NEW YORK – Looking at the rail-thin, 5ft 10ins bantamweight Dominique Crowder, the assumption would be that a fighter would need to get inside and rough him up in order to wear him down. With a sharp jab and great foot movement, that’s easier said than done, as Fernando Diaz found out on Saturday night.
Crowder barely had to throw any power punches as he pecked away at Diaz en route to a unanimous decision win at the Barclays Center here in Brooklyn. The scores were 100-90 on two cards and 98-92 on the third, all for Baltimore’s Crowder, 19-0 (11 KOs), who picked up the NABF bantamweight title with the victory.
Diaz, 16-6-1 (6 KOs), of Riverside, California, lost for the first time after three straight wins.
Crowder is nicknamed “Dimes,” and if Diaz had a dime for every clean shot he was able to land on Crowder, he would have zero dimes. Although that made for an easy night for Crowder, it wasn’t always easy for the fans in attendance.
After a fight that mostly kept the same pattern for the first six rounds, with Crowder peppering jabs and Diaz following and lunging, Crowder began to let his right hand fly a bit more in the seventh. That brief flurry of activity did little to satisfy the crowd, which was more animated in response to a brief scuffle in Section 126, which ended with one of the observers being carried out by security by his arms and legs.
The crowd’s impatience hit a fever pitch in the ninth round as boos rained down from the stands, with fans offering to jump in the ring to fight each of the co-main event boxers. It was hard to blame the paying customers; the 14-bout card, which began at 4:30 p.m. ET and dragged on well past midnight, was overbooked and poorly paced, as fans did everything they could to stay awake for the Danny Garcia-Danny Gonzalez main event.
The fight was the first for Crowder in nearly a year, as his fight against Arturo Popoca – which was to take place in July on the Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez-Phumelela Cafu card in Texas – was canceled due to a Popoca injury.
At times, Damian Knyba was too patient, picking away from distance against a fighter who was nine inches shorter than himself, at just 5ft 10ins. But when it was time to end matters, Knyba knew how to get the job done, stopping Joey Dawejko at 2 minutes, 25 seconds of the seventh round to remain undefeated.
The win was the fourth straight by knockout for Knyba, 17-0 (11 KOs), a New Jersey-based heavyweight from Bydgoszcz, Poland. With the loss, the 35-year-old Dawejko, of Philadelphia, dropped to 28-14-4 (16 KOs), losing for the fifth time by stoppage.
Knyba, a growing local attraction signed to Top Rank, was disciplined in his approach, keeping Dawejko at the end of his long jab and right hands. It was clear early on that Dawejko had no plan to win outside of hoping Knyba overcommitted and gave him an opening for an overhand right. Instead of a jab, Dawejko was content to talk trash to Knyba, who speaks limited English, in hopes of goading him into a mistake.
Knyba, perhaps reacting to instructions from trainer and former middleweight boxer Piotr Wilczewski, came out far more aggressive in the sixth, opening up combinations with both hands, landing big uppercuts and left hooks that repeatedly knocked Dawejko’s head back.
Midway through the seventh, Knyba landed a right hand that spun Dawejko around completely, opening him up for clubbing blows that caused Dawejko to bend forward at his waist to avoid more punishment. After several more clubbing shots, Dawejko collapsed to the canvas, prompting his corner to throw in the towel.
Also on the undercard, Gabriel Rosado defeated Vaughn Alexander by unanimous decision in a super middleweight fight between 39-year-olds who looked their age. The scores were 79-73 on two cards, while the third had it a shutout at 80-72, all in favor of Rosado, 28-17-1 (16 KOs), who recorded his second straight win in two months.
The fight had the pace of a sparring session at times, as Philadelphia’s Rosado landed punches in spots while Alexander, 19-17-2 (12 KOs), of St. Louis, was mostly content to cover up. With the fight mostly decided, Rosado opened up with overhand rights in the eighth – though Alexander was never in serious trouble.
The loss was the fifth straight for Alexander.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
