By Alex Pierpaoli
Last night at Mohegan Sun Arena, Elijah Pierce defeated Tramaine The Mighty Midget Williams by 10 round unanimous decision and picked up the WBS Silver Super Bantamweight belt. In the co-featured attraction, Stamford, CT’s Chordale Booker continued along the comeback trail, scoring a TKO victory over Daniele Aduku and picking up the WBC Silver Super Welterweight strap along the way. Female lightweight Stevie Jane Coleman scored a first round stoppage victory and Waterbury, CT’s Mike Kimbel scored another kayo in his second start as a professional boxer. Lots more in ring action took place in the arena before much of the boxing-loving crowd moved over to the sports book to watch the choppy broadcast of the Gervonta Davis versus Ryan Garcia fight from Las Vegas.
Also, before the Booker-Aduku fight, CES promoter Jimmy Burchfield announced the upcoming June 24th heavyweight clash between Joe Cusumano and Adam Kownacki to be held at Madison Square Garden on the Edgar Berlanga versus Jason Quigley undercard. Cusumano has won two bouts since a first round kayo defeat to Daniel Dubois in August of twenty-twenty-one.
Read on for full coverage of last night’s ten bout card:
Bout 1, Two hundred pound, Gabriel Aguilar Costa, 1-4, of Woburn, MA defeats the much larger, two-hundred thirty-seven pound, Harold Roy of Waltham, MA.
At the opening bell it’s Costa reaching up at his bigger opponent while Roy thumps at him with slow, heavy shots. By the end of the round Costa starts finding the mid-section of Roy with his right hand. After 2 it’s Costa landing speedier, cleaner shots while Roy lands far less often but heavier and Costa’s leaning back from each shot may give the judges the sense he’s being stung. Costa boxing mostly from the orthodox stance but he’s switching southpaw and squaring up and leading with his right. Costa hurts Roy with a combination at the end of the third.
Costa in control in the final round. Roy gassed-out and getting tagged. Sloppy, but effective unanimous decision victory for Costa. Despite a thirty-seven pound weight disadvantage, Gabriel Costa improves to 2-4 while Harold Roy backs his way into the professional rankings at 0-1. This one might have started out with the appearance of David versus Goliath but the sloppy result was a bit more like James and the Giant Peach.
Bout 2, New Britain CT’s Nathan Martinez, 126 pounds, gets right to work against wild-swinging Daniel Coronel, 124lbs, of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nathan Martinez’ back is covered with circular cupping therapy marks and it looks like he lost a fight with a giant octopus. In the first Martinez lands the quicker straighter shots in the opening round while Coronel elicits gasps from the crowd with his wild hooks aimed at but mostly missing the head of Martinez. Martinez lands several jolting straight rights to the head of the quick moving Cronel and scores a knockdown in the second. With about twenty seconds to go in the round Martinez drops Coronel with a left hook. Coronel is choosing to slug. Dr. Anthony Alessi takes a long careful look at Cornell before allowing the third round to begin. Martinez able to stun Coronel often in the third but unable to put him down again and it’s Coronel who catches Martinez with a stinging shot in the closing seconds. Coronel’s punches have a whipping, slashing quality to them and he seems to have shaken off however buzzed he may have been in round 2. Martinez not punching much in the 4th and that was the first round that was clearly Coronel’s. Martinez lands a got left hook to begin the fifth. Martinez holds his hands high and fires straight shots that get to the target quickly but Coronel’s hands-low defense and well-timed whipping shots are forcing Martinez to think twice before firing. Coronel has definitely made this into a fight after it looked very much like it was going to be a blow-out. Coronel’s feinting and busy, but mostly ineffective offense forced Nathan Martinez to settle for a distance win rather than the stoppage that looked inevitable.
After six the officials score it 58-54, 60-52 x 2, all in favor of Nathan Martinez. Martinez goes up to 8-2 (2) while Daniel Alberto Coronel drops to 8-26-1 (3).
Bout 3, welterweight Yeison Berdugo, of Pawtucket, RI makes his pro-debut here versus 2-0, Jeff Gonzalez of New Haven. Gonzalez much busier in a mostly low-contact first round but it’s Berdugo who steals it with two jolting shots, one of which clearly rocked Gonzalez. Gonzalez controls round two and gets this crowd cheering when he drives Berdugo back into a neutral corner with a barrage of shots. Much better round two for Gonzalez. Berdugo scores a knockdown to start the third, Gonzalez complains about it but Ref. Arthur Mercante Jr gives him the mandatory 8 count. Gonzalez gets back to work, more serious now, sits down on his punches and lands a perfect left hook to the liver of Berdugo that ends this one. The official time is 1:29 of number three.
Jeff Gonzalez improves to 3-0 (1) while Yeison Berdugo is now a professional at 0-1.
Bout 4 pits two cruiserweights against each other, both men making their professional debuts. Slawomir Bohdziewicz, 198lbs of Stamford, CT goes up against Max Weslei Da Silva, 199lbs, of Woburn, Ma. Bohdziewicz the aggressor in the opening round, he pursues Da Silva behind a hard, speedy jab. Da Silva having lots of difficulty with the range and quick shots of his taller, longer opponent. Da Silva bulls his way inside to start round two with mild success but Bohdziewicz feeds him several left hooks to the head and muscles him right back by round’s end. Da Silva looks gassed at the start of round three. Da Silva’s feet aren’t really under him. Bohdziewicz does exactly what a fighter needs to do with a guy like Da Silva who’s fleeing, swinging wildly and grappling, all in order to survive, and he goes to Da Silva’s belly with a hard left hook, follows it with an overhand right upstairs and crumples Da Silva in a neutral corner. Ref. Johnny Callas counts Da Silva out, the official time of the stoppage is 1:28.
Both fighters are all smiles as they embrace after the official time of the stoppage is announced.
Two cruiserweights came in here to make their debuts and debut they did; Max Da Silva is now 0-1 while Slawomir Bohdziewicz is 1-0 (1).
Bout 5, female lightweight Stevie Jane Coleman, of Columbia, CT goes up against Sarah Click of Orlando, FL. Coleman starts fast, hammering at Click with both hands, and driving her back along the ropes. Click is driven back into her own corner behind a fusillade of blows from Coleman. Ref. Johnny Callas separates the fighters and asks the doctor to take a look at Click who may be complaining of a leg injury. But the only sprain suffered seemed to be to Click’s will to continue and the fight is stopped at 1:57 of the first.
Stevie Jane Coleman improves to 5-1 (2) while Sarah Click falls to 1-4-1.
Bout 6, Mike Kimbel, 141lbs, of Waterbury, CT faces off against Dahvon Shelton, 140.5lbs, of Pawtucket, RI. A feint-filled first round with a slight edge going to Kimbel brings the boo-birds out in this good-sized crowd. Kimbel spent much of the round as a southpaw and seems to be looking to counterpunch while Shelton hesitates too much outside in round one. Kimbel is a hard puncher and he shows it in round two, landing a big straight right to the chin of Shelton that flattens him. Shelton rises but staggers away from Ref. Johnny Callas on unsteady legs, prompting Callas to wave off the bout. Kimbel picks up his second kayo in as many pro-starts as a boxer.
The official time is 1:04 of round 2. Mike Kimbel improves to 2-0 (2) while Dahvon Shelton falls to 1-2.
Bout 7, Carlos Nunez, 120.5 lbs, of Port Chester, NY has trouble finding the range in round one versus the busier Dominique Griffin, 121lbs of Irving, TX. In round two, it’s the Texan landing harder and more often and Nunez is buzzed and retreating just before the bell. Lots of grappling between these two junior featherweights. Nunez landing double jabs and the left hook in the third and likely took that frame. Nunez the busier fighter in the fourth, connecting with cuffing overhand rights behind the jab. Griffin darts in and out with his shots but landing more sporadically. Griffin is better with the gamesmanship and he goads Nunez into careless bravado in that fifth. Griffin lands heavier bolts and Nunez gives away the last minute trying to act tough. Nice body shots from Griffin in round five. Twice Nunez reached down, slapped his own back foot and then smacked Griffin and was not warned about it either time by referee Arthur Mercante. It might look cool to some but it sure doesn’t score points and it’s not really a legal blow because it could end up getting debris into the eyes of your opponent. Hard to know if it will matter though. This observer saw Griffin winning and the officials agree, tabbing Griffin the victor by scores of 57-57, overruled by 2 scores of 58-56.
With the majority decision victory, Dominique Griffin raises his record to 5-3-2 (2) while Carlos Venegas Nunez falls to 6-2 (5).
Bout 8, Anthony Velazquez, 153.5lbs, of Springfield, MA stalks southpaw Rashid Stevens, 152lbs, of Gardena, CA in round one. Stevens staying just out of range, circling, walking away and tying up whenever they get close. Velazquez connects with several jabs in a mostly non-violent second round. Stevens turns on the offense in the third and is the aggressor for much of the round. Velazquez is busier but doing lots of missing the elusive and flexible Stevens who bends and dips and leans and lurches out of danger. Stevens lands the cleaner shots in round three. Stevens looks to be in control at the start of round six. Velazquez having lots of trouble landing cleanly while Stevens busily touching him and stepping back out of range. Velazquez scores two solid single shots in first half of the sixth which wake up his supporters in the crowd. These rounds might be difficult to score because neither fighter is landing a lot of clean blows. Stevens definitely appears the more confident and productive fighter at the start of seven. Not much lands for Velazquez in the 7th save for a right hand after the bell that pisses Stevens off. Velazquez has success when he goes to the waist of Stevens but he tries for it in the first half of the final round and Stevens makes him pay with a right-left to the head. Velazquez throws his hands up at the final bell but I’m not sure this one should break in his favor. The officials see it: 78-74 for Stevens, an absolutely ridiculous score of 80-72 for Velazquez and 76-76 even for a draw, which is a helluva lot better than a robbery. This wasn’t pretty by any means but the Glenn Feldman card of 78-74 for Rashid Stevens is also how this observer scored it.
Anthony Velazquez leaves the arena at 12-0-1 (11) and Rashid Stevens makes the long trip back to Cali at 6-1-2 (5).
Bout 9, the co-featured attraction, Daniel Aduku, 154lbs, of Accra, Ghana meets Chordale Booker, of Stamford, CT. Booker takes a mostly feeling-out first round. Lots of circling with Booker landing slashing right hooks more than once. Both men stab at the mid-section, Booker’s shots land more solidly. They slug in the first minute of the second, when Aduku throws caution to the wind and comes inside on the southpaw behind a volley of shots. Nothing significant lands. Booker takes round two with several slashing right hooks. Much of Aduku’s early barrage were blocked. Booker jolts Aduku with an overhand left in the third that causes him to step back unsteadily. Booker starts landing heavier in round 4 and when he cracks him with a left hook as they are partly tied up Aduku goes down hard, face first through the ropes. It looked as though Aduku may have been hoping for a DQ win and Ref. Johnny Callas was signaling no knockdown. But Dr. Anthony Alessi was quickly into the ring and the bout is waved off. Aduku seems pretty upset as his handlers cut his gloves off which makes me suspect he was hoping to get a DQ off a perfectly legal left hook that landed while the fighters were partially clinched. The fight is called a TKO at 1:54 of the 4th.
Chordale Booker raises his record to 19-1 (8) while Daniel Aduku, fighting for the first time outside of Ghana, heads home at 15-3-1 (10).
Bout 10, Midget fires a big left hand bolt that gets Pierces attention. Ref Arthur Mercante angrily scolds Pierce for trying to clutch and muscle Williams when they engage. Mercante seems way too emotional in here. This is a southpaw versus southpaw squabble and they’re going to rough-out the terrain where this fight will take place. Pierce definitely shoving a bit. Williams lands with power in round two and Pierce scores a right of his own. Good second round for Williams who doubles the jab and follows it with left hand bolts to the head. Pierce clearly frustrated by his smaller speedier foe and he fires at Williams after the bell to end the second. Williams scores with another sneaky straight left to the chin of Pierce in round three. This has gotten rough, there’s head-butts as they come together and but Williams clearly getting the better of things. Double right hook, upstairs and down from Williams in round four. Pierce switching to orthodox and back to southpaw, looking to land heavily but unable to land more than a single shot at a time on Williams. This fight belongs to The Mighty Midget through 4. Pierce opening up in round five and he may have won that round. Williams electing to trade and he took a lot of leather in that fifth frame. The edge in power goes to Pierce but Williams landing more frequently and the more clever, style-shots. Double straight left power shots followed by a slashing right hook from Williams to start round six. The last minute of the seventh sees Pierce doing damage. Williams looks to be tiring. A chant of “Let’s go Midget, let’s go midget” starts up in round 7. Pierce chopping at Williams with his own hard left and he seems to be in control now. This is the 8th round coming up now and Pierce is surging. I’ve got Williams ahead 4 rounds to three but Williams taking a lot more punishment. Williams just completely unwilling to clinch and wow, he just landed three big lefts of his own. Williams cut badly over his right eye. This is a damn good fight!! Pierce is unbothered by Williams’ power. I gave that 9th round to Williams but it was close and Pierce’s shots are definitely more damaging. This fight is on the table for both guys at this point. Williams slams Pierce with speedy lefts to the face. Pierce cranks hooks into the ribs of Williams as he drives him along the ropes. Lots of punches landed by both fighters, the speed shots are all Williams with the edge is just plain raw blunt force trauma going to Pierce. This crowd is a nervous wreck awaiting the scorecards, it’s palpable. I had it 5 rounds a piece but could see it going 6-4 either way.
The officials see it 96-94, 97-93 x 2 all in favor of Elijah Pierce. Tough loss for Williams whose speedier shots just weren’t enough to make up for the heavier more damaging blows from Elijah Pierce.
Elijah Pierce improves to 17-2 (14) and picks up the WBC Silver Super Bantamweight strap while Tremaine The Mighty Midget falls to 20-1 (6).
Fist Things First 