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Avila Perspective, Chap. 270: Roy Jones Jr., 360 Promotions, Munguia and Sumo

Make room for Roy Jones Jr. again.
Jones is a promoter now and is bringing his brand to DAZN on Thursday, Jan. 25, featuring his proteges Andrew Murphy and Mandeep Jangra at Legends Casino in Yakima, Washington.
“I will be bringing with me some treats,” said Jones, the former middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion (here pictured with Andrew Murphy).
For those who never saw Jones inside the prize ring, he was one of the most athletically gifted pro boxers the world has ever seen. And he had the skills too.
Most fans confuse athleticism with skill. They are not the same. Jones had both and used them efficiently from 1989 to 2018. Then he returned and lost a majority decision in 2023.
The first time I ever met Jones was at the press conference in 1994 at the now defunct House of Blues in West Hollywood, California for his super middleweight showdown with James “Lights Out” Toney.
To say Jones was speedy is like saying ice cream is cold. The Floridian could cover a 10-foot distance in the blink of an eye. And his hand-speed defied reason as his numerous knockouts can attest.
No one at 160 pounds or more possessed more total speed than Jones. No one.
One of my favorite of many Jones moments was his showdown against Julio Cesar Gonzalez who was based in Southern California. He was undefeated, and because of his Mexican heritage was chosen by Jones to fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Jones claimed part of the reason for fighting Gonzalez was his affinity for the late great Mexican fighter Salvador Sanchez who he idolized. Sanchez had died in a car accident in 1982 at age 23. Ironically, Gonzalez would later die from a motorcycle accident in Mexico in 2012. May he rest in peace.
During their fight, Jones bewildered Gonzalez with his uncanny speed and movement and numerous knockdowns, including one amazing display where Jones was able to drop Gonzalez with a leaping left hook from 10-feet away. I have never seen anyone repeat that feat.
Somehow, Gonzalez withstood all the blows and knockdowns and survived to hear the final bell. Jones saluted Gonzalez and the Mexican fighter honestly explained he did all he could and was honored to fight Jones. Gonzalez would later win the WBO light heavyweight world title.
Heavyweight champion
Two years later, after cleaning out the light heavyweight division, Jones shocked the boxing world by announcing he would move up to heavyweight to challenge John Ruiz for the WBA world title.
Ruiz was the first Latino to win a heavyweight world title and was promoted by Don King. If you ever attended a King promotion event, you will never forget it. Few could ballyhoo a future fight like King who is still promoting.
During the press conference in Los Angeles, Jones was hours late and the media was forced to wait. Meanwhile King was busy hyping the showdown from sunrise to sunset via radio, television and anybody carrying a pen and paper. Phones with video cameras were still rare.
Ruiz was known as the “Quiet Man” but no matter, King was his promoter and no one could out-hype King. That day King was exhausted and asked if anyone knew a good restaurant nearby that could provide a meal with meat. I suggested El Cholo on Western Avenue and his crew joined us. King could hardly lift his head after exhausting himself with the promotion. We all mostly ate a carne asada dinner and the famed promoter regained his strength.
The actual fight took place at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on March 1. I remember sitting near former light heavyweight great Bob Foster who was there to see if Jones could become the first light heavyweight champion to win a heavyweight world title. Foster had tried twice to beat a heavyweight champion and was knocked out by Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. He wanted to see if it could be done.
That night Jones appeared much heavier and though the extra weight slowed him down, he was still too quick for Ruiz and won by unanimous decision. At the post-fight press conference, Antonio Tarver would take away the shine by daring Jones to return to light heavyweight and face him.
Jones answered by daring Tarver to fight James Toney.
Tarver answered by saying why don’t you fight James Toney. It was funny stuff. Tarver and Jones eventually fought each other. Jones speed was diminished by the weight loss after moving up. He was never the same, but was able to defeat Tarver the first time. Barely. The next two meetings saw Tarver win by an astonishing knockout in 2003 and a decision in 2004.
Jones remained at light heavyweight for another five years before venturing to heavier weight classes without the same success. But during his prime, few if any could rival his blend of athleticism and skill.
As a promoter, Jones has remained competitive with fight cards in Mexico and all throughout the US.
“I will be bringing with me some treats. One of them is Mandeep Jangra. However many rounds the Mandeep fight lasts, they will be exciting rounds. The second is Andrew Murphy, who brings power and aggression and is always looking for the knockout. I am really looking forward to January 25,” said Jones who trains and promotes both fighters.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
360 Promotions in L.A. Area
Featherweights headline the show as undefeated Omar Trinidad (14-0-1, 11 KOs) is gunning for his third consecutive knockout and a shot at a regional title when he faces Jose Perez (11-2-2) at Commerce Casino in Commerce, California. The 360 Promotions fight card will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass beginning at 7 p.m.
It’s a loaded card featuring two female bouts including light flyweight phenom Lupe Medina who has people talking in Southern California about her talent.
Tom Loeffler, the promoter, has always been a proponent of women’s boxing and has arranged fights for many of the best female fighters in history. He also was the guiding force for the careers of heavyweight world champion brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitshcko, and he still remains the advisor for middleweight great Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin. He knows talent and has a full card filled with prospects and contenders.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
Golden Boy in Arizona
Mexico’s Jaime Munguia faces England’s John Ryder in a super middleweight main event on Saturday Jan. 27, at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card.
Munguia is gunning for a showdown with undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Rumors are swirling that the Tijuana fighter has a shot at the champ. First, he needs to pass through super tough Ryder who lost by decision against Canelo a year ago.
The last time Munguia stepped in the ring he engaged in a brutal slugfest against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the Fight of the Year for 2023. Does he have anything left after that soul-sapping affair? The same goes for Ryder who was punished by Canelo.
Two other world title fights accompany the main event including IBF female flyweight titlist Gabriela Fundora defending against Christina Cruz. And Puerto Rico’s Oscar Collazo defends the WBO minimum world title against Nicaragua’s Reyneris Gutierrez.
Doors open at 2 p.m. DAZN begins streaming at 2:30 p.m.
Sumo Wrestling on Thursday
The International Sumo League takes place Thursday Jan. 25, at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey. It will also be shown on TrillerTV.com at 5 pm PT/8pmET.
Twelve fighters from around the world-including six different countries-will be participating. It’s the first event of the season, said Mark Taffet the head of television production.
Sumo wrestling is a traditional sport that began in Japan. The combatants weigh more than 300 pounds and exhibit remarkable speed and power. The object is to physically force one from out of a circle. The power of their collisions is incredible. Its like watching two NFL lineman going at it in a contest of will, skill, speed and power.
I first saw sumo back in the 80s at UCLA. I stumbled on an event and was captivated. The second time I saw an event, it took place in Las Vegas in the early 2000s. It’s worth watching.
Fights to Watch (All times Pacific)
Thurs. ESPN+ 4 p.m. Erik Bazinyan (31-0) vs Billi Godoy (41-7).
Thurs. TrillerTV.com 5 p.m. International Sumo League
Thurs. DAZN 7 p.m. Mandeep Jangra (6-0) vs Gerardo Esquivel (5-3-1).
Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Lewis Crocker (18-0) vs Jose Felix (40-6-1).
Sat. DAZN 2:30 p.m. Jaime Munguia (42-0) vs John Ryder (32-6).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (14-0-1) vs Jose Perez (11-2-2).
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Spared Prison by a Lenient Judge, Chordale Booker Pursues a World Boxing Title

Spared Prison by a Lenient Judge, Chordale Booker Pursues a World Boxing Title
“I always wanted to be great. Not great like Muhammad Ali; just great in my community. If little kids followed behind me every time I went out running, that would be the summit.”
The speaker is Chordale Booker and when he talks about his community, one gets the sense that he is talking about the entire city of Stamford, Connecticut, the city that hued him.
Chordale (pronounced Cor-dell) dreams about returning to Stamford next week laureled as a world boxing champion. Standing in his way is Sebastian Fundora who holds the WBC and WBO belts in the 154-pound weight class. Booker, 33, and Fundora, 27, will lock horns Saturday night at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in the main event of a PBC show that will air on Amazon Prime Video.
Historically, boxing and poverty have gone hand-in-hand. Chordale Booker spent his formative years on the west side of Stamford, home to one of America’s most notorious public housing projects. Like many of his peers, he seemed destined to spend a portion of his adult life in prison.
Booker, by his own admission, was selling weed when still in middle school and picking up some extra pocket change while serving as a lookout for dealers higher-up in the food chain. He was in his late teens when police intercepted a potential gang fight and found drugs and a handgun in his car. “Some of the drugs were mine,” Booker acknowledges, “but not all of them. I was the only one arrested, but I couldn’t snitch on my friends.”
He could have been sent to prison for 13 years if District Superior Court judge Gary White adhered to mandatory sentencing guidelines, but White was lenient and let him off with three-years’ probation.
Given a reprieve, as it were, Booker reassessed his life and decided to dedicate himself to the sport of boxing and to healing some of the divisions in his community. The nickname that he wears on his boxing shorts, “The Gift,” honors Judge White’s benevolence.
Booker was living with an aunt and uncle in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn during the bulk of his amateur career. A frequent sparring partner who became one of his best friends was Patrick Day. Chordale spent many hours at the PAL gym in Freeport, Long Island, where Day trained under the tutelage of his Freeport neighbor Joe Higgins, a retired Brooklyn firefighter.
On Oct. 16, 2019, Patrick Day died at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital from a traumatic brain injury four days after being knocked out by former U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell.
Conwell, overcome with grief, nearly quit boxing, but was encouraged to keep fighting and soldiered on. Undefeated (21-0) as a pro, he’s ranked #3 by the WBC and #2 by the WBO at 154 which puts him near the top of the queue in the race to fight the winner of Fundora-Booker.
At the elite level, amateur boxing is a small world. Chordale Booker lost two decisions to Charles Conwell in 2015, the second a razor-thin decision in late December at the Olympic Trials in Reno. But as to meeting up with Conwell again down the road, Booker is understandably conflicted. “I would love to win back that loss to him in the Trials, but emotionally it would be tough because I can’t think about him without also thinking of Patrick. Of course, this is nothing personal.”
Chordale Booker is the subject of a prize-winning 16-minute documentary by Craig Cutler that was released in 2016 shortly after the boxer turned pro. In the film, which can be found online, Chordale talks about how boxing and the sacrifices it commands gave purpose to his life. He also waxes poetically on boxing as an art form: “The magnificent boxers are the ones that see the art. They know how to move and flow with the rhythm of a fight. When I am fighting, my goal is to disrupt [my opponent’s] rhythm. It sounds simple, but it takes hours of practice to perfect that.”
Booker won his first 17 pro fights preceding his date with Austin “Ammo” Williams on the undercard of the historic first fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden. “I don’t want to make excuses, but he caught me at the right time in my career. I had a lot of issues in my life and I couldn’t turn down the money.”
That was a humbling experience made more demoralizing by the venue. As an amateur, Chordale thirsted to fight at Madison Square Garden but never did get to fight at the storied sock palace despite winning a slew of local tourneys – a highlight was winning the Sugar Ray Robinson Trophy as the best open division boxer at the 2015 Golden Gloves tournament – but by then the sponsor of the longstanding annual event, the New York Daily News, had shifted the tourney from the Garden to Barclays Center.
Booker has won six fights since that mishap at MSG, five on cards with modest purses in his home state at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, elevating his record to 23-1 (11 KOs).
Sebastian Fundora, one-half of the first brother-sister combination to hold world titles simultaneously, is a puzzle for any opponent. At six-foot-six, he is the tallest title-holder ever in his weight class. Per boxrec, he will have a nine-inch height and 10-inch reach advantage. It’s a pairing that would lead an old-time scribe to dust off the adjective “Mutt-and-Jeff.”
In the online marketplace, the odds favoring Fundora (21-1-1, 15 KOs) are as high as 14/1. While one can see the logic, it’s a physical mismatch, one can reasonably question whether the “Towering Inferno” should be a 14/1 favorite over anyone. He’s led a rather charmed life since getting bombed out in the seventh round by Brian Mendoza in a fight that he, Fundora, was winning handily.
Fundora’s next and most recent fight, against Tim Tszyu, came about when Tszyu’s original opponent Keith Thurman was a late scratch with a biceps injury. Fundora, who was already on the card, paired against Serhii Bohackuk, was bumped into the main event and rose to the occasion, upsetting the Australian by a split, but fair, decision. There was, however, an extenuating circumstance. In round two, Tszyu ducked low and ran into Fundora’s bony elbow which opened a deep cut on his hairline that bled copiously throughout the bout.
Considering how Tim Tszyu was manhandled by Bakhram Murtazaliev, one could argue that Thurman’s injury, and the rejiggering it provoked, was fortuitous for Sebastian Fundora who found himself thrust against a less formidable opponent.
Regardless of whether Booker returns to Stamford as a world title-holder or a former world title challenger, he will always be a champion at the Revolution Training fitness center on Elmcroft Road where Chordale hangs his hat, practicing his craft and mentoring at-risk youth 8-to-18 in his “Go The Distance” program. Judge Gary White’s instincts were pretty good. Spared from prison, Chordale Booker has become a rock of the community.
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Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser: Callum Walsh Returns to Madison Square Garden

On Sunday, March 16 (the night before St. Patrick’s Day), Callum Walsh continued his move up the junior-middleweight ranks with a brutal first-round knockout of Dean Sutherland at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. The seven-bout card promoted by Tom Loeffler featured seven Irish boxers. Walsh stole the show but two non-Irish fighters on the undercard caught the eye.
In the third fight of the evening, Cletus Seldin (known as “The Hebrew Hammer) took on Yeis Gabriel Solano. The last time Seldin fought at Madison Square Garden (March 15, 2024), he took the ring announcer’s microphone after a majority-decision win, dropped to one knee, held out a diamond engagement ring, and asked one Jessica Ostrowski to marry him. The future Mrs. Seldin (who was clad in black leather) said yes, and the happy couple paraded around the ring together. They were married on September 7.
“So I’ve got a ring now,” Seldin says. “And I love married life because I love Jessica.”
A cynic at ringside on Sunday night wondered if Jessica might serve Cletus with a summons and complaint for divorce in the ring after the fight. Not to worry. The couple seems happily married and, after Seldin eked out a majority decision over Solano (now winless in five fights dating back to 2019), Cletus and Jessica announced in the ring that they’re expecting the birth of their first child.
In the next fight of the evening, Irish heavyweight Thomas Carty (255 pounds) brought a 10-0 (9 KOs) record into the ring to face 409-pound Dajuan Calloway (10-3, 9 KOs, 1 KO by).
Carty-Calloway was a poor match for a prospect. A fighter gets relatively little credit for beating a 400-pound opponent. And the problems posed by a physical confrontation with a 400-pound mountain are considerable.
With fifty seconds left in round two, Carty collapsed to the canvas as Calloway spun him around on the inside. Thomas rose, limping badly on a clearly-injured left knee. And referee Jamil Antoine foolishly allowed the bout to continue.
Carty tried to circle away, fell again. And Antoine – more foolishly – instructed the fighters to fight on. There was a third fall that the referee ruled a knockdown. The bell rang. And then the fight was stopped. It goes in the record book as a knockout at 3:00 of the second round.
Worse for Carty, he now appears to be facing surgery followed by a long rehabilitation. There’s no way to know how much further damage was done to his knee in the forty seconds that he was clearly impaired and under assault by a 409-pound man who was trying to knock him unconscious.
But the night belonged to 23-year-old Callum Walsh.
Walsh is from Cork, Ireland, trains in California with Freddie Roach, and came into the ring with a 12-0 (10 KOs) record.
“He’s a pretty good fighter,” Roach says. “He’s getting better. And he works his ass off in the gym.”
Equally important in an age when social media and hype often supersede a fighter’s accomplishments in the ring as the key to marketability. Walsh has the enthusiastic backing of Dana White.
Callum seems more at ease with the media now than when he fought at Madison Square Garden a year ago. And he has a new look. His hair is shorter and no longer dyed blond.
“It’s a new year, so time for a new look,” Walsh explained. Later, he added, “I don’t want to be a prospect anymore. I want to be a contender. I expected the road to be tough. I’ve never had anything easy in my life. I’ve worked as a fisherman. I’ve worked on a cargo ship. I like this job a lot more. They have big plans for me. But I still have to do my job.”
Sutherland, age 26, was born in Scotland and has lived there his entire life. He came to New York with a 19-1 (7 KOs, 1 KO by) record and, prior to fighting Walsh, noted, “I’m under no illusions. Fighting an Irishman on St. Patrick’s Day in New York; it’s all being built up for him. If it goes to the scorecards, no matter how the fight goes, I’m unlikely to get the decision. But when the bell rings, it will be only me and Callum. I’ve watched his fights. I’ve studied his habits and rhythm. I’ve been through hard fights. He’s untested. This is my big opportunity. I’m not here to be part of Callum’s record.”
Talking is easier than fighting. When the hour of reckoning came, Walsh was faster, stronger, better-skilled, and hit harder than Sutherland. Indeed, Callum was so dominant in the early going that round one had the look of a 10-8 round without a knockdown. Then Sutherland was flattened by a right hook at the 2:45 mark and any thoughts as to scoring became irrelevant.
It was Walsh’s best showing to date, although it’s hard to know the degree to which Sutheralnd’s deficiencies contributed to that showing. What’s clear is that Callum is evolving as a fighter. And he’s the kind of fighter who fits nicely with the concept that Turki Alalshikh and Dana White have voiced for a new boxing promotional company. Whether they’ll be willing to put Walsh in tough is an open issue. UFC puts its fighters in tough.
****
There was a void at ringside on Sunday night. After more than four decades on the job, George Ward is no longer with the New York State Athletic Commission.
Ward was the model of what a commission inspector should be. I watched him in the corner and in dressing rooms countless times over the years. A handful of inspectors were as good as he was. Nobody was better. Later, as a deputy commissioner, he performed the thankless back-of-the-house administrative duties on fight night while other deputy commissioners were enjoying the scene at ringside.
George and Robert Orlando (who, like George, is a former New York City corrections officer) also normally presided over pre-fight weigh-ins. That’s worth mentioning here because it ties to one of the more unfortunate incidents that occurred during the tenure of former NYSAC executive director Kim Sumbler.
On November 1, 2019, Kelvin Gastelum weighed in for a UFC 244 match against Darren Till to be contested at Madison Square Garden. The contract weight for the fight was 186 pounds. It was known throughout the MMA community that Gastelum had been having trouble making weight. Before stepping on the scale, he stripped down completely naked and a towel was lifted in front of him to shield his genitals from public view. Then, to everyone’s surprise, his weight was announced as 184 pounds (two pounds under the contract weight).
How did Gastelum make weight? Video of the weigh-in showed him resting his elbow on his coach as he stood on the scale.
Why am I mentioning this now?
Ward and Orlando know all the tricks. While they were readying for the Gastelum-Till weigh-in, Sumbler told them that they were being replaced on the scales by two other commission employees who had been brought to New York City from upstate. They asked why and were told, “Because I said so.”
George Ward was one of the behind-the-scenes people who make boxing work. He’ll be missed.
****
Six years ago, Gene Pantalone wrote a traditional biography of former world lightweight champion Lew Jenkins. Now he has written – shall we say – a creative biography of lightweight great Freddie Welsh.
Welsh was born in Wales in 1886 but spent most of his ring career in the United States. He captured the lightweight crown by decision over Willie Ritchie in 1914 and relinquished it to Benny Leonard three years later. BocRec.com credits him with a 74-5-7 (34 KOs) ring record in bouts that are verified and were officially scored. If “newspaper decisions” are added to the mix, the numbers rise to 121 wins, 29 losses, and 17 draws. Many of the losses came when Welsh was long past his prime. He’s on the short list of boxing’s greatest fighters. The only knock out he suffered was when he lost the title to Leonard.
Chasing The Great Gatsby is styled as a biography of Welsh and also an advocacy brief in support of the proposition that Welsh was the inspiration and model for the title character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel The Great Gatsby. I’m unsure how factually accurate Pantalone’s work is in some places. Also, too often, he uses big words when small ones will suffice. For example:
“He was a pugilistic virtuoso, a pummeling poet with fists of fury and a keen intellect. His duality was evident in every aspect of his being, an amalgamation of the vicious and the benevolent.”
Over the course of 349 pages, that weighs a reader down.
Still, there are some interesting observations and nuggets of information to be mined in Chasing The Great Gatsby. Among my favorites are Pantalone’s description of Jack Dempsey training for his historic 1921 fight against George Carpentier at a “health farm” that Welsh owned in New Jersey; Pantelone’s description of how the stadium that hosted Dempsey-Carpentier was built; and Pantalone’s evaluation of the fight itself, which he calls “a spectacle of titanic proportions,” before adding,” The truth was inescapable. The fight had not lived up to its grandeur, but the event did.”
****
Several of the books that Robert Lipsyte has written during his storied career as a journalist focus on boxing; most notably, Free to Be Muhammad Ali and The Contender (a young adult novel). Lipsyte’s most recent book – Rhino’s Run (published by Harper) – is a young adult novel keyed to high school football, not the sweet science. But the opening sentence bears repeating:
“Punching Josh Kremens didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, and I’d been thinking about it for five years.”
Be honest! Don’t you want to read more?
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and ME is a personal memoir available at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Ever-Improving Callum Walsh KOs Dean Sutherland at Madison Square Garden

Irish luck was not involved as Callum Walsh won the battle of hard-hitting southpaws over Dean Sutherland by knockout on Sunday.
One right hook was all it took.
“You’re never going to beat the Irish,” said Walsh.
In a contest between Celtic super welterweights Walsh (13-0, 11 KOs) retained the WBC Continental America’s title against Sutherland (19-2, 7 KOs) in quick fashion at the Madison Square Garden Theater in Manhattan.
Usually fights between southpaws can be confusing to both contestants. But Walsh had expressed a fondness for fighting lefthanders then vividly exhibited the reasons why.
Walsh, 24, a native of Cork, Ireland, now living and training in Los Angeles, quickly demonstrated why he likes fighting lefties with a steady flow of combinations from the opening bell.
He did not hesitate.
Sutherland, 26, had only lost once before and that was more than two years ago. Against Walsh the Scottish fighter was not hesitant to advance forward but was caught with lefts and right hooks.
After two minutes of scattered blows, Sutherland fought back valiantly and when cornered, Walsh tapped two jabs then unleashed a right hook through the Scottish fighter’s gloves that floored the Aberdeen fighter for the count at 2:45 of the first round.
“I’m feeling very good. Dean Sutherland is a very good opponent. I knew he was going to be dangerous. That was my best opponent,” said Walsh.
It was the fourth consecutive knockout win for Walsh who seems to improve with every single combat.
“I’m looking forward to the future. I’m getting stronger and stronger,” said Walsh who is trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. “Anyone that comes to me I will take him out.”
Other Bouts
Super featherweight Feargal McCrory (17-1, 9 KOs) survived a knockdown in the fourth to out-muscle Keenan Carbajal (25-5-1, 17 KOs) and batter down the Arizona fighter in the seventh and again in the eighth with volume punching.
Carbajal was deducted a point early for holding in round two, but regained that point when he floored the Irish southpaw during an exchange in the fourth.
Despite suffering a knockdown, McCrory continued stalking Carbajal and floored him in the seventh and eighth with battering blows. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the fight without a count.
A rematch between two Irish super middleweights saw Emmet Brennan (6-0) remain undefeated by unanimous decision over Kevin Cronin (9-3-1).
Cronin started quickly with a pressure style and punches flowing against Brennan who resorted to covering and countering. Though it looked like Cronin was building up a lead with a busier style, the judges preferred Brennan’s judicious counters. No knockdowns were scored as all three judges saw Brennan the winner 98-92 after 10 rounds.
Dajuan Calloway (11-3, 9 KOs) emerged the winner by technical knockout over Thomas Carty (10-1) who was unable to continue after two rounds when his leg tangled and thereafter was unable to stand. Because he could not continue the fight was ruled a technical knockout win for Calloway in the heavyweight match.
Also
Cletus “Hebrew Hammer” Seldin (29-1, 23 Kos) defeated Yeis Solano (15-5) by majority decision after eight rounds in a super lightweight contest.
Donagh Keary (1-0) defeated Geral Alicea-Romero (0-1-1) by decision after four.
Light heavyweights Sean O’Bradaigh (0-0-1) and Jefferson Almeida (0-1-1) fought to a majority draw after four.
Photo credit: JP Yim
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