Pappas and Medina battle to draw in the Bronx

By Arben Paloka (ringside)

Thursday night was the most recent installment of Joe Deguardia’s Star Boxing recurring show billed, “Punchin’ at the Paradise” at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx, NY. While this event featured some lesser known names, the fighters made up for it with high octane action throughout.

The main event featured Bryant Pappas (12-2, 12 KO’s), a police officer, take on Allen Medina (8-19, 1 KO) in a super middleweight bout. Pappas makes up for his complete lack of talent with the guts that is expected out of a New York City police officer. The bout started with Pappas working his jab, but not following up with much. Medina had no jab to speak of, but would occasionally land with lead hooks. As the bout progressed, neither fighter was in control and the fight was rather sloppy. Medina stayed active with his hooks while Pappas worked straight punches. As the bout continued, Pappas’ nose was badly bloodied, but did not seem bothered by it. In the end of a very lackluster affair, the scorecards read 58-56 for Medina, 59-55 for Pappas, and 57-57, making the fight a split draw.

The co-feature of the evening was a violet affair between popular local lightweights, Danny Valle (4-0, 3 KO’s) and Angel Torres (2-5-2, 1 KO). Both fighters looked to make a immediate impact on the fight and came out swinging for the fences with well timed punches. This action saw both fighters hit the canvas simultaneously with beautiful counter hooks. The crowd went absolutely insane. Both fighters made it out of the round fine, but they each smelled blood and wanted more. The second round saw the aggression subdue a bit. Torres kept the pressure on Valle with long blows from the outside, while Valle focused on countering off the ropes. As the bout progressed, Valle’s talent began to shine through, and he utilized his superior movement to maintain a more favorable pace. Valle came away with a unainmus decision victory with scores of 59-55, 60-54, and 60-54.

In an entertaining scrap between two welterweights with very loud fans, Stephon Owusu (7-6, 4 KO’s) took on Angel Rios (9-4, 6 KO’s). Rios began the fight strong with hard punches and a great ability to cut off the ring. As the bout progressed, Rios’ punch output dropped drastically, and Owusu took advantage by throwing numerous combinations to his wide open opponent. The fight continued this way into the sixth and final round, and despite Rios’ consistent trash talking, Owusu maintained his composure and cruised to a unanimous decision with scores of 60-53, 60-54, and 60-54.

The second bout of the evening was a short affair between light heavyweights Michael Ocasio (1-0, 1 KO) and Abdullah Smith (1-2, 1 KO). Smith stormed out of his corner throwing haymakers. Ocasio did not seem fazed by this and countered Smith’s looping punches. Soon afterwards, an uppercut from Ocasio stunned Smith badly, and he followed this up with two left hooks. This sent Smith crashing down flat on his back. He was unable to beat the count. Ocasio is credited with a knockout victory at the 1:57 mark of the opening round.

The first professional bout of the evening saw Juan Perez (0-1) square off against Andrew Jones (1-6-1) in a welterweight scrap. The fight started off slowly until a bolo punch from Jones landed right onto Perez’ heart, forcing Perez to take a knee. Perez made it to his feet and was able to regain his composure and even land some left hooks of his own before the round ended. The back and forth scrap continued, but it was Perez in control. As the bout progressed, Jones’ fatigue began to show more and more, and Perez took advantage. The bout concluded and scores of 38-37, 38-37, and 38-37 were read aloud for Juan Perez, giving him his first victory.

The event was kicked off with four amateur bouts featuring standout fighters from local gyms.