ST. PAT'S PUNCH-OUT A SUCCESS
BLACKHAWK, CO. (INSIDE BOXING) - St. Patrick’s Day was never celebrated with as much pugilistic fanfare as seen this past Sunday night at the RIVIERA CASINO in Blackhawk, Colorado.
Promoter
Jim Smith of POOR BOYS Pro Boxing put together a fight card featuring 7 bouts
with talent ranging from lightweight to heavyweight. The action was at times
slow but never boring as the fighters were all inspired by the large and
enthusiastic crowd on hand.
The
co-main event featured the professional debut of Jevon “The New Generation”
Langford, currently playing defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals of the
National Football League. In a scheduled 4 round bout, his opponent would be one
John Lewis from Lincoln, Nebraska.
The
moment “Jrock”, as friends and teammates refer to Langford, took off his
robe the size of the man put most in the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Langford weighed in at a rock hard 266 while Lewis tipped the scales at 220.
After
the customary touching of gloves to start the fight “Jrock” immediately
served notice that he was there for one reason and one reason alone…to knock
out his opponent! “Aggression” would be an appropriate nickname for Langford
since he wasted no time in his attempt to destroy the overmatched challenger by
throwing left hooks, uppercuts, overhand rights and a good stiff left jab.
Without
the benefit of one single amateur fight, “Jrock” showed he is more than
capable of defending himself in the ring. There is much work to be done if
Langford is serious about a career as a professional fighter, but make no
mistake he is strong, seems to listen to instruction and is willing to make the
necessary sacrifices boxing requires.
The
excitement of his first fight was evident as “Jrock” couldn’t refrain from
his training as a football star when engaged in one of many clinches initiated
by Lewis. The result was Lewis being physically overwhelmed by the much larger
NFL star. Two knockdowns and a knockdown determined by the referee as a
“push” resulted in a TKO scored at 2:28 of the first round by Jevon “The
New Generation” Langford in his professional debut.
RAMIREZ
VS GARCIA
Part 2 of the co-main event featured middleweights Henry Rameriz of Scottsbluff, Nebraska against Elco Garcia of Durango, Colorado scheduled for 6 rounds.
Garcia came out determined to establish a pace and tempo he felt comfortable with. Throwing punches from all angles, he seemed intent on seeing how much punishment the bullish Rameriz could take. Good solid body shots by Garcia made several in the crowd grimace while Rameriz, early on, seemed oblivious to pain.
Rameriz provided the crowd with an entertaining effort as he let everyone know he came to fight. Just when Garcia seemed to be getting the upper hand, Rameriz backed him up with a sharp left jab or a stinging overhand right forcing the aggressive Garcia to re-evaluate the situation on several occasions.
But by the end of the second round it was obviously just a matter of time before the relentless attack by Garcia would take it’s toll. That time came at 2:06 of the 3rd round when the referee had to do his duty and stop the contest after a series of unanswered punches by Garcia all found their mark.
THE
UNDERCARD
The undercard was entertaining beginning with a 1st round knockout of middleweight Glen “Nothin’ Nice” Mascarenas from Denver, Colorado. Mascarenas (who had never before been KO’d) suffered this stunning defeat at the hands of Robert Manore who resides in Durango, Colorado. “I hardly broke a sweat!” declared the confident Manore.
In
a junior middleweight bout local favorite Frankie “The Educator” Sanchez
from Alamosa, Colorado, forgot to bring his lesson plan to the ring in a 4
rounder that went the distance against Elios “El Tigre” Vargas who hails
from Fort Lupton, Colorado. The uncooperative Vargas impressed the judges enough
to earn a controversial majority draw against the local Colorado favorite.
Lightweight
Robert “The Destroyer” Delgado lived up to his reputation by dethroning
Daniel “King of the Ring” Almanza with a 3rd round TKO in a
scheduled 4 round battle. Delgado never allowed Almanza to get untracked and
after doggedly pursuing his opponent finally dropped him with body shots twice
in the 3rd round. The referee had seen enough and stopped the contest
with no dispute by Almanza at 2:39 of the round.
Steve
“Thunder” Valdez of Denver, Colorado was an impressive junior welterweight
representative against Jason Vieyra fighting out of North Platte, Nebraska.
Vieyra went down twice in the 1st round from hard body shots
delivered by Valdez. A series of hard combinations followed a bone jarring
overhand right forced the referee to step in and stop the contest at 2:06 of the
2nd of a scheduled 4 round bout.
The
last bout of the evening had heavyweights Darryl Williamson from Denver,
Colorado and Brad “T.C.” Rone, do battle in a late addition to the card.
Williamson
is a talented but relatively small heavyweight who needed all of his ring
experience and savvy to endure a tough, grueling 4 rounds with the veteran Rone.
“T.C.” Rone has sparred with the likes of Mike Tyson, James “Buster”
Douglas and Orlin Norris so his ability to survive unquestioned.
But the Denver heavyweight showed his own abilities and a unanimous
decision, in his favor, was the declared by the judges.
The
background setting of the Colorado mountains and a soft gentle snowfall made for
a nice evening of entertaining boxing. Good matchmaking, enthusiastic fan
support and quality competition made the evening a total success.
03/18/01