ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Otto Wallin was looking to shake some rust and get back into the win column after a decision loss to Derek Chisora earlier this year. It’s unclear how much rust he shook off, but he got the result he was looking for on Friday.
The former heavyweight title challenger from Sweden made short work of Chris “The Sandman” Thomas, knocking him out at 1:00 of the second round at Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Wallin, a perennial contender, dropped the out-of-shape Thomas with a left hand to the body which Thomas never recovered from.
With the victory, Wallin, now 34, improves to 28-3 (16 KOs), while Thomas, 27, of Forked River, New Jersey drops to 15-3-2 (10 KOs).
Wallin was fighting for the first time since linking up with new trainer Ronnie Shields. The win over Thomas looks good on paper until you read the actual paper: Johnson had started his career as a promising middleweight before ballooning into a 240-pound plus heavyweight during the pandemic.
The fight served as the co-main event to a Boxing Insider Promotions card which aired live on DAZN.
Bruce Seldon Jnr got the win in his hometown, but he didn’t get the reaction he was hoping to get.
The son of the former WBA heavyweight champion won a unanimous decision Friday in a six-round heavyweight fight, defeating Jose Medina by the scores of 59-55 on all three cards. Seldon, now 8-0 (6 KOs), survived some shaky moments in a fight where he was gassed from the second half on. Medina, a Puerto Rico native who now lives in Lake Wales, Florida, drops to 8-3-1 (3 KOs). After the decision was announced, some fans shouted “bullshit!” in disagreement.
The bout started promisingly for Seldon, who showed a few new wrinkles to his game, dancing and countering with left hooks instead of his usual bum rush. Seldon landed his best punch of the fight in the second, a left hook counter that rocked Medina.
Just as matters were going his way, Seldon was rocked by left hooks in the third round, which caused blood to well from his mouth. Seldon came back later in the round as Medina looked to catch his breath, smothering Medina and landing shots.
Medina rocked Seldon again in the fourth as a counter uppercut caught Seldon jumping in, leading to Seldon mouthing expletives in frustration. Medina closed the fight stronger, flurrying with combinations while Seldon moved about the ring in obvious exhaustion.
Josh Popper, a popular heavyweight from nearby Somers Point, New Jersey, had to work a little harder than usual, going past the first round for the first time as a professional in a third round stoppage win over Trevor Kotara. Popper, 5-0 (5 KOs), dropped the southpaw Kotara twice, both times on left hooks, before the fight was stopped at the 1:45 mark. Popper, who now lives in New York, where he owns Bredwinners Boxing, was fighting for the first time in one of his home locations as a pro.
The 32-year-old Popper, a former NFL prospect who attended rookie mini camps with the Arizona Cardinals and the Indianapolis Colts, had a late start to the sport, but won the New York Boxing Tournament in 2023 as an open class amateur.
Lia Lewandowski, a popular ticketseller from Berlin, New Jersey, survived a tough challenge from Dallas’ Chantal Sumrall, winning a majority decision in their six-round junior featherweight fight. One judge had it even at 57-57, while the other two had it 58-56 for the 27-year-old Lewandowski, who elevates her record to 3-0 (1 KO).
The taller, rangier Lewandowski had a solid opening round, landing right hooks to the body from range while switching stances against her southpaw opponent Sumrall, now 1-2. Sumrall adjusted in the next two rounds, landing counter punches against Lewandowski, who was too squared up after her punches to defend herself effectively. After a rough beginning to the fourth round, where Sumrall rushed Lewandowski from the opening bell, Lewandowski recovered and had a good second half of the round against the gassed Sumrall. The next two rounds were a watered down version of the previous round, as Lewandowski was the more consistent fighter while Sumrall was limited to pot-shotting.
Lewandowski, in addition to being a former kickboxer, is also Drexel University graduate who majored in Political Science and International Area Studies.
In an eight-round super middleweight test of manhood, Nathan Lugo outslugged Diego Allan Ferreira Iablonski to a unanimous decision victory by the scores of 80-72 on one card and 79-73 on the other two.
It was a bout where two things happened that had never happened before, as Lugo, 6-0 (5 KOs), had never gone the distance, while Iablonski, 12-4 (8 KOs), had never lost a fight by decision.
Lugo, 21, whose younger brother Elijah also scored a victory on the undercard, was all pressure from the opening bell, taking a few clean shots from the Brazilian southpaw, but dishing out far more, particularly late in the fight as Lugo’s overhand rights closed Iablonski’s left eye.
Patrick O’Connor, an 11-time national champion with over 200 amateur bouts to his credit, did what he was expected to do against the unbeaten but undersized Anthony Trejo, dropping him once before the fight was stopped at 2:20 of the first round. O'Connor, 20, of Waldorf, Maryland looked the much larger of the two, as he stalked the 34-year-old Trejo, 2-1 (2 KOs), of Chula Vista, California in their four-round cruiserweight bout. O’Connor, who looked filled out at 200lbs, had a 14lbs advantage over Trejo, and put every one of those pounds behind each shot as he landed over hand rights and left hooks to the body that caused Trejo to wince.
Those same blows factored into the fight’s lone knockdown, at which point the referee halted the fight before it got too ugly.
The card opened up with a pair of prospect matchups where the favored boxer got all the could handle in victory.
Yoel Angeloni, 7-0 (4 KOs), was extended the six-round limit against Brandon Diaz-Campos, 6-1 (6 KOs), winning as competitive a fight as can be expected in a 60-54 shutout. Angeloni, a 22-year-old southpaw welterweight from Rome, Italy, had to fight through a bloody nose for most of the fight, but found the target with his left hand counters to the body which slowed his opponent from Hastings, Nebraska enough to close the fight strongly in the sixth.
In the curtain-raiser, former amateur standout Elijah Lugo, 4-0 (1 KOs), of Marietta, Georgia defeated Josue Silva, 3-4 (1 KO), by the scores of 59-55 on two cards and 60-54 on the third.
