Many fighters throughout boxing history have earned redemption.
From Muhammad Ali to Sugar Ray Leonard, Manny Pacquiao, Roy Jones Jr. and most recently Sergio Martinez, each scored a scintillating victory to silence their harshest critics while defeating an opponent that previously frustrated them. The difference between the aforementioned stars and unbeaten light heavyweight Ronson Frank? Frank was facing Philadelphia’s Tony Ferrante for the first time.
The two were scheduled to square off September 24 until Ferrante missed weight by more than four pounds, prompting Frank to cancel the bout. Many were outranged by Frank’s decision not to fight on, but the Rosedale, NY based Guyanese stood by his decision and vowed to make the overconfident Ferrante pay for his unprofessionalism.
And that’s exactly what he did last night at the Armory in Yonkers, NY.
Frank scored his most impressive victory to date and had the last laugh after mercifully stopping Ferrante in the third of their eight round contest. Frank, a lanky southpaw with solid boxing skills, was in control from the opening bell, ripping hard shots to both the body and head of his once beaten counterpart. Ferrante was unable to surmount a consistent offensive attack and unsuccessfully attempted to pressure Frank.
After badly outboxing Ferrante in the second, Frank unloaded a vicious multi-punch combo capped off by a right hook to the head which knocked Ferrante out cold and brought the crowd to its feet.
Ferrante remained motionless for a few minutes before making it back to his feet.
Time of stoppage was 1:58.
“We are ready to take that next step up,” Promoter Brian O’Shea said of Frank following the victory. “Ronson is sharp and ready for anybody out there. We want to fight that 10-0 Russian kid (WBA Light Heavyweight titlist Beibut Shumenov)!”
Editor’s Note: Shumenov is from Kazakhstan and has a record of 11-0.
Frank is now 16-0 with 8 wins by kayo following one of the best knockouts this writer has ever seen. Ferrante slides to 9-2.
Allen 2 Sharpe for Orta
In the co-feature, Boxing360 promoted super middleweight Lennox “2 Sharpe” Allen stopped rugged Jesse Orta of Dallas, TX inside of two rounds. Like his close friend Frank, Allen is a New York transplant hailing from Guyana, but in this bout there was no story line.
Allen dominated the opening round with excellent hand speed and decked Orta with a perfectly placed check hook at the bell. Orta went down hard and Allen jumped on the top rope to celebrate what appeared to be a knockout. Much to his surprise, Orta made it back to his feet and the celebration was postponed; albeit not much longer.
Allen jumped on Orta as the bell sounded for the second round, teeing off with vicious combinations to force a stoppage 37 seconds in.
Allen is now 14-0-1 with 9 wins by kayo. Orta, whose only prior knockout defeat came to Danny Jacobs in December, falls to 7-15-2 (4 KO’s).
Collado outpoints Irizarry in a thriller!
Chronically inactive featherweight Jhovany Collado overcame a 5 ½ year hiatus to defeat heavily favored “Crazy” Eddie Irizarry by split decision.
In a six round slugfest between two New Yorkers, Collado dropped Irizarry hard in the second round with a left hook and managed to slightly outwork his gutsy foe in a back and fourth bout.
Scores were 57-56 Collado twice and 57-56 Irizarry. 15rounds also ruled the bout in favor of Collado by a tally of 57-56.
Queen’s Collado improves to 2-7-2 (1 KO). Irizarry of the Bronx drops to 7-3 (2 KO’s).
McDowell batters James
Former New York Golden Gloves Champion Chazz “Magnificent” McDowell dominated debuting Ian “Iron Skin” James in a four round lightweight contest.
From the moment the bout started, it was evident that McDowell was the far more polished fighter. The Yonkers resident ripped James with a number of impressive combinations and hurt him on multiple occasions, impressing the vocal crowd on hand. Towards the end of the bout, McDowell was clearly gunning for a knockout and threw some wild shots, but James was game and finished the bout on his feet.
Scores were 40-36 twice and 39-37 for McDowell.
“I saw him hurt in the first round so I was thinking he may go down,” McDowell said of James. “I thought an overhand right and a crazy left hand would have (dropped him), but he didn’t fall so I had to use my boxing skills. It was a bit frustrating (that I couldn’t get him out of there) because I wanted to get rid of him.”
McDowell, who informed us that he’ll return in March as part of the Sergio Martinez-Sergiy Dzinziruk undercard at the Foxwoods Casino, is now 4-0 with 1 KO. James of Brooklyn is 0-1.
Bronx Natives Battle to a Draw
Bronx based light heavyweights Owen “Pointblank” Rodway and Tafari Lawton fought to an entertaining four round draw. The two seemed quite familiar with one another, perhaps due to past sparring sessions, and both had their moments of success in a bout that correctly ended in a draw.
Scores were 39-37 Lawton and 38-38.
Rodway is now 1-0-1 (1 KO). Lawton’s record stands at 1-1-1.
In other action, debuting super middleweight “Notorious” Travis Peterkin of Brooklyn, NY stopped Allentown PA’s Edgar Sanjuro in the opening round when the latter was unable to continue, citing he couldn’t breather after taking a number of hard shots to the nose.
Time of stoppage was 2:05. Peterkin, who looked to have solid skills, is 1-0 with 1 KO. Sanjuro, inactive for more than eight years since his last fight, slips to 2-2.
In the first bout of the evening, Brooklyn light heavyweight Hamid “The Dream” Abdul-Mateen, 1-1, outpointed Washington, DC’s Dameon Marshall, 1-3, over four rounds. Abdul-Mateen was the naturally bigger fighter and hurt Marshall on multiple occasions of a one sided affair.
All three judges scored the contest 40-36.
Last night’s card marked the sixth time O’Shea Brothers Boxing hosted a show at the Yonkers Armory since May 2009.
And who said local boxing was dead?
