Suffolk
NEWS-HERALD
Thursday, November 30, 2006
VINCENT SCORES
1ST ROUND KO IN GERMANY
Story by Larry Russo
Fighting outside of the United States for the first time in his brief career Suffolk heavyweight boxer Ron E. Vincent knocked out Kentucky's Marvin Hart with a single left hook to the ribs two minutes into the opening round of their clash at the Sportpalast in Berlin, Germany. The contest was an International Boxing League world ranking bout and as a result of his victory the "REV" will be at #56 when the IBL releases their initial heavyweight world rankings in January. Vincent had not shown himself to be much of a power puncher in the past, preferring to work behind a surprisingly quick jab in most of his bouts before now. But he came out firing against Hart, connecting with a hard left hook early and a flush right hand that wobbled his opponent midway through the frame before delivering a wicked shot to the body that had Hart on his knees in pain. He was counted out at 2:16 of the opening round.
Vincent's record is now 8-0(4) while Hart fell to his first career defeat and is now 4-1(2). Earlier in the evening promising Baltimore heavyweight Mark Lyons bounced back from the disappointment of his shock knockout loss at the beginning of the month to score a 6th round TKO of Sweden's Olle Tandberg. Although he controlled most of the fight Lyons was not his usual aggressive self. He displayed a more patient and weary disposition but still floored Tandberg twice on the way to victory. Both knockdowns came from left hooks, the first two minutes into the 2nd and the other late in the 5th. The end came at the 2:32 mark of the final round, Lyons pummeling his foe throughout the frame before a hard right to the ribs had Tandberg clutching at his side with one hand and holding the ropes with the other. The referee stopped the contest moments later. Despite that Tandberg was a competitive opponent, especially in rounds one and four.
Tandberg actually landed the same amount of punches as Lyons (135) but couldn't overcome the deficit that those two knockdowns caused. Going into the final frame Lyons led by five points on two cards and four on the other. He improved his record to 8-1(8) and will be placed eight positions below Vincent at #64 in the world rankings. Tandberg dropped to 3-2-1(2) with his second loss under the IBL banner. Other winners in the early bouts were the Englishman Danny Williams, Italy's Luigi Musina and Portland's Thad Spencer. San Francisco's Floyd Johnson was unable to follow up his upset of Lyons with another victory as he was knocked out by Argentina's Luis Firpo in the 2nd round. Connecticut's Lawrence Clay-Bey maintained his undefeated record with a unanimous decision win over Larry Gains and hometown favourite Timo Hoffmann was defeated by the hard-working South African Johnny Arthur in the main event.