Friday Night Fight Results from Las Vegas, Central Florida, and Long Island

The boxing action on the last day of February extended across a wide swath of the country. Moving from west to east, the premier destinations were Las Vegas, Central Florida, and Huntington, Long Island.

“ShoBox: The New Generation” was at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas where the main go was a rematch between super lightweights Keith “The Bounty” Hunter and Sanjarek Rakhmanov. They fought here on February 5 of last year and Hunter staved off a late rally to win a split decision.

A second-generation prizefighter and the younger brother of heavyweight contender Michael Hunter, Keith Hunter came out on top again, winning a unanimous decision in a very entertaining fight that featured a doozy of a 10^th round. The scores (98-91 and 97-92 twice) were somewhat misleading as Uzbekistan native Rakhmanov (12-3-1) had his moments after a shaky second round in which Hunter (12-0) scored a flash knockdown.

Other Bouts

In a rather monotonous fight, Richardson Hitchins simply had too much class for Nick DeLomba in their 10-round affair contested at 140 pounds. The Brooklyn-born Hitchins, who represented Haiti in the 2016 Olympics, advanced to 11-0. DeLomba (16-3) hails from Cranston, R.I. and was making his first appearance as a pro outside New England.

The opening bout of the ShoBox tripleheader produced an upset when Genc Pllana (8-1-1) won an unpopular decision over Roy Jones Jr protégé Kevin Newman II in a 10-round contest in the 168-pound class. The scores were 96-94 across the board. A native of Albania, the 26-year-old Pllana represented Washington DC as an amateur.  Newman, 11-1-1 heading in, avenged his previous loss and would likely be favored if he were to lock horns with Pllana again.

In an undercard bout of note, cruiserweight Viddal Riley improved to 4-0 with a four-round unanimous decision over Muhammad Abdullah. The 22-year-old Riley, a Londoner who is now part of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s The Money Team stable, is best known as the former trainer of YouTube sensation KSI. A 34-year-old Cincinnati southpaw with an MMA background, Abdullah declined to 4-2-1.

Kissimmee

In Kissimmee, Florida, an Orlando suburb, Puerto Rico’s Yomar Alamo (18-0-1) staved off Kendo Castaneda (17-1) in a battle of unbeaten junior welterweights on Telemundo. Alamo, who was making his fourth straight start in Kissimmee, won a majority decision, prevailing by scores 99-93, 98-92, and a more reasonable 95-95. Castaneda, who works the graveyard shift at a FedEx warehouse back home in San Antonio, was the aggressor but the judges were more impressed by Alamo’s overall ring generalship.

Huntington

At the Paramount Theater in Huntington, Long Island, local fan favorite Cletus Seldin and Carlos Takam, fringe contenders in their respective weight classes, won as expected over carefully selected opponents.

Junior welterweight Seldin, the Hebrew Hammer, back at his old stomping grounds after a 30-month absence, scored a seventh-round stoppage of late sub Luis Eduardo Florez. Coming off his career-best win over faded Zab Judah, Seldin improved his ledger to 25-1 with his 21^st knockout. The high-water mark of Florez’s career was a first-round KO of current 130-pound champion Miguel Berchelt (currently 37-1), but that was back in 2014 and since then the Colombian is 10-15 and has been stopped nine times.

The 39-year-old Takam (38-5-1), who has been in with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin and Joseph Parker, scored a unanimous decision over Fabio Maldonado, a 39-year-old Brazilian who was once a UFC headliner. It was the fourth straight loss for Maldonado (26-4) in the role of a conventional boxer.

This was the 38^th show put on at the Paramount by promoter Joe DeGuardia and the 17^th Paramount appearance for Cletus Seldin. Future world title-holders Chris Algieri and Joe Smith Jr, Long Islanders like Seldin, earned their spurs here.

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