Diaz, Vargas, Bryan Victorious In North Bergen!

By Matt Yanofsky (ringside)

In front of a standing room only crowd at Schuetzen Park in North Bergen, NJ, Jorge Diaz 6-0 (5 KO’s) scored an impressive third round TKO over Puerto Rico’s Giovanni Figueroa 3-2 (2 KO’s). Figueroa scored a flash knockdown in the first round as he caught Diaz off balance, forcing his glove to touch the canvas. Diaz was upset as well as embarrassed by the unexpected knockdown and recovered quickly to dominate Figueroa for the rest of the round.

In the second, Diaz successfully landed some good power shots on Figueroa, who attempted to battle back albeit unsuccessfully. Diaz continued to dominate in the third, dropping Figueroa with a monster left hook. Seconds later, Diaz again dropped Figueroa with a left hook. The game Figueroa got up but was stopped on his feet shortly thereafter as he was in no position to continue. The time of the stoppage was 1:45 of round three.

Hot junior middleweight prospect Ronny Vargas of the Bronx, NY improved to 8-0 (6 KO’s) after stopping James Denson 3-3 (2 KO’s) of Akron, Ohio. Vargas went to work immediately as his aggression enabled him to take the first round. Vargas continued to stalk Denson in the second round, landing some hea vy shots to both the body and the head. Vargas did however end up eating some leather from Denson.

In the third, Vargas closed the show by putting Denson down for the count with a left hook to the body. Time of the stoppage was 2:39 of the third round. Vargas is a crowd pleasing prospect, who has a bright future, but could use some work on tightening up his defense.

Popular Bayonne light heavyweight Bobby Rooney raised his ledger to 7-3-1 (3 KO’s) by earning a close split decision over Philadelphian Zeferino Albino 3-6-2 (1 KO). Rooney dropped Albino in the first round with a right hand, although it appeared due to Albino’s loss of balance rather than the punch hurting him. After a slow 2nd and 3rd round, Albino surprisingly began to beat Rooney to the punch, almost landing at will over the final three, stunning him a few times during the 5th and 6th rounds.

Scores were 58-55 Albino and 58-55 twice for Rooney. 15Rounds.Com scored the bout 57-56 for Albino, who has nothing to be ashamed of.

Former amateur standout and Paterson, New Jersey native Jeremy “Hollywood” Bryan improved to 5-0 (2 KO’s) after stopping Sam Gibson 1-1 of Indiana in the first round. Bryan dropped went to work quickly, dropping Gibson with a two punch combination. Gibson, who went down awkwardly, rose to his feet but began to hop around. Referee Sparkle Lee called for a time out so the doctor could take a look at Gibson’s ankle.

The doctor said Gibson could no longer continue and Bryan was awarded a TKO victory at 2:05 of the opening round, as the injury was caused following a punch. After the fight Bryan didn’t seem to mind how the fight ended.

“A win is a win and that’s fine (the official outcome of the contest) with me”, said the two time National Golden Gloves champion at 141 lbs. Bryan plans to return to the ring shortly.

Union City’s Jason Escalara improved to 3-0 (3 KO’s) after stopping pro debutant Rodell Boler 0-1. Escalara had a constant aggressive offensive style which overwhelmed Boler, who did his best to keep Escalara off. Referee Earl Morton stopped the bout a t 1:58 of round three, as Boler had taken too many blows.

North Bergen hometown hero Danny McDermott 5-1 (2 KO’s) rebounded from his first career loss to earn a unanimous decision victory over Dorrell Martin 2-5 of Baltimore, MD. McDermott dropped Martin with a few seconds remaining in the opening round and the referee appeared to be separating the two to rule the knockdown, but somehow never began the count.

McDermott aggressively attacked Martin, who did his best Cory Spinks impression by back peddling like it was his job. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 for McDermott. 15rounds.com counted the knockdown in the first round that was somehow not officially registered and scored it 40-35 for McDermott.

Passaic, New Jersey featherweight prospect Victor Valenzuela improved to 4-0 (1 KO’s) after earning an extremely hard fought unanimous decision victory over the extremely game Jason Rorie. Valenzuela began with an aggressive attack however; Rorie had excellent defensive movement early on, using a Montell Griffin-like defensive shell.

Rorie continued to use this defensive move, even at times when it was unnecessary. Both men landed some clean shots during what may have been the best action fight of the night, but Valenzuela landed the better of it en route to a 4 round decision. Scores were 39-37 on all three cards.

Ava Knight , 4-0-2 (2 KO’s) scored a shocking 5th round tko over Jersey City native Noriko Kariya 9-3-1 (2 KO’s). Even coming in on short notice, Knight came ready to go to war, as the two traded blows through 4 in what was perhaps the most action packed rounds I’ve ever seen during a ladies fight.

The action continued in the 5th until Knight unloaded a monster right hand which put Kariya on the canvas. Kariya attempted to get up but immediately fell back down, forcing referee Sparkle Lee to stop the contest 20 seconds into the fifth. Knight and Kariya should definitely consider a rematch as fights like these can help put woman’s boxing on the map