‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic TKOs Mickey Ellison on a Garry Jonas Promotion in Florida

During the 1950s when boxing was all over the TV dial, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sponsored a series of Wednesday Night fights. What goes around, comes around, as they say, and down in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, promoter Garry Jonas has resurrected the format. The latest edition of Jonas’s Wednesday series played out last night (Sept. 6). In the main go, a light heavyweight affair slated for 10 rounds, Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic scored an eighth-round stoppage of British invader Mickey Ellison.

Born in Serbia but a resident of Central Florida since the age of seven, Kalajdzic, 32, brought a 27-2 record and had knocked out 19 of his previous opponents, 14 in the opening round. His only setbacks were a loss by split decision in an 8-round bout with former Olympian Marcus Browne when both were undefeated — a highly controversial decision; the crowd booed loudly when the verdict was announced — and a loss by knockout to Artur Beterbiev who knocks out everyone put in front of him.

Ellison, 33, who began boxing in white collar events, was making his U.S. debut. His record was unexceptional, 14-4 heading in, but he was coming off back-to-beck upsets of undefeated prospects and was recognized in the U.K. as a Central Area champion.

The Brit was a willing mixer. He seldom took a backward step. But Kalajdzic had too much class for him. Working off a crisp jab, he was comfortably ahead on the cards when he knocked Ellison on the seat of his pants with an overhand right. Ellison beat the count, just barely, but then Kalajdzic swarmed all over him, bullying him against the ropes and landing a fusillade of punches that forced the referee to intervene. The official time was 1:55 of round eight.

In the co-feature, New Haven, Connecticut’s William Foster III (16-0, 10 KOs) scored a ninth-round stoppage of Denver’s Misael Lopez (14-4). This was a good action fight as has been the case for many of the bouts that Jonas has promoted. William Foster III, 29, is the younger brother of 22-1 super middleweight Charles Foster.

Garry Jonas

Garry Jonas

Jonas defines himself as a serial entrepreneur. He owns the venue where his series originates, Whitesands, a private drug and alcohol treatment facility in Plant City, Florida, that is said to be the largest facility of its kind in the country. When he first got into boxing, he brought in Mike Tyson as a partner. Iron Mike Productions failed to gain traction whereas ProBox, his current venture, appears to be thriving.

Last night’s show was the twenty-sixth at the Whitesands Events Center, the eighteenth at which Jonas was the promoter of record. The fights, originally held on Friday or Saturday, shifted to Wednesdays with the first offering this year and recently evolved from a monthly to a twice-monthly format. The series resumes on Sept. 20 with a card that on paper appears to be very entertaining. The match-ups for this show and for the subsequent show on Oct. 4 are already up on boxrec.

For serious fight fans, the fights streamed on the ProBox platform, which include shoulder programming (e.g., podcasts), are the best bargain in sports, bar none. A monthly subscription is $1.99, but free for the remainder of the year until a new pricing formula takes effect.

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