By Jake Donovan

Kermit Cintron resumed his winning ways, fending off an awkward Lovemore N’Dou en route to a unanimous decision win in their welterweight co-feature.

There was little action to speak of, with Cintron initiating the few exchanges that took place, and N’Dou all too eager to repeatedly tie him up. There were far more stop and starts than there were two way exchanges that took place.

Cintron landed a left hook in the third that reminded N’Dou and the crowd on hand of the overwhelming size difference between the two. N’Dou tried in vain to respond, but lacked the necessary power to keep Cintron off of him, resulting in repeated clinches and headbutts, all of which drew repeated warnings from referee Bill Clancy, who had a difficult and busy night.

A point was finally deducted from N’Dou’s tally, as he was docked for a headbutt in the ninth, ironically his best round of the fight. An unintentional headbutt in the tenth round left Cintron with a cut on top of his head, before coming back strong in the 11th. A right hand had N’Dou hurt, but Cintron was unable to follow up, with both fighters eventually crossing the finish line in a fight often met with boos from the sparse but spirited crowd on hand.

Final scores suggested a closer fight than the one that actually took place, though the judges at least got the winner correct. Scores of 117-110, 116-111 and an absurdly close 115-112 came in for Cintron, who improves to 30-2 (27KO) and is now one fight away from possibly challenging for his old alphabet title, presently owned by Joshua Clottey.

The fight was Cintron’s first since his repeat knockout loss to Antonio Margarito, and also his first under DiBella Entertainment.

N’Dou loses his second straight fight, as he falls to 46-11-1 (31KO).

Fighting for the first time since his crushing 3rd round disqualification loss to Chris Arreola earlier this year, Chazz “The Gentleman” Witherspoon was given a lot more than he bargained for, before rallying to an 8th round knockout of hometown favorite Adam “Swamp Donkey” Richards in what was easily the best fight of the night.

Following a series of mismatches earlier in the undercard, the competitive heavyweight slugfest was a welcome breath of fresh air. Richards, who was raised in nearby Murfreesboro, crowded Witherspoon all night, often beating him to the punch and forced him to fight in reverse. With each landed punch, hometown chants of “Swamp” grew louder and louder.

Witherspoon was able to ride out the storm, and rally back hard, taking the sixth and seventh with a vengeance before emptying the vault in the eighth. A series of right hands and left hooks repeatedly rocked Richards to the point of forcing referee Bill Clancy to intervene.

The official time was 1:29 of round eight.

Witherspoon is now 24-1 (16KO), scoring his third win of 2008. Richards, fighting for just the second time this year, falls to 21-2 (14KO), though his stock goes way up in defeat.

2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist Deontay Wilder (1-0, 1KO) enjoyed a successful pro debut, as the 6’7” heavyweight scored three knockdowns en route to a second round knockout of Ethen Cox. All three knockdowns came in a 73-second span in the second round, the last of which put out Cox (2-3-1, 1KO) for the night. Official time was 2:58 of round two.

Making his debut under the DiBella Entertainment banner, Allan Green won in his first fight in ten months, scoring a 7th round stoppage over Carl Daniels. The better part of Green’s 2008 campaign marred by legal woes. He had the chance to take out his frustrations on the badly-faded Daniels, but seemed more content with going rounds than making any kind of statement.

The bout was fought at a snail’s pace, and appeared destined for the scorecards when Daniels’ corner suddenly jumped onto the ring apron with white towel in tow. The referee obliged, waving off the action (or lack thereof) at 2:42 of round seven.

Green advances to 27-1 (19KO) with his fourth straight win. Daniels, once upon a time a junior middleweight titlists but now reduced to cannon fodder, falls to 50-16-1 (32KO), having now lost five straight and 12 of his last 13 dating back to 2004.

The crowd booed the decision to stop the fight, but were given plenty of reason to cheer afterward, when former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was introduced among the notable ringside personalities.

Jonathan Nelson scored his seventh win in as many months as a pro, stopping Cory Jones in the fourth round of their scheduled six. Nelson dominated the entire way, winning every round before putting away Jones with a series of right hands, with the end coming at 1:04 of round four. Nelson is now 7-0 (5KO). Jones’ record evens up at 3-3 (1KO).

Undefeated middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero opened up the show with a second round knockout of Gevonte Davis. Guerrero scored knockdowns in each of the two rounds, the latter sending Davis face-first to the canvas, at which point the bout was waved off. The official time was 1:38 of round two. Guerrero, who’s been expertly moved along by Prize Fight Boxing since turning pro last December, moves to 11-0 (10KO). Davis falls to 3-2-1 (2KO).

A female bout between Lisa Bolin and pro debuting local lightweight Mandy Sherrow was scrapped after Bolin was unable to meet the contracted weight limit. Bolin weighed in yesterday at 137.4 lb, and was required to lose more than 3 pounds in order for the fight to proceed. She came one pound short, prompting the state commission to say “nay” to the ladies.

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.