Dante Benjamin walked into his Friday the 13th showdown with Angel Lozano wearing Freddy Krueger-inspired trunks, and then proceeded to be a nightmare for his opponent.
Benjamin, a 23-year-old from Cleveland, barely got out of first gear as he used a consistent jab to pick apart Lozano en route to a unanimous decision on Friday at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. All three judges scored the fight for Benjamin, 14-0-1 (9 KOs), by scores of 80-72, 77-75 and 78-74, while the 29-year-old Lozano, 8-1 (6 KOs), of Pomona, California, lost for the first time.
Although two of the judges saw the fight being relatively close, it was essentially a paint job by Benjamin, whose experience of nearly 200 amateur fights shined through against the cruder Lozano, who had just five amateur bouts.
Benjamin made a strong statement in the first round, stunning Lozano along the ropes and drawing blood from his nose with a right hand. Benjamin showed off more of his craft in the second, working behind his jab, a pair of sharp right uppercuts and a long right cross. Lozano was able to get closer to Benjamin in the third by working behind his jab, but Benjamin’s own jab reestablished his dominance by the end of the round. With Lozano’s nose leaking, Benjamin stepped up his dominance by putting together combinations, using uppercuts from both hands and a jab that couldn’t miss his nose.
Benjamin’s right hand was on target in the fifth round as he popped Lozano’s head back with long shots at distance. Benjamin remained in control with his jab and occasional right hands, but he didn’t push his advantage as much as his corner wanted him to. Although Benjamin seemed content to just win the fight from distance, it was partly due to Lozano’s own lack of aggression.
Delvin McKinley bet on himself by accepting a fight with the previously unbeaten Christian Chessa on two weeks’ notice and cashed in, winning a six-round majority decision. One judge had the junior bantamweight fight even at 57-57, while the other two had it 58-56, giving New Orleans’ McKinley, 14-5-1 (13 KOs), his first win against a boxer with a winning record. Chessa, now 6-1 (6 KOs), of Lombardia, Italy, was fighting for just the second time in the United States.
With neither fighter having won a decision, it figured to be an all-out brawl, and it lived up to expectations. McKinley, 29, made his first big statement of the fight in the second, rocking Chessa with a right uppercut that caused swelling underneath his left eye. After another strong round in the third for McKinley, Chessa roared back in the fourth, using body punches to sap the energy of McKinley, particularly with left hooks to the body that were set up by uppercuts to the head.
McKinley regained control in the fifth, firing right hands more aggressively around the guard and up the middle that Chessa didn’t appear able to see coming. With the fight on the table in the sixth, McKinley dominated the final stanza, landing hard right hands, particularly in the final minute, rocking Chessa with a right, followed by an uppercut and hook at the bell.
Opening up the YouTube portion of the card, Kenyan Valle, the younger brother of co-main event boxer Dominic Valle, effectively used his height and reach to outbox Anel Dudo en route to a six-round unanimous decision win. One judge scored the fight a shutout at 60-54, while the other two had it 59-55.
Valle, 3-0 (1 KO), of Lutz, Florida, and Dudo, 4-7-1 (1 KO), a Bosnian who now lives in Colorado, both switched stances from exchange to exchange, with the 5ft 10ins junior featherweight Valle doing better when he can land straight punches from distance, while Duro had greater success when he could push Valle to the ropes and throw combinations.
Dudo didn’t make it easy, pushing the pace from the opening round and knocking Valle’s head back in the fourth with a left hand, which produced a bruise under Valle’s eye. Dudo, who has never been stopped, was tough until the final bell, remaining on his feet despite Valle hurting him for the first time in the final 30 seconds from a series of hooks to the midsection.
Valle, 21, outlanded Dudo 86-63, while throwing slightly more (404-385).
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.
