Mtagwa Defends USBA Featherweight Belt
By Larry Tornambe, at ringside
Philadelphia, PA- Rogers Mtagwa brought his USBA Featherweight belt into his adopted hometown ring at the New Alhambra in South Philadelphia for a defense against Alvin Brown. Mtagwa wanted to look good in front of the ESPN2 cameras as a rumored bout with Jason Litzau would likely materialize with a successful defense. Mtagwa, originally from Tanzania, has thrilled the Philly fans in the past with comeback wins, but against Brown he took control from the opening bell on the Peltz Boxing and Joe Hand Promotions main event.
Mtagwa tossed a left hook to Brown’s jaw for the first of two knockdowns in the 2nd round. Rogers (124½ lbs) dominated the 3rd round and Brown (125¼ lbs; 26-9) looked ready to start packing for a trip home to Kansas City. Brown did have one last gasp in the 4th round, and it typical Mtagwa fashion, getting tagged ignited him. A fiery right hand toppled Brown near the end of the 4th stanza.
Brown sat on the canvas with glazed eyes looking through the ropes into the ring. Steve Smoger saw the eyes and recalled the events of the bout to this point and waved it off. The official time of the knockout is 3:06 of the 4th round. Because Brown could not be saved by the bell, but was given the opportunity to get up, all of this took the bout over the end of the round time limit.
The co-main event was an 8-round junior middleweight bout between Clarence “Sonny Bono” Taylor and Jose “El Macho” Medina. Medina has also given the Philly fight crowd some “fight of the year” candidates, which Taylor has been inconsistent in obtaining his 11-9-2 record.
“This was my first 8 rounder, I had 21 ‘amateur’ fights, this was my first pro fight. In fact, Taylor had zero amateur fights but has looked upon his pro career as “learning on the job”. Tonight he showed his best so far. Implementing his hit-and-move game plan earned him a win against Medina on national TV. Medina admits “I fought his fight, instead of making him fight my fight”.
Taylor showed his smarts in getting the win via unanimous decision. Medina, on the other glove says “that’s it. You have to have a strong mind for this, so I am saying that’s it. I had a good journey, I’ve always been a crowd pleaser. I am going back to work for Cars, Inc. we buy junk cars, buy parts and that kind of stuff.”
Medina credits boxing for keeping him legit. Taylor, who could really say the same about boxing spoke of Medina “as a guy who is standing in the way of me getting my first USBA belt. I know deep down inside I am a warrior, the record doesn’t mean anything to me. Monday is my 35th birthday but I feel like I am 25.”
Glenn Turner finally got the win he deserved after not winning several close fights. Turner gets the 6 round unanimous decision over DeAndre McCole and improves to 8-3-3.
Charles Cavallo was cut by a head butt in the first round but overcame the bloody mask and defeated Mike Eatmon by unanimous decision. Cavallo gave his spirited followers his 10th win in as many bouts.
Mike Jones (3-0; 3KO) knocked out Ron Glover at 2:54 of the 1st round.
Kaseem Wilson and Wes Hobbs were two undefeated boxers coming into their scheduled 4-round junior middleweight bout. Wilson (4-0-1) was the unanimous winner on the judges cards over Hobbs (4-1-1)
Ryan Belasco has now faced two southpaws in his two pro fights. Belasco won both, this one over Bobby “the clincher” Campbell (1-2).
Orlando Lewis (4-1; 4KOs) was surprised by Carlos Aballe. Aballe gets the unanimous decision win and improves to 5-2.
Peltz Boxing and Joe Hand Promotions return to the New Alhambra on Sept. 29th. Meanwhile, Philadelphia boxing features a Power Production card on Friday at the National Guard Armory. Fights are tentatively being put together for a Sept. 11th show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Blue Horizon returns with a September 15th card.
