by David P. Greisman

LINCOLN, R.I. – One need not see the biggest bouts or the brightest stars to enjoy a night at the fights. Boxing exists beyond the televised cards, beyond the multimillion-dollar paydays, beyond the famous and the flashiest.

A crowd will fill the Twin River Events Center in Lincoln, R.I., showing up en masse for nine bouts, each of which includes at least one fighter from Rhode Island, Massachusetts or Connecticut. The prices are lower. The punches may fly slower. But a night at the fights still caters to that human instinct which dates back to the time before gladiators first entered arenas.

And so the crowd roared as Joey Spina sent Matt Gockel onto his rear end with a left hook. And so the crowd booed when the referee called the fight after Gockel got up, ending the main event less than two minutes after it began, an outcome that would normally send the audience home happy. They wanted more. So did Spina.

“I never even got a chance to break a sweat,” Spina said afterward. “They shouldn’t have stopped it. They should have let me knock him out cold.”

Spina, who fights out of Providence, R.I., picked up his fifth victory in a row since suffering his first career loss – a knockout defeat at the hands of his hometown’s other famous super middleweight, Peter Manfredo Jr.  Spina took on Gockel at light heavyweight, but he’s still seeking competition one division below.

“I hope to stay busy, get one or two more fights,” Spina said. “And then I want Jaidon Codrington.”

Codrington has only fought once since losing a brutal war against Sakio Bika in the finale to the third season of “The Contender.” Some believe he may never fight again. Some believe he should never fight again.

Spina is now 24-1-1 with 17 knockout victories. For lack of a better cliché, he is what he is. He will bring the fans in for a night at the fights, even if he is not part of the biggest bouts or one of the sport’s brightest stars, even if he is neither famous nor flashy.

Gockel, who hails from Topeka, Kansas, falls to 12-10 (7).

The co-featured bout was straight out of the golden age of the Sweet Science. Two super-middleweight sluggers with old-school names: “Irish Joey” McCreedy and Richard “Bobo” Starnino. Two sluggers who tend to favor offense and forget defense.

McCreedy and Starnino had faced off once before, fighting to a six-round majority draw in the same arena back in August 2008. This time, they would go eight rounds, and McCreedy would take the rematch via majority decision. A 76-76 scorecard was countered by tallies of 79-73 and 78-75.

One shouldn’t be surprised to see these two meet for a third go-around. One shouldn’t be surprised if that third bout ends up as the same kind of war as this one.

McCreedy, who is from Lowell, Mass., is now 10-2-1 with 5 knockout victories. Starnino is now 9-5-2 (2).

In other action Friday:

- Eddie Soto hails from Pawtucket, R.I., a city about five miles from where the night’s fight card took place. Sean Eklund comes from farther away, from Lowell, Mass., but he is the nephew of retired warrior Micky Ward, and his uncle’s career has translated into vocal support around New England. Ward is also Eklund’s trainer.

So it was of little surprise to hear the crowd boo when Soto came out with the split-decision victory after six rounds of lightweight action. Eklund knocked Soto down in the fifth but didn’t do enough during the rest of the fight to convince two of the three judges to name him the winner.

The scorecards read 58-55 and 57-56 in favor of Soto, with the lone dissenting vote for Eklund being a 57-56 tally. Soto stays undefeated at 11-0 (4 knockouts), while Eklund is now 6-3 (1).

- If Adam Harris’ strategy was to lull David Williams to sleep and then pounce, well, it almost worked. Six rounds of tentative cruiserweight inaction largely consisted of Harris feinting and Williams jabbing.

A fight briefly broke out in the final round, as if the two boxers were distance runners who had jogged through their bout and were only in the final stretch sprinting to the finish.

Williams took the unanimous decision, 58-56 (twice) and 58-57. The Philadelphia fighter improves to 6-2-1 (2 knockouts). Harris, of Worcester, Mass., did little to maintain what had been an undefeated record, falling to 10-1 (7).

- Jerry Pressley came out looking determined, through wide shots with energy and enthusiasm. Jesus Caro didn’t need long to show Pressley just which junior welterweight was in control. The first big right cross and Pressley knew a loss was inevitable.

Caro proceeded to put Pressley on the canvas with another right hand. Pressley got up slowly, his mouthpiece hanging out of his mouth, resigned to what was coming yet willing, for some reason, to take it. Caro landed a few more shots until referee Charles Dwyer stepped in out of mercy.

Caro, who fights out of Providence, is now 4-0, all four wins coming within the distance. Pressley returns to South Carolina with an 0-2 record.

- Brian Macy, a light heavyweight from Ledyard, Conn., who used to deal card at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, suffered a bad beat at the hands of Anthony Pietrantonio of Youngstown, Ohio.

Pietrantonio put Macy down in the first round with a jab, then dropped him twice more in the second stanza. Macy barely made it out of that second round, just making it to his feet at the count of nine.

He might as well have stayed down.

Pietrantonio started off the third round with a home run left hook that missed its target, but he followed with two right hands that hit their target. He soon landed another left, then a right hand that put Macy down. A left hook that hit Macy while he was on the mat meant little – the referee was already waving off the bout.

The time of stoppage was 46 seconds of the fourth round. Pietrantonio improves to 5-2 with four knockouts, while Macy tasted defeat for the first time, falling to 5-1 (2).

- The quickest bout of the night saw a classic heavyweight knockout, with New York City’s Shawn McLean taking out Rashad Minor of Worcester, Mass., with a single straight right. Minor and his 284 pounds dropped like a bowling ball, falling forward and failing to get up by the count of 10. That end came a mere 27 seconds after the opening bell rang. With that, McLean improved to 3-4 with two knockout wins, while Minor suffered his first career loss and is now 1-1 (1).

- Neither Jamar Saunders nor Josh Beeman knew if they were the better man after four rounds of junior-welterweight action, but they’ll know soon. Their bout ended in a split draw, one judge scoring the action 39-37 for Saunders, one scoring it 39-37 for Beeman and one tally reading 38-38.

Afterward, the ring announcer told the crowd, “You will see a rematch on March 6.” Saunders, who is from Atlanta, was the more active fighter, though Beeman – a boxer from Providence clad, amusingly, in bumblebee colored trunks – mounted a comeback in the final stanza. Saunders is now 2-1-1 with one knockout win, while Beeman is now 4-2-3 with two victories by way of knockout.

- And in the show’s opener, debuting cruiserweight Jay Holland of Providence made short work of soft touch Kevin Varnadore, a winless, rotund opponent from South Carolina who at 206 pounds looked wider than he was tall. Varnadore crashed down to the mat with a thud quite early, and though he got up, the referee recognized the mismatch and ended proceedings just 51 seconds into the first round.

Holland is now 1-0, of course, while Varnadore falls, quite literally, to 0-5.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com