Queens, NY - On Friday night, DiBella Entertainment returned to Resorts World Casino New York City with another action-packed nine-bout card for the latest installment of its popular "Broadway Boxing" series, proudly sponsored by Nissan of Queens.
The evening concluded with a slugfest featuring female fighters Alicia Napoleon, 153½, of Lindenhurst, NY, and Latasha Burton, 162, of New Orleans, LA, facing off in a rematch scheduled for eight rounds. There were plenty of shifts in momentum with each taking control at times while dishing out heavy artillery. Napoleon began applying pressure from the outset but Burton soon found a home for her straight right counter. The Long Islander fought her way inside to land power shots in the second, but then Burton came back with her own in the third. A straight right stunned Burton in the next round, though she proved resilient to control the action in the fifth. Napoleon continued to stalk her foe and by the sixth, Burton was tiring. With Burton looking to clinch and slow down the pace, Napoleon sought openings on the inside. Intent on scoring a knockout, Napoleon stormed out of her corner in the eighth with an unrelenting attack of power shots resulting in a TKO stoppage at the 1:43 mark when several left hooks to the head were unanswered. Napoleon improved to 6-0 (5 KOs) and Burton is now 4-7. Having claimed the vacant WBC silver junior middleweight title in January, Napoleon is determined to secure a shot at a world title in the near future.
Returning for the first time since September 2014, former WBA lightweight champion Richar Abril, 139, of St. Petersburg, FL, engaged former world title challenger Jerry Belmontes, 138¾, of Corpus Christi, TX, in a 10-round tactical battle. Searching for countering opportunities, Abril felled Belmontes in the first with an overhand right. Abril was content to fight on the outside, while Belmontes, prone to loading up on his right hand, was simply not active enough overall. During the later rounds, Abril would take a half step back and land short countershots whenever the increasingly desperate Belmontes lunged in. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder over the final six minutes of action, Abril pelted Belmontes with hooks to the body. With scores of 96-93 twice, and 95-94, Abril upped his record to 20-3-1 (8 KOs) with a unanimous decision, while Belmontes suffered his ninth defeat, falling to 21-9 (6 KOs). Following his world title defense against previously unbeaten Edis Tatli (23-0) in September 2014, Abril was stricken with dengue fever that he contracted from a mosquito bite while training in Cuba to defend his title against Derry Matthews in early 2015. Abril was forced to vacate his title as he battled through the illness. Now back and 100 percent healthy, Abril will look to quickly regain his world championship under the DiBella Entertainment banner.













