[Romultiltus]

Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville CT (5-4-07)

Well, thanks to free tickets, I made my way out to casinoland to see a card with a lot of local flavor. Of the 6 scheduled fights reported originally by boxrec, only 5 actually took place.

Thanks to virtually the entire town of Hebron, CT the place had a good enthusiastic crowd.

The first bout was a 6 rounder between CW Chris McInerney from nearby Stoughton, MA and veteran Eric Starr who sported a 15-30-3 (4) record. The first thing noticible upon the ring entrances was that McInerney towered about a foot over the very short Starr. McInerney seemed to use his reach advantage well, but Starr landed a few looping shots and charged in quite often. He did his best work while on the inside and it is clear that McInerney needs to work on inside skills (which it seems he has none of right now). Starr got wobbled a few times and started slumping against the ropes when the referee jumped in and stopped the fight. McInerney was clearly the better fighter, but I thought that the stoppage was a bit premature. I don't remember what round it was (could have been 3 or 4)

The second bout was another 6 rounder but in the FW division between Dat Nguyen and Jorge Ruiz. Apparently Nguyen has decided to be called "Dat Be Dat" now and likes to enter the ring wearing hood of his fancy robe covering his head. This was a very good action filled fight even though there were no knockdowns. Ruiz was a very tough guy and managed to sting Dat Be Dat with a few clean shots, but was unable to cause any damage. On the positive side, he seems to have mastered the art of the headlock clinch which he used at least a dozen times in the fight. Dat Be Dat won the fight, but I don't know what fight the judges were watching. It was closer than the 60-54 and 59-55 on two of the judges cards. The third judge's 58-56 seemed a bit more appropriate.

The third bout was for the very prestigeous Vacant IBA Americas LHW Title between Rodney Toney and Anthony Russell - both from Massachusetts. They had fought previously in 2006 w/ Tony winning a 10 round unanimous decision. Before the first bell Toney made a classy "knife slice acrosss throat" jesture to Russell I'm guessing was supposed to be intimidating. For the 3 rounds that it lasted, it was good fight. The shorter Toney charged Russell and tried to land inside shots. There were a few near head-butts, but nothing serious until near the end of Rnd 3. I didn't actually see a supposed thumb-to-the-eye by Russell that cased Toney to paw at his eye and start whining. The referee stopped the action and brought Toney over to the ringside physician. The ringside physician stopped the fight saying that the injury would prevent the whining Tony from continuing the fight. The fight was called a No Contest and Toney stopped whining, ran over and hugged Russell in his corner - apparently not remembering the "throat cut" gesture less than 15 minutes before. The title is still vacant and I'm guessing that both guys are going to be paid. Also, being the class-act that he is, Toney proceeded to respond to the crowd's boos with several "crotch grab" gestures. This guy should be fined and/or suspended.

The fourth bout was the fight the entire town of Hebron was waiting for. Entering the ring to a standing ovation and accompanied by 2 white-rappers yelling out his personal theme song was local HW Tony Grano. The noise was so loud that I couldn't make out the words of the rappers. Who knew that Hebron was such a mecca of Hip-Hop (maybe on the mean streets of the Hebron South Side). Anyways, Grano came in looking good and bulking up to a career high 223lbs. His opponent (if you could call him that) was 40-year old Jay Sweetman sporting a 7-5-0 (3) record. This poor guy was just completely overmatched and was dropped twice by Grano in the first. The screaming Hebronites went nuts when the referee stopped the contest at 1:35 of the first immediately following the 2nd knockdown. I happened to be fortunate enough to be sitting in front of an entire row of Hebronites, one of which confidently uttered the words: "In a couple of years, Tony will be the champion." This may happen, but Grano will need to step up against opponents a little more formidible than a loaf of bread. Also I had the opportunity to overhear one of the Hebronites point out each of his neighbors in the crowd. He seemed to know everyone except me in the building.

Main Event: (Enter the two white-rappers) "... the machine is gonna settle the score ..." "... the machine is gonna settle the score ..."
Hartford, CT local SBW Mike "Machine Gun" Oliver (and entourage and two-white rappers) "... the machine is gonna settle the score ..." faced off against rugged Vernie Torres from Florida. I have to say this - Oliver is fast, really fast. For the first couple of rounds, he pressured Torres into the ropes and peppered him with punches, but none seemed to hurt too bad. Torres was very awkward and managed to land a few looping overhand lefts and rights while ducking down low. Oliver got hit clean but was also unhurt. This continued until Torres awkward style cause several unintentional head-butts between the two. Oliver kept complaining to the referee and rubbing his head. By the 8th round, Oliver was in-charge but Torres seemed to be landing more big shots. Then there was yet another head-butt and the referee stopped the action. Torres seemed to have taken the worst of the clash and the ringside physician called the fight after telling Torres he could not continue. Since the clash of heads was ruled an Unintentional Foul, the judges cards were tallied and Oliver was awarded a Unanimous Decision.

Overall, a good night of boxing with a lot of action, despite the fact that the 2 main bouts (not counting Hebron's favorite son Tony Grano) were stopped by the ringside physician. The only part that really bothered me (not just tonight, but boxing in general) is that it seems that young boxers still fighting 4 and 6 rounders seem to need monster ring entrances to over-hype the fights. It just seems like a bit of overkill when the ring entrance lasts longer than the fight itself.