Golub Beats Reyes as Lou DiBella’s Broadway Boxing Series Soldiers On

(New York, NY) You may as well add club fights to the list of things — along with used bookstores, record shops, corner groceries, et al. — that are rapidly disappearing from New York City. Rising rents, a needlessly exorbitant insurance fee, high medical costs and other pricey ancillary expenses, are just a few of the reasons that have dissuaded local promoters from putting on club fights in recent years. Some have tried their hand, anyhow, and have had little more more than red balance sheets to show for their efforts. Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Promotions entered the New York market last year with the express idea to cultivate the grassroots scene, only to become defunct by the fall. Joe DeGuardia, another notable local promoter, has fallen noticeably silent.

Broadway Boxing, promoter Lou DiBella’s longstanding developmental series, returned after an extended hiatus, on Wednesday night in front of a near sell-out crowd at the Sony Hall, a 500-seat venue in Times Square. But it would be a mistake to read into the show as a sign of things to come. Even DiBella, perpetual hype-man at large, was loathe to describe the event as anything more than a small step for a series he first conceived 16 years ago and featured the likes of Andre Berto and Paulie Malignaggi. “Nobody,” DiBella said,” “from Joe DeGuardia to myself, has a formula where you can make a killing from this.”

That said, there is some wind in DiBella’s sails these days. He recently inked a deal with UFC Fight Pass, the combat sports streaming app that hosted Wednesday’s card. It could be the start of something new, though DiBella refused to call it a partnership, at least not yet. “We’re getting our feet wet,” he said. “If you have a big stable of fighters, you need a developmental series and I think that’s why this collaboration with Fight Pass is potentially significant.” Moreover, the financial help from a streaming partner would help offset the overhead that makes club fights so prohibitive in the first place. “That makes it easier,” DiBella acknowledged, who declined to comment if Fight Pass offered a license fee, but did add, “That’s a fair assumption. Frankly, the UFC fight pass deal allowed me to come back to New York City.” Still, DiBella remained skeptical that he could afford to run club shows in the city on a consistent basis. The next Broadway Boxing show will take place at Foxwoods in Connecticut. (DiBella declined to comment if Fight Pass would stream the event.)

In the main event, hard-hitting southpaw Ivan Golub (pictured on the left) decisioned a limited but tough-as-nails Manuel Reyes in a solid 10-round welterweight bout to improve to 16-1 (12). All three judges saw Golub winning: John Basile and James Kinney had it a clean sweep at 100-90, while John McKaie had it 99-91.

Golub, who hails from the Ukraine but resides and trains in Brooklyn, started off hot by working behind a stiff jab and mixing in thudding body shots. It did not appear that the fight would last very long as Reyes seemed content to absorb punch after punch as he tried artlessly to walk Golub down.

In the second round, Golub sustained a large cut on his forehead which perhaps played a role in slowing down his efforts. By the fifth round, Reyes’ pressure was forcing Golub to work harder than he would like. The late rounds were considerably closer. Indeed, Reyes had Golub backtracking around the ring in the final round. Golub, 30, may have a limited ceiling, but his fan-friendly style should make him an attractive option at 147.

On the undercard, highly-regarded Uzbek heavyweight prospect Bakhodir Jalolov wiped out late-replacement Brendan Barrett in the first round of a 6-round contest. A 6’7” southpaw, Jalolov, who entered the ring wearing a maroon military beret, towered over the comparatively diminutive 5’10” Barrett. The two fighters got tangled up repeatedly early on as a result of  Barrett rushing in with his head like a sloppy linebacker. Jalolov, 6-0 (6), eventually found his range and connected on a straight left that sent Barrett crumbling to the canvas. Referee Albert Brown waived off the fight after he saw the ring doctor approach the apron.

After the fight, a member of Jalolov’s management team — who also handle Dmitry Bivol — confirmed that the heavyweight will likely fight for a fringe title in his next bout.

Lindenhurst, New York’s Alicia Napoleon dispatched Serbia’s Eva Bajic in the second round of their middleweight bout. Napoleon landed a straight right that caused Bajic to go down in pain. Moments later, Napoleon doubled up on the straight right which sent Bajic to the canvas for good. After the fight the newly-married Napoleon, who improves to 11-1 (6) reiterated her desire for a title fight and a possible move up to super-middleweight. Jamil Antoine refereed.

It looked as though Uzbek prospect Hurshidbek Normatov would make short work of Kansas City’s Calvin Metcalf, when he opened up a cut on Metcalf’s bald head in the first round and scored a knockdown in the second. But Metcalf was surprisingly resilient and went the full six rounds of their middleweight bout. All three judges had it 60-53 for Normatov, 8-0 (3),who was never troubled. Arthur Mercante Jr. refereed.

A large and rabid contingent came out to support Brooklyn’s Khalid Twaiti in his four-round junior featherweight fight against Hungary’s Jeno Tonte, whose limited skills were exacerbated by the fact that he held his chin high up in the air. Twaiti pressed the action from the get-go and had Tonte in trouble along the ropes at several moments. In the third round, Twaiti wailed away at Tonte with bludgeoning hooks until referee Jamil Antoine intervened at 1:13. Tonte protested vehemently but it was hard to argue the call, given that he showed no signs of fighting back. Twaiti improves to 5-0 (3).

Fort Greene, Brooklyn’s Brian Ceballo earned a third round stoppage of Ricardo Garcia in their junior-middleweight bout (set for six). After working tentatively behind his jab, Ceballo turned it up in the third, catching Ceballo with a straight right that knocked him down into the ropes. Ceballo, now 8-0 (4), followed up with a barrage of punches that forced referee Earl Brown to stop the fight.

In the opener, Joseph Williams, Far Rockaway, NY, improved to 13-0 with a unanimous decision over Jose Flores, Woodbridge, Virginia, in their six round cruiserweight bout. Williams won every round on all three cards.

Photo credit: Ed Diller / DiBella Entertainment

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