Nutmeg State Fighters

[Romultiltus]

What a painful night out at Mohegan Sun. The card consisted of 9 amateur bouts and 3 pro bouts.

The amateur bouts pitted members of the USMC Boxing Team against guys from local boxing clubs and native american boxers. For the most part the USMC fighters were more polished, but that's not saying much. The bouts were either 3 or 4 rounds - of which a few times the boxers didn't even know. (After the 3rd round of one bout, the local kid started climbing the ropes in his corner and raised his hands in victory while the USMC kid looked over ready to congratulate him. All of a sudden, the bell rings to start Round 4!!!)

Almost all of the amateur bouts went the distance (from what I can remember). The amateur refs (1 female ref in particular) were horrible. They constantly stopped the action to issue warnings and point deductions - which turned out to be a forshadowing of the pro's to follow.

One item of note, LHW Champion Chad Dawson's older brother (26) was on the card representing Ring One of New Haven, CT. There was a small article in the New Haven Register about him and apparently fighting for the 1st time in 10 years. He won, but clearly doesn't have anything near the talent of his younger brother.

There were quite a few presentations w/ many young soldiers and marines in full dress uniform on display and a couple of patriotic songs ("God Bless America" & "Proud To Be An American"). This was a nice tribute to our guys overseas and well received by the crowd. One particularly nice tribute was to 2 native American WWII vets that were actually the famous "Codetalkers" from the Pacific Theater.

Before the pro's, a bunch of local boxers not on the card got in the ring and waved to collect an appearance fee (Jason "Deep Six" Estrada, New Haven's Elvin Ayala and a few others)

On to the pros...

The first was a 4-rounder between Providence RI native HW Philip "Killa" Miller sporting a 1-0-0 (1) record against a "veteran making an appearance in his 3rd professional bout" named Jamaine Warner. 2 minutes 50 seconds and 3 knockdowns after the opening bell it was over. Killa had entered the ring wearing a US Coast Guard coveralls outfit, but donned a fancy robe w/ hood after winning. Now I don't mind seeing good young fighters w/ a big local following, but is it really necessary for a guy w/ 1 professional fight to have a nickname like "Killa" already as well as his own obnoxiously loud entrance music?

Bout 2: Hebron, CT native son HW Tony Grano 11-0-1 (10) was back only 1 month after his last bout on a weekend trip to Kentucky. His foe was durable opponent David Polk 10-6-1 (0). He was definitely a step up for Grano and had been in the ring w/ Timor Ibragimov (L-U10), Brian Minto (L-U8) and Chazz Witherspoon (L-U6) but w/ no KO wins to his credit was still a pretty safe fight for Grano. Polk turned out to be a defense-first type fighter and Grano chose not to use his jab to push the action. Several times each round there were long stretches where both fighters just stood in the center of the ring and posed at one another. Grano was a bit busier but didn't really land anything except for a big flurry in the 5th but couldn't finish. Polk did land quite a few overhand rights to the side of Grano's head, but his non-existant power was clearly evident. Every time Grano threw a punch, the entire town of Hebron in attendance roared. This fight could have gone 100 rounds and neither guy would have hurt the other. In the end, Grano won a very generous hometown split-decison. Hebonites cheered and did not seem to notice that Polk had 2 points deducted during the fight for holding (Hmmmmmm!!!!)

[NOTE: Before the main event, at least half of the crowd (a.k.a. the townspeople of Hebron CT) left. That left about only a third of the lower seating area still occupied.]

Main Event (vacant IBO Super Bantamweight Title): Hartford CT native Mike "Machine Gun" Oliver 20-0-0 (7) vs. Al "The Quiet Storm" Seeger 27-2-0 (21). Seeger entered the ring first behind his semi-annoying entrance music, followed by Mike-Mike with his very loud personal "Mike the Machine Gun" theme song. At first I was worried about Mike-Mike fighting a guy w/ such a high KO rate, but Seeger had also been on the shelf for 13 months. After the first round Oliver's right eye was swollen (he claims by a Seeger thumb) but Seeger never did target his jab there. Both guys threw a lot of punches, but there seemed to be at least 1 clinch for each punch thrown. Oliver's best punch of the fight was a low blow in the 5th. After a brief Academy Award performance for "Best Exaggeration Of Pain From a Shot to the Balls" Catagory, Seeger was back to throwing punches and clinching. Seeger was deducted 1 point for excessive holding (Hmmm!) As the rounds went on, more and more of the remaining crowd left. By the end of the fight, I'm guessing that there were no more than 250 people in the arena - Some Title Fight. At least I didn't have to fight any crowds leaving my seat.

Mike-Mike wins (U12). I'd be shocked if Oliver ever headlines a card here again. The way the crowd just disappeared was really embarrassing. Even the 3 Ring Card Girls from Groton, CT's Gold Club couldn't keep anyone in their seats.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

What a painful night out at Mohegan Sun. The card consisted of 9 amateur bouts and 3 pro bouts.

Great report! I guess I'm glad I couldn't make it.

Sorry to hear about the lack of support for Mike-Mike. That really is piss-poor. I've always like watching him fight. There has been some buzz that HBO was invloved in the negotiations for a possible title shot against IBF champ Stevie Molitor. If there were two-fitty left by the end, I wonder if that will hurt that situation.

Anyway, thanks for the scoop.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Romultiltus

Apparently, "Pito" Cardona is returning to the ring again in a November 8-rounder as cannon-fodder for upcoming Philly WW Mike Jones 11-0-0 (11).

When I last saw Pito at Mohegan Sun back in April, he looked lethargic in his UD-8 loss to Juan Manuel Buendia. If I'm not mistaken, he decided to retire after that bout.

Pito loses, TKO by 3 . . . pretty much over for him I guess

[Romultiltus]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Pito loses, TKO by 3 . . . pretty much over for him I guess

Too bad for Pito, but not unexpected. Hopefully he'll just retire now.

[Thunder]

Nov. 24 Opponents Announced for Spina & Remillard

USNBC and IBF Intercontinental super middleweight champion Joey “KO Kid” Spina (21-1-1, 15 KOs), of Providence, takes in upset specialist Brian “The Assassin” Norman (15-5, 4 KOs), while former WBC Youth super featherweight title-holder Matt “Sharp Shoot” Remillard (11-0, 7 KOs), of Manchester (CT), returns to the ring after 14-months of inactivity due to a hand injury versus John “The Hammer” Trotman, former Caribbean super featherweight champion fighting out of Barbados, in a six-round match. Hartford junior welterweight Addy Irizarry (2-1, 2 KOs) is fighting on the “Pinnacle FiteNite: The Heat’s On In Hartford” card in a four-rounder against TBA.

[a87star]

This is the current card listed by BoxRec. Ironically the opponents for Spina and Remillard are not listed as of yet.

Matt Godfrey vs. Jeremy Williams (NABF CW title), 12 rounds

Aaron Williams vs. TBA, 8 rounds - CW

Adelita Izarry vs. TBA, 4 rounds - JWW

Marc Saggese vs. TBA, 4 rounds - CW

Matt Remillard vs. TBA

Joey Spina vs. TBA - SMW

I'm guessing 2/3 of the card will be cancelled by fight night.

[jofre]

Dood old TBA. Without him there would be no fight cards!

[mh2365]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Williams win.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by a87star

This is the current card listed by BoxRec. Ironically the opponents for Spina and Remillard are not listed as of yet.

I don't think so . . Boxrec is usually a mile behind official announcements.

[a87star]

Originally Posted by mh2365

I wouldn't be surprised to see Williams win.

I would slightly favor Godfrey in this fight. Williams is chinny and has been taken out by average punchers in the past.

[mh2365]

Average HW punchers ... IMO he was always fighting at not his best weight.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Thunder

versus John “The Hammer” Trotman, former Caribbean super featherweight champion fighting out of Barbados, in a six-round match

Gotta love boxing P.R., the guy is 6-9 and was TKO BY 1 in his Carribean title bid.

[CONN CHRIS]

But ... his nickname is 'The Hammer'. He must be dangerous.

[a87star]

Originally Posted by mh2365

Average HW punchers ... IMO he was always fighting at not his best weight.

Williams should have fought his entire career at CW. In his prime, he could have won a belt at that weight. Considering Williams' age and the fact his chin has probably gotten worse, he's probably nothing more than a gatekeeper at this point but his power and fan friendly fighting style will make any matchup exciting.

[a87star]

In a surprising move, the entire card was cancelled. Way to go Jimmy......you really know how to keep boxing alive in CT

[mh2365]

Too bad ... I would've like to seen if Williams could beat Godfrey.

[a87star]

I think Godfrey would have won by stoppage but it would have been an interesting scrap. Would have been interesting to see if Remillard still had any of his old form left after being on the shelf for over a year.

CES is a disgrace, plain and simple.

[CONN CHRIS]

Will and I have discussed the need to wait until a few days prior to buy tickets after we were screwed over on the last fight card.

If this keeps up, Jimmmy will have to downgrade to buyig his suits off the rack at Anderson Little.

The new plan needs to be 'day-of' ticket purchases only.

[Thunder]

CES: Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Will and I have discussed the need to wait until a few days prior to buy tickets after we were screwed over on the last fight card.

If this keeps up, Jimmmy will have to downgrade to buyig his suits off the rack at Anderson Little.

The new plan needs to be 'day-of' ticket purchases only.

Ya, I think we're down to a 24-hour window now.

For what it's worth, this Pinnacle outfit "accepted responsibility for the breakdown" in a story in the Courant today, but also Pinnacle and CES had a "non-contractual agreement" whatever that is, to promote two cards.

That said, Chad Dawson's lot in the boxing biz seemed to get a tad better when he parted company with CES, so hopefully Remillard will soon do the same . . . immediate problem for him though is he needs a couple fights to get viable again.