Surprises, Surprises on Friday’s Zesty SHOWTIME Boxing Card

Zesty SHOWTIME Boxing Card – The SHOWTIME series called “ShoBox: The New Generation” debuted in 2001. Over the years, many promising boxers had their first TV exposure on “Shobox.” Some went on to win world titles. In other cases a seemingly bright career was shipwrecked. Several promising prospects were knocked for a loop on Friday’s “Shobox” show at Foxwoods, the 15^th anniversary edition of the long-running series. The July 22 card was replete with surprises, much to the credit of the matchmakers.

Adam Lopez was progressing toward a match with newly crowned IBF World 122-pound champion Jonathan Guzman, but that match is unlikely to happen anytime soon after Lopez was held to a draw by Roman Reynoso in the featured bout. San Antonio’s Lopez, 15-0 (7) going in, came up big in the 10^th round, but it was too little, too late. Reynoso bought time when his mouthpiece came out, dictating a break in the action, without which Lopez would have likely scored the knockdown that would translated into a 10-8 round, bringing him the victory. Each of the three judges scored the final stanza for him by 10-9. Reynoso, who hails from Argentina but fights out of Montreal, is now 18-1-2.

Lopez protested the decision. The general sentiment was that he had done enough to win. However, Shobox analyst Steve Farhood hit the nail on the head when he opined that neither he nor Reynoso looked ready for a man the caliber of Guzman who has won all 22 of his fights inside the distance.

Zesty SHOWTIME Boxing Card

Super middleweight Julius Jackson, who opened his career 19-0 (15), is now 19-2 after getting starched by late sub Jerry Odom. The end came in the third stanza when Jackson, who was out-boxing Odom, was caught flush during an exchange of punches. The son of two-time WBC World middleweight champion Julian Jackson, Jackson was a 9/5 favorite. Odom, from the Washington DC area, was subbing for Ronald Ellis who was forced to withdraw with a hand injury. His record now stands at 14-2-1 (13).

A bigger upset occurred in the TV lid-lifter, an 8-round middleweight contest between Khiary Gray-Pitts and Ian Green. The highly touted Gray-Pitts, from Worcester, Massachusetts, was seemingly in control when he ran into a big right cross in the second round. He beat the count, but Green seized the moment, pummeling him on the ropes, forcing the referee to intervene.

Prior to the fight, Jimmy Burchfield Sr., Gray-Pitts’ promoter, said “We’re going to steal the show…my phone will be ringing off the hook.” Instead it’s back to the drawing board for Gray-Pitts whose 13-0 ledger, prior to meeting his Waterloo, included a string of six consecutive first round knockouts. Ian Green, who fights out of Paterson, New Jersey, advanced to 10-1 (8).

An 8-round lightweight contest between 12-1-1 Rolando Chinea and 10-1 O’Shaquie Foster completed the TV quadruple-header. Chinea won a split decision.

Friday’s show was the second boxing show at Foxwoods in 48 hours. Tonight (Saturday, July 23) at the nearby Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, a five-bout card presented by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing will feature veteran Delvin Rodriguez (28-8-4) against Iraq war veteran Shawn Cameron (10-1) in the main event. Boxing is alive and well in the Nutmeg State.

Zesty SHOWTIME Boxing Card / Photos; Credit Rosie Cohe/SHOWTIME