Nutmeg State Fighters

[Thunder]

Oh, and one more thing . . . (with apologies to everyone on this board from Hebron)

Any card in which Grano and Mike Oliver are fighting and Grano is NOT fighting Lennox Lewis . . . Mike-Mike is the main event

[Thunder]

Addy Irizarry, who we saw for 35 seconds last week, is fighting again tomorrow at Foxwoods. Two fights in 11 days . . . I guess when you make your pro debut at 35, there's not much time to mess around.

[Romultiltus]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Addy Irizarry, who we saw for 35 seconds last week, is fighting again tomorrow at Foxwoods. Two fights in 11 days . . . I guess when you make your pro debut at 35, there's not much time to mess around.

Don't hold your breath about this bout going much past the 0:35 mark either. Her opponent, Domesha Allen, is 0-2 (both by KO) and hasn't fought since December 2004 with a grand total of 3 rounds of professional experience. This fight should be a joke.

I guess the casino realizes that Addy's fans/family travel well and will buy a lot of tickets. Other than that, there really is no reason for her to be on the card at all.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

I guess the casino realizes that Addy's fans/family travel well and will buy a lot of tickets. Other than that, there really is no reason for her to be on the card at all.

Professional boxing for your entertainment! How's that?
Ohhh, and I guess she gets a grand (G-Note, one dime, one K) for the effort.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

Don't hold your breath about this bout going much past the 0:35 mark either. Her opponent, Domesha Allen, is 0-2 (both by KO) and hasn't fought since December 2004 with a grand total of 3 rounds of professional experience. This fight should be a joke.

LOL, good call! Official media release said 0:13, though boxrec has 0:16!

[Romultiltus]

Originally Posted by Thunder

LOL, good call! Official media release said 0:13, though boxrec has 0:16!

I actually went out to Foxwoods last night. I got home from work at about 5:45 and on a whim decided to take the hour+ ride to see the card. I got there about 7:10 and her fight was already over. Most of her travelling entourage even missed the fight. I was sitting near a few and they were mentioning that the fight went off exactly at 7:00 and was over before anyone sat down.

As for the rest of the card, all of the CES fighters won as expected except transplanted Irish JMW Gerry Grealish who lost a majority decision 4-rounder. He had quite a few screaming fans who were very upset that he lost, but he was outfought in the bout and did not deserve to win.

The judges surely made up for that good decision by handing Manfredo a unanimous 97-93 win. I don't know what fight they were watching but Manfredo looked very uninterested for 8 of the 10 rounds and got hit with every right hook thrown by David Banks (who incidentally is the guy who handed New Haven's own Elvin Ayala his only 2 losses). Banks was busier the entire fight and landed the more significant punches. Manfredo had 2 good rounds late, but I really thought he lost the fight. Maybe the judges were affected by the crowd's cheering each time Manfredo landed a punch and ignored the fact that the left side of his face was banged up pretty bad from the constant shots landed by Banks.

The women's championship bout between Jamie Clampitt and Jane Couch was ok, but find that the more polished/skilled women's fighters are less entertaining than the ones between raw/unskilled women who just flail away at each other until one of them is knocked out.

Both Adelita Irizarry and LHW Jarrod Tillinghast came out after their bouts to sit up with their fans in the "cheap seats" for the duration of the card. For the record, Tillinghast KO'd opponent Santiago Hillario in the first round. Hillario was taken from the ring on a stretcher complete with neck collar an taken to a local hospital.

Of course, Vinny Paz was on hand to climb into the ring, wave and collect his appearance fee.

Also on hand, Jeff "Left Eye" Lacy, Matt "Too Smooth" Godfrey, Matt Remillard wearing a cast on his left hand (receiving a cartoonist's painting of himself as a reward for last year's Fight of the Year - where he was injured), Gary Balleto & wife (who received a cartoonist's painting for winning the Mrs. Rhode Island paegent), Joey Spina and "Iron" Mike Pusateri. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad was there in the corner of one fighter. There were a few others on-hand but I can't remember.

A fairly good night of boxing out at Foxwoods last night.

[Romultiltus]

Here is the seating chart and pricing for the upcoming card in Bridgeport CT.

JMW - Travis Simms 25-0-0 (19) vs. Joachim Alcine 28-0-0 (18) 12-Rnds
(WBA Junior Middleweight Title)

FLY - Vic Darchinyan 28-0-0 (22) vs. Nonito Donaire 17-1-0 (10) 12-Rnds
(IBF Flyweight Title)
(IBO Flyweight Title)

BW - Luis Alberto Perez 24-1-0 (15) vs. Genaro Garcia 35-5-0 (20) 12-Rnds
(Vacant IBF Bantamweight Title)

MW - Renan St Juste 14-1-1 (9) vs. (TBD)

Anyone interested in going? I can head down to the Arena and pick up tickets...

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

The women's championship bout between Jamie Clampitt and Jane Couch was ok, but find that the more polished/skilled women's fighters are less entertaining than the ones between raw/unskilled women who just flail away at each other until one of them is knocked out.

Excellent trip report! That bit there was frikkin funny . . . and true. I used to love the show "Toughman" where guys would just whack each other for about 90 seconds and someone went g'night.

Do you know if the artist was Frank Galasso??

Can't go to Bridgeport, am still trying to figure out how to get Expo Center tickets.

[Romultiltus]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Do you know if the artist was Frank Galasso??

Not sure. I can't remember. I think he was the cartoonist for one of the newspapers in RI.

[Thunder]

Here's what I have for next week at the Expo Center

Grano vs. Phipps

Elvin Ayala (17-2, 8 KOs) vs. Jose Roman (10-16, 5 KOs) in the eight-round co-feature.

Former USBA featherweight champ Angel Vazquez (22-2, 16 KOs) vs TBA. The 38 year-old Vazquez (former NABA/USBA Feather champ from Hartford) last fought in November, 2003.

Chika Nakamura (5-0, 1 KO) vs TBA

Anthony Irons (1-0, 1 KO) vs Darnell Jones (1-0)

Zuri Lawrence (20-12-4) vs TBA

Peter Currin (5-1, 4 KOs) vs TBA

Tyrone Smith (5-4-1, 2 KOs) vs TBA

Addy Irizarry (2-1, 2 KOs) vs TBA

No Mike-Mike, so I'm kind of turned off. There are two women's bouts with potential for carnage, however. I've seen Chika before and she's pretty good and we have Addy again and let's hope TBA again means "hairdresser who will not last long"

You have to get tickets at the Expo Center. Let me know if you guys are up for it . . Nine bouts and $100 ringside seats . . . (trying to tempt y'all)

Edit: It's pretty much a suck-ass card with potential for little genuine competition, but what the hell? Ringside!!

[Thunder]

Updated bout card . . . no Addy, no Vasquez, ah well

Tony Grano (9-0-1, 8 KO) vs. Jed Phipps (17-6, 10 KO), heavy
Elvin Ayala (17-2, 8 KO) vs Jose Roman (10-16-4, 5 KO), middle
Zuri Lawrence (20-12-4, 0 KO) vs Rodney Ray (4-4-1, 4 KO), heavy
Peter Currin (5-1, 4 KO) vs. Sean McClaine (1-1, 1 KO), heavy
Anthony Irons (1-0, 1 KO) vs. John Lipscomb (3-12, 0 KO), welter
Julio Cardenas (8-0, 8 KO) vs. Sebastian Hamel (6-11-1, 1 KO), light
Chika Nakamura (5-0, 1 KO) vs. TBA, women’s light

[CONN CHRIS]

I'll be at the Fantastic Four movie with my son and some of his friends for a birthday party on that night, so I'm out this time.

[Romultiltus]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Updated bout card . . . no Addy, no Vasquez, ah well

Tony Grano (9-0-1, 8 KO) vs. Jed Phipps (17-6, 10 KO), heavy
Elvin Ayala (17-2, 8 KO) vs Jose Roman (10-16-4, 5 KO), middle
Zuri Lawrence (20-12-4, 0 KO) vs Rodney Ray (4-4-1, 4 KO), heavy
Peter Currin (5-1, 4 KO) vs. Sean McClaine (1-1, 1 KO), heavy
Anthony Irons (1-0, 1 KO) vs. John Lipscomb (3-12, 0 KO), welter
Julio Cardenas (8-0, 8 KO) vs. Sebastian Hamel (6-11-1, 1 KO), light
Chika Nakamura (5-0, 1 KO) vs. TBA, women’s light

Oh well. I was a little surprised to see a 9-bout card. How about that Zuri Lawrence has 20 wins at HW with no KO's. Why is this guy still fighting. I know he actually beat a washed-up Jameel McCline, but come on, no KO's!!!

Ayala should walk through Jose Roman. It seems that after his back-to-back losses to David Banks, he is really stepping down his competition.

Don't know much about anyone else on the card.

See you there Will.

[Thunder]

Have fun at the Fantasic Four buddy!

We're in Row 2!

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Updated bout card . . . no Addy, no Vasquez, ah well


Julio Cardenas (8-0, 8 KO) vs. Sebastian Hamel (6-11-1, 1 KO), light

my bad, 8-0, 2 KO . . . though this guy will IMPROVE his opponents win pct.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Have fun at the Fantasic Four buddy!

We're in Row 2!

I've been down-graded to that movie about the rats in Paris (Ratatouie or somethingorother).

Row two for Grano sounds much better.

Have a blast guys.

[Romultiltus]

The originally scheduled 9-bout ... then 7-bout ... then 6-bout ... card at the Connecticut Expo Center ended up as a 5-bout fistic extravaganza!!!

Final Forum Boxing managed to scrounge enough local restaurants, a law firm, and a local strip club, to sponsor the event. Originally scheduled to tip off at 7:30pm, the opening bout started about 40 minutes late, and the teeming masses (about a few hundred at that time) were expecting some action.

The opening bout pitted 2 undefeated WW's in a 4-rounder. Brockton, MA native Luis Viramontes 2-0-0 (0) and Anthony Irons 1-0-0 (1), although unless you were seated within natural earshot of the ring, you wouldn't know because the cheap/portable PA system (or karioke machine) was not working too well. When the bout ended, the ring announcer proclaimed: "All three judges unanimously call the bout a Majority Draw" ??????

Great Start...

Second Bout: Journeyman HW Mike "The Hammer" Jones 5-10-0 (1) TKO'd local Hartford, CT native Peter Currin who entered the ring 5-1-0 (4). [NOTE: I can't remember if it was the 3rd or 4th round]. Again, the PA system was bad, but with a bit of tweaking, the A/V guy got it ot start making crackling sounds along with the muffled audio.

Third Bout: The pride of the Final Forum Boxing stable - HW Zuri Lawrence 20-12-4 (0), just 2 fights removed from his big upset victory over Jameel McCline, took on "Candy Man" Harvey Jolley 6-3-1 (3) in a 6-rounder. Jolley entered the ring 6'4" and listed at 200lbs (not a chance he was that heavy). Did I mention that Zuri has won 20 bouts without a single KO? Well guess what, Zuri wins #21, a 6-round UD, and surprise surprise - he still has ZERO KO's on his record.

20-minute intermission (due to the cancelled women's 4-rounder) Mike "Machine-Gun" Oliver, another Hartford native, is brought up to the ring and there is an announcement (I'm guessing - due to the bad PA) that he will fight July 18 on ESPN against Cruz Carbajal in an IBF Super Bantamweight Title Eliminator. Also, some unknown guy is brought up on the ring and presented with something and had a photo shoot (but no one could hear over the crackling PA)

Bout #4: New Haven, CT native MW Elvin Ayala 17-2-0 (8) fights for the 2nd time this month. His opponent is Jose Angel Roman 10-16-4 (5). Roman is more than just an opponent, but Ayala dominates the fight - although not that impressively, and wins an 8-round UD. During the fight, the PA system crackles loudly for no apparent reason.

Main Event: (PA System seems to work better now) Hebron, CT favorite son HW Tony "TNT" Grano 9-0-1 (8) stepped in against rugged Jedd Phipps who was announced as having an "outstanding" 17-6-0 (10) record. The opening bell rang, Grano aggressively went after Phipps and swarmed him with a barrage of punches. Phipps is givin a standing 8-count. Grano pins Phipps in the corner and again rains punches. Down Goes Phipps ... Down Goes Phipps ... Down Goes Phipps. The referee stops the contest, Phipps on the canvas, at 1:25 of Round 1.

After the decision is announced, Grano takes the microphone adn addressess the entire town of Hebron (the crowd maxed out at probably 800-1000 people, mostly Hebronites) and thanked them for their support. Then he announces that Tony Grano commerative t-shirts were on-sale in the back of the room.

Overall, a very disappointing card, horrible venue and shoddy/cheap presentation by Final Forum Boxing, but I had a good time anyways.

[CONN CHRIS]

It sounds like a fun time despite the sub-CES promotion. I wish I had been with you two, my only experience at the Expo center is going there to meet Curious George and Barney. (Barney took the monkey out with a cross in the fourth)

It's great to see so many cards in CT!

[Thunder]

Great report!

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

When the bout ended, the ring announcer proclaimed: "All three judges unanimously call the bout a Majority Draw" ??????.
Great Start...??????.

Classic, just classic . . no scores, just one sentence. Eventually he came back and read the scores (which I didn't completely hear, but there was at least one 38-38 card).

Anyway, the PA sounded like an old victrola . . <scratch, scratch> judge <scratch> ore the . . <scratch> et . . it . . bi . . .or . . .

just beautiful!!

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

Second Bout: Journeyman HW Mike "The Hammer" Jones 5-10-0 (1) TKO'd local Hartford, CT native Peter Currin who entered the ring 5-1-0 (4).

One Can got a W, made for good theatre.

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

Overall, a very disappointing card, horrible venue and shoddy/cheap presentation by Final Forum Boxing, but I had a good time anyways.

I'd have to agree across the board. The Courant reported attendance at about 500, which I thought was a little harsh. If these assclowns ever put on another show, I can't imagine I'll go (unless I buy the $30 tix and sit in the seventh row cuz the joint is empty).

[Thunder]

Two rumors circulated about why USBA Super Bantamweight champ Mike Oliver (of Hartford) was pulled from the card.

1) Tony Grano didn't want to share top billing with him
2) A bigger fight was in the works

I'm not sure this totally invalidates No. 1 (if it was even true), but Mike-Mike (19-0, 7 KO) will headline an ESPN 2 card Wed. July 18 vs. Cruz Carbajal (28-13-2) in Boston in an IBF Title eliminator.

Oliver is No. 8 in the latest IBF ratings and Carbajal No. 10. The champ is Steve Molitor (23-0, 9 KO). Molitor, from Canada, last fought in Nov. when he won the vacant title with a KO5 of brit Michael Hunter.

I'd think about going, but there's no one else on the card I've ever heard of.