Former WBO world champion Verno Phillips defeats Christian Joseph and becomes the NBA junior middleweight champion.

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Photos: MICHAEL V. ORNELAS/INSIDE BOXING

by Moncayo Blackbull

Denver CO, (InsideBoxing) -  On Friday, March 29th, at the Denver Coliseum, Denver, CO, Verno Phillips punched his way back into the limelight of boxing with his win over Christian Lloyde Joseph.  Phillips proved he's still a force to be reckoned with and intends to continue his quest to glory by dethroning other world champions in the junior middleweight division.

Phillips first became world champion on October 30, 1993 when he knocked out Lupe Aquino for the WBO world title.  Phillips successfully defended his title 4 times before losing the crown on November 22, 1995 in his 5th title defense to Paul Jones of England.

Now just over six years later, Phillips is once again a world champion.

Joseph came into the fight confident and ready he knew a win and the NBA title would boost his career and give him the opportunity to fight for big purses and gain world wide recognition.  Joseph 11-3-3 prior the fight has shied away from no one.  He defeated Keith Mullings in 1997 when Mullings was considered in his prime.  In Joseph's next fight after Mullings he fought to a draw against Aaron Mitchell.  As a matter of fact his 3 losses came against relatively unknown fighters Anthony Andrews, Robert West and Godfrey Nyakana.  As Joseph's record implies, be careful because if he is focused and tuned to fight, he'll beat you.

Focused and tuned, Joseph came to Denver with one thing on his mind... Leave a world champion.

The contest started with Joseph coming out very aggressive.  Joseph would win the first round strong as he backed up the former champion Phillips unleashing devastating power shots and multi punch combinations.  Phillips found himself against the ropes and in a defensive posture for most of the round.  At the end of the round, Joseph walks to his corner moving his head up and down indicating "I've got him!".

The rest of the fight becomes an all-out war.  Phillips decides he will not fight a defensive fight and goes toe-to-toe with Joseph.  In the third round Phillips' experience and skills starts to dominate Joseph.  Phillips goes on the offense and displays beautiful ring generalship with body and head movement that confused Joseph.  In the forth round Phillips goes on the assault landing solid  combinations and hits Joseph with a power punch that sends Joseph's the mouth piece into the ringside seats.   Joseph goes down but beats the referee's count and continues the fight.

Referee Ed Walsh stops the contest at 2:54 into the 5th round.

Joseph leaves the ring in rage and upset as he felt he was able to continue.

Phillips, 32, born in Belize now fights out of Denver, Colorado and is trained by Trevor Wittman and Jacob Ramos.  Phillips contributes the hard training, solid preparation and great sparring from three time Golden Glove champion, Donald Camarena and Ayodeji Fedeyi for this victory.

In the co-main event Denver's DaVarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson continues to pad his record with a first round win over 40 year old Ed White.  White offered no competition to Williamson as White was quickly knocked down shortly after the bout started.  White may have went down again but I was not really paying attention after a few seconds into the fight.  Before the first round would time out, White complained of an injured right bicep and quit.

Williamson, a 10 time consecutive national champion, does not need this type carefully picked opponents.  At 14-1 with 13 knockouts his record will soon require him to fight genuine and talented opponents.  I can assure you, Rahman, Tua, Oquendo or any of the top heavyweights will not fall when you blow on them.  Williamson has the talent to compete with the big boys but that talent will quickly flow away if not put to use.

On the undercard hard working middleweight Ayodeji Fedeyi utilized a stiff jab to set up ensuing combinations to knock out Ernest Parfait in the first round.  Fedeyi now 3-0 as a professional has had his last 3 scheduled fights cancelled, it seems no local fighters are willing to fight Fedeyi.  Fedeyi trainer Leroy Miller hopes to fight on a regular basis even if it means taking the show on the road.  Fedeyi trains out of the Denver Police Brotherhood gym.