NEW YORK – David Malul may be the youngest licensed boxing promoter in New York – and maybe even the country – but he put on a mature performance Thursday night at Melrose Ballroom in the Astoria section of Queens, New York.
A 22-year-old welterweight prospect from Jamaica, Queens, Malul cruised to a shutout decision over Colin Huntington, 3-7 (2 KOs), in the four-round welterweight main event. All three judges scored the fight 40-36 for Malul, whose superior physical strength and power was too much for Huntington, the rangier southpaw from Kalamazoo, Michigan.
After a feeling-out first round, Malul stepped up the aggression in the second, banging away with body shots from both hands and straight rights through the guard. Malul landed his best punch of the fight in the third round, an overhand right that sent Huntington stumbling into the corner. Sensing that he was likely hopelessly behind, Huntington tried to meet Malul at the center of the ring to fight, though that approach didn’t turn his fortunes at all.
The card was the maiden promotion of King David Promotions, which is run by Malul and his trainer, Michael Stellate, out of Pelham Park, New York’s Main Street Boxing.
In the co-featured bout, Ronny Reyes, one of Malul’s gym mates, ended a two-fight losing streak with a split decision victory over Terrence Williams in a four-round junior lightweight fight. One judge scored it in favor of Williams, 39-37, while the other two had it 40-36 and 39-37, all for Reyes, 5-2 (1 KO).
Reyes, of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and Williams, 1-1, of Norwalk, Connecticut, spent most of the fight exchanging at close range, with Reyes pressing the action while the 6ft 1in Williams held his own even at close range. Reyes found greater success in the second round, using uppercuts to snap Williams’ head back on the inside. In the third, Williams returned to flurrying at a distance, where only he could be effective, while Reyes continued to walk Williams down and wind up with uppercuts and overhand rights. With the fight seemingly up for grabs, Reyes pushed the action from bell to bell in the fourth.
“I didn’t expect it to be that close,” Reyes said. “I knew my opponent was tough. He’s not a slouch, he’s not a tomato can. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the knockout, but there’s always next time.”
A third Main Street boxer also got a win earlier in the night as Joseph Elzey, 4-1 (2 KOs), rebounded from his first career defeat with a second-round stoppage of Rashad Hicks, 2-6-1 (1 KO), in their featherweight bout. After an ultra-aggressive start to the bout, Elzey, 33, of The Bronx, settled down and landed effective body shots on the skinny midsection of his 19-year-old opponent from St. Louis. Those body shots wore Hicks down enough to leave him defenseless on the ropes, where referee Eddie Claudio stopped the bout at the 1-minute, 53-second mark.
The win was the first for Elzey since his decision loss to Jordy Suarez in March. Elzey says it felt good to be back in the win column again.
“I hate that it had to be him, but it had to be him, so that’s what it is,” said “G.I. Joe” Elzey.
“I just know that once I start throwing punches and they start moving back, it’s gonna be a long night.”
In junior welterweight action, Ryan Zempoaltecatl, 4-0 (3 KOs), of South Fallsburg, New York, stopped Isaiah Turner, 1-7-1 (1 KO), of Dothan, Alabama, at 1 minute of the second round. Zempoaltecatl, a former amateur standout in the New York City area, stunned Turner with an overhand right in the first round, sending him into the ropes for what was ruled a knockdown. The damage was done, as Turner was stopped moments into the second round.
“This is boxing, so any punch can connect,” said the 20-year-old Zempoaltecatl. “As soon as I caught him, I knew I was gonna get him in the second round.”
In the opening bout, Brooklyn’s Paul Anthony, 5-0 (3 KOs), got all he could handle against Las Vegas’ Stephen Barbee, 1-5, in their four-round lightweight bout, winning a unanimous decision that was much closer than the scorecards suggested. Scores were 40-36 on one card and 39-37 on the other two. After the opening two rounds, in which the 31-year-old Anthony had the edge, Barbee seemed to control the final two rounds with his aggression.
Anthony admits he was surprised by how tough the 32-year-old Barbee was.
“He didn’t look that tough at all,” said Anthony. “But he pushed me. This is the second time I went four rounds. Every other time, it was knockouts.”
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.