-37 twice. Miller is 5-0, 2KOs while Jaeger is 0-2. Rashad Minor upped his record to 2-1, 2KOs after landing a devastating knockout over Lewis Cotuna with 50 seconds left in the first round in their heavyweight bout. Both men were landing some thunderous punches at each other before Minor landed a perfect left hook that connected to Cotuna and had him out cold for two minutes. Cotuna, who was making his professional debut, eventually got up and was fine.
Forum
