Ringside at the Palladium: Cassius Chaney and “Popeye” Rivera Win

WORCESTER — Inside the claustrophobic downtown Palladium, I’m ten feet away from an active boxing ring while spit, snot and sweat is raining down on me.

And God knows what else.

It’s an illuminated mist of manly danger. And though I’m certainly not wearing a mask, in my years of reporting from ringside I’ve always thought it wise to wear a brimmed hat. I find a baseball cap especially useful in keeping all that blood and guts out of my face and off of my stuff.

The scene last night in Worcester was one of normality. Hundreds of local boxing fans milled in close quarters, many fighting for space in standing room only sections. There were no restrictions put in place by the state and the vast majority in attendance were unmasked.

There were no surprises in the ring. No upsets scored. Every fighter who hustled his fair share of tickets to be on this Rivera Promotions show won as expected. And there were no girl fights.

Promoter Jose Antonio Rivera hopes to be back at this venue in November. It costs the promoter six thousand dollars to rent the Palladium as opposed to the fifteen grand required to rent out the much larger DCU event center across the street where he’s previously promoted.

In the main event scheduled for ten rounds, Main Events heavyweight prospect Cassius “C.O.G.” Chaney, 264, New London, CT, 21-0 (14) earned a unanimous decision against Shawndell Terell Winters, 219, Harvey, Illinois, 13-6 (12). Scores were 96-94, 98-92 and 97-93.

Chaney, cornered by a very vocal Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, had to deal with the fact that most fans left the building after “Popeye” Rivera won in the co-main. Then he had to deal with a delay as the Massachusetts boxing commission worked on broken boards beneath the canvas.

Chaney won the fight with his flicking jab and fresher skills. In the ninth round, an accidental clash of heads resulted in a cut to Chaney’s left eye. Chaney’s promoter Kathy Duva watched from ringside as her charge got 10 important rounds in against an experienced opponent.

Winters, who gave former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker a good go, wasn’t impressed. “I thought I outworked him. The reality is, I’m not an easy win. Kudos to Chaney.”

“I felt a little rusty,” confessed Chaney after getting his left eye looked at by ringside physicians. “He was using his head in there. The cut had me seeing double but he didn’t press the issue.”

Co-Main Event

Richard “Popeye” Rivera, 177, Hartford, CT, improved to 20-0 (15) with a first round blowout of Ernesto “Gatti” Rivas, 176, Guadalajara, México, 11-18 (6) in a scheduled 8-rounder. Rivas was itching and ready to go but he couldn’t take it to the body. “Popeye” ring walked through the crowd and he walked right through Rivas, decking the Mexican with a two-fisted body attack.

Fighting for the first time with John “The Iceman” Scully in his corner, “Popeye” Rivera overcame a six- month spell of inactivity to win for the first time since last February.

“God is number one. He is the center of everything.”

Rivera then called out Badou Jack of all people.

In the dressing room afterwards, Rivera explained his logic. “Badou is somebody I can make a statement fighting. I was supposed to fight a guy named Blake McKernan. He ended up fighting Jack on the Tyson-Jones undercard. The guy didn’t wanna fight me, he wanted to fight Jack. Jack won, and so I don’t want to fight the guy who lost. I wanna fight the guy who won!”

Trainer John “The Iceman” Scully offered his critique after really watching Rivera fight up close for the first time. “Look, as the trainer, I’m not as excited as some other people. There’s always gonna be a million things to work on. We’re not looking to fight Canelo or Beterbiev at this point.”

Undercard Bouts

Wilfredo “El Sucaro” Pagan, 140, Southbridge, MA via Puerto Rico, 6-1-1 (3) and Carlos Marrero, 137, Bridgeport, CT, 2-6-2 went to war over six rounds and neither boxer emerged with a win. The judges saw it a draw, 58-56 Pagan, 59-55 Marerro and 57-57 even. This was the most entertaining and most competitive fight on the whole card and local fans loved the action.

I caught up with both battered warriors in the dressing room after the fight. “It was a real old-fashioned war,” said the 41-year-old Pagan. “I thought I won four rounds but I’m not a judge.”

“It was very intense,” Marrero told me afterwards as blood leaked from his right eye. “Because he was the crowd favorite, I tried to push a little bit more in the last ten seconds of every round.”

There will probably be a rematch.

Bryant Daniels, 220, Worcester, 6-1 (4) earned a first round TKO when Corey Morey, unofficially 300, Philadelphia, 1-5, fell down in a corner and grabbed his left knee. Daniels is a 2-time New England Golden Gloves champion and his time spent in the unpaid ranks once saw him share a ring with the now deceased Boston Bomber. Tonight he shared it with a Philadelphia Doughboy.

Daniels hasn’t been in the ring since October 2017, a decision loss to a guy named Josh Temple down in Atlanta. “This is my comeback fight. I’ll take what I can get. I’ve been off three years.”

Daniels works in insurance sales and had to choose working over fighting during the pandemic. In comparing the two vastly disparate professions, Daniels declared, “It’s still measuring risk.”

Crowd favorite Bobby “BH3” Harris III, 167, Worcester, 3-0-1 needed a little help from the officials to score a unanimous 4-round decision over Juan Celin Zapata, 166, Bronx via Honduras, 6-19-2 (4). Zapata, fit and ready to rumble, scored an uncalled knockdown in the second round off a wild left hook that decked Harris in his own corner. In the third, a bad cut appeared over the right eye of Harris and it bled until the final bell. Scores: 40-36, 39-36, 40-35.

Harris thanked his mom and went to get stitches.

Enrique Collazo, 168, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 16-1-1 (11) scored a fourth round TKO of Ronald Montes, 168, Colombia, 18-14 (16) when Montes stayed on the stool after suffering a knockdown in the fourth round. For his efforts, they put a minor title on the waist of Collazo.

Heavyweight Demek Edmonds, 199, Worcester, 3-0 (2) pounded out a forgettable 4-round decision over Rafael De Souza, 206, Brazil, 0-2. Edmonds, 26, is a 3-time New England Golden Gloves champion and he’s still adjusting to life in the pros. Scores: 40-36 on all three cards.

Angel Gonzalez, 127, Hartford, CT, 5-0 (3) overcame a massive height disadvantage against Richard “Hard To Hit” Barnard, 135, Hawaii, 1-5-1 to score a 4-round unanimous decision. The reason Barnard was so damn hard to hit is that his tiny opponent could barely reach his chin.

Eslih “Mr. Slick” Owuso, 161, Worcester, MA via Ghana, 5-0 (2) stopped the very unwilling Carlos Galindo, 159, Woburn via Peru, 1-17 in the first round when referee Leo Gerstel saw enough flopping around on the canvas from Galindo. Time of the TKO was: 1:32. Owuso wears his long hair like Lennox Lewis while Galindo’s only win came against Maine’s Brandon Berry.

In the opening bout of the evening, Josniel “TG” Castro, 155, Florida, 4-0 (2) made a punching bag out of Anthony Everett, 154, Lawrence, MA 1-9 (0), scoring a unanimous 4-round decision. Castro scored a knockdown off a left hook in the second. Judge’s Scores: 40-34 on all cards.

All things considered, it was an entertaining night at the fights and it’s good to be back in the press section and chasing these boxers into the dressing rooms for interviews. Worcester’s own Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriquez was spotted at ringside by this reporter looking a few pounds over 175. I asked Edwin if he planned to ever fight again. That’s when the bomb went off.

“No, I’m retired.”

New England’s future starts now.

Photos by Christian Nunez

Venue: The Worcester Palladium

Live Attendance: Approx 1,800

Promoter: Jose Antonio Rivera

Co-Promoter: Chuck Shearns

Matchmaker: A.J. Rivera

Ring Announcer: John Vena

Show Publicist: Bob Trieger

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