By Ryan Songalia
Photo © Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com
Dibella Entertainment closed out the 2006 boxing year with a night of entertaining bouts showcasing a variety of it's most prized upstarts. Initially, Sechew Powell was slated to man the helm of the main event, only to be needed elsewhere to prepare for his HBO showdown with Contender Season One standout Ishe Smith. Heeding the call instead was Curtis "Showtime" Stevens, who in a throwback to the old days of accelerated fight schedules, was participating in his third contest in a thirty day span.
Stevens had bad intentions from the opening bell. Facing a Jonathon Corn with a midsection that elicits comparison to tapioca pudding, the Brooklyn Chin Checker went to work immediately with violent combinations to the head and body, concentrating the majority of the damage with left hooks. It looked to be an early night for Corn, whose kernel finally was popped early in the second when a whistling left hook bounced off the top of his dome and collapsed him to the canvas.
Corn valiently arose, only to be reacquainted with the relentless two-fisted assault of the New York Light-Heavyweight champion. The referee finally displayed some belated mercy when he stopped the fight at 2:34 of the round.
Curtis Stevens raises his record to 16-1 (12 KO), while Jonathon Corn drops to 47-16-2 (26 KO) .
In the most spirited contest of the night, Long Island's Gary "Kid" Stark overcame his most toughest test yet, as he shut out the tough Vernie Torres over ten rounds. It was all Stark from the outset, whose handspeed and combination punching were just too much of an advantage over his man. Torres often limited his output to just sheer bravado, beating his chest and head in defiance and grinning widely when being hit with Stark's best shots. In all honesty however, Stark hardly conjurs up thoughts of Earnie Shavers with the clout, or lack thereof, in his fists.
Stark continued to land at will, punctuating his game with mean uppercuts and a sizzling body assault throughout the later rounds. Conscious of the New York Junior Featherweight title that he was on the verge of acquiring in a matter of moments, Stark shouted "I'm getting some hardware" to press row, just in case some of us didn't know how to score a fight. For Stark's benefit, the judges working that fight were proficient in their trade, scoring the fight 100-89 across the board.
"I thought Kid looked real good," Paulie Malignaggi assessed from ringside. "He made a lot of progress and a lot of great strides. This is the second fight in a row that I thought he looked excellent in. You got to consider him a threat to these champions."
Gary Stark Jr., who is quickly becoming one of New York City's rising star attractions, raises his undefeated mark to 18-0 (8 KO). Vernie Torres', a Pensacola resident by way of Davao City, Philippines, falls to 27-8 (15 KO).
Fighting for the first time under the Dibella banner, James "Buddy" McGirt Jr., turned in a mixed performance against Dennis Sharpe. McGirt's more versatile game created a significant margin between him and his opponent, as he blunted Sharpe throughout the majority of the fight. Two of the three judges had McGirt winning every round of the eight-stanza contest on two of the judges' cards, save for one judge who gave Sharpe a token round to bring his tally to 79-73. McGirt Jr. elevated his record to 13-0 (7 KO), while Sharpe fell to 17-4-3 (4 KO).
Former Junior Welterweight titlist Vivian Harris offered his comments about the younger McGirt's victory to this writer. "For the level he's at right now, I'd give him a good performance. He was throwing combinations, and you don't really find that with a lot of young fighters."
While McGirt Jr. was certainly the superior fighter over his journeyman adversary, his father and trainer "Buddy" McGirt Sr. was disappointed with his son's showing in the ring. "He could've done better, I'm upset with him to be honest. He was looking for the one-punch knockout, which didn't happen. I'm not in the best of moods of right about now, I'm very upset with him." McGirt Sr. related that his charge would return in February.
Prior to Thursday night's festivities, consensus thought was that Shaun George was a technical boxer that lacked pop in his shots. After the shocking display of power he exhibited against Roosevelt Johnson in only 2:41 of the first, those assertions may need a little altering. It was Johnson's fourth knockout loss of his career.
Fighting in a more offensive stance than those familiar with the Brooklyn native's career, George came out looking to prove a point to the Manhattan Center's crowd from the initial exchange. Early in the first, a short left uppercut to the sternum relieved Johnson of any air he might have been harboring inside his lungs. Rising at the count of 9, Johnson continued to take the punishment being doled out by George like a man. However, with one solid left hook, George produced the kind of highlight reel, one-hitta-quitta knockout that seemed foreign to his career at that point. Johnson was out before he hit the canvas, his eyes white as milk as he lay motionless following a hard, face first descent to the mat.
Trainer Lou Duva was very pleased with what his protege was able to come up with. "We're trying to teach him to punch, he was too much of a boxer. Now he's starting to realize that he is a good puncher. I'd like him to fight Felix Cora or a return with the guy that knocked him out, Matt Godfrey. He's going to be a different fighter out there now."
"When I caught him with that body shot, I knew he was going down," stated the victor. "I felt my hand go right through him." With his finalizing power display, George ups his record to 13-1-2 (6 KO), while Johnson goes to 5-9-1 (1 KO).
In other action, Maureen Shea of the Bronx stopped Rocio Vazquez in three rounds. Robert Semidei Jr. continued his unbeaten ways as he outfought Harvey Phillips over four rounds. Patrick Majewski blew away the overmatched Ken Dunham in 2 rounds of a scheduled 4. Welterweights Tolan Tascoe and Eusebio Flores fought a pitched battle in a matchup of pro debuts, with Tascoe earning the nod with a close unanimous decision.
Any questions or comments? Send them to me at mc_rson@yahoo.com . My Myspace address is http://www.myspace.com/asian_sensation201 . My website URL is https://www.boxingscene.com/ryansongalia .
