NEW YORK–It was upset city in New York as DeMarcus Corley (38-10-1, 22 KOs) shocked the previously undefeated Gabriel Bracero (18-1, 3 KOs) in the main event of “Broadway Boxing” promoted by Lou Dibella. The fight was for the NABF Super Lightweight title. Corley, who is 37 years young and coming off of a six match losing streak was not expected to win the fight. Bracero’s handlers felt that Corley’s experience and elusiveness would give him trouble, but not THIS much trouble. From the outset, Corley was in control of the ring. He was, as always, fighting defensively, but surprisingly was the one coming forward; something that Bracero shouldn’t have allowed. In the second round, a straight left hand landed flush on Bracero’s face, opening up a cut that began to squirt blood. The referee had the ringside doctor look at it immediately, but the doctor ruled that he was safe to continue. Corley smelled blood. In an exchange, corley landed with a more crisp combination, finishing up with a picture perfect right hook that landed right on Bracero’s chin. Bracero was down and looked very hurt. He somehow beat the count and was able to get out of the round.
The third saw Bracero quickly regain composure, but he was still on the wrong side of nearly every exchange. A powerful straight left landed flush on Bracero, and he was down again. Hurt, but Bracero beat the count a second time.
Two rounds passed in which Bracero seemed unable to take control, and he found himself on the canvas a third time. It was another straight left, but this did not do much damage. Entering the second half of the fight, Bracero changed his gameplan a bit. Instead of walking straight backwards, he was moving from side to side. He made room instead of giving it up. It worked well. He took control of the fight.
Still, the fight seemed in the bag for Corley as three knockdowns seemed impossible to overcome in a ten round fight. Bracero was never considered a puncher. Then came the eighth round where he landed a straight right that knocked Corley back. The ref ruled it a knockdown saying that Corley’s glove touched the canvas. Bracero was unable to capitalize in that round or the final two. When the scores were announced 96-90, 94-92, and 94-92 for Corley, the classy Bracero applauded his victor.
The popular Seanie Monaghan (12-0, 8 KOs) took on a very entertaining Billy Bailey (11-14, 4 KOs) in a light heavyweight fight. Monaghan wanted to go rounds to showcase some new techniques his team had been working on in the gym. He was always known as a face first brawler, but came out with a different game plan. This time he stalked his opponent and picked his shots in a much better manner. His body punching improved as well. Monaghan was always a volume puncher when it came to the body, but this time he used it to force his opponent to drop his hands. It worked perfectly in the second round where he landed two crushing blows to Bailey’s mid-section and then followed up with a huge right hook that sent Bailey down.
Bailey beat the count and made it out of the round with a little help from the bell. The rest of the fight saw Monaghan continuing his method with Bailey responding with taunts and playing to the crowd. The crowd loved it, and both fighters seemed to be responding well to eachother. Monahghan dominated the rest of the fight, winning a unanimous decision by scores of 79-72, 80-71, and 80-71.
Boyd Melson (7-0, 3 KOs) made easy work of Sean Rawley Wilson (6-6, 1 KO) in their junior middleweight bout. Melson used quick reflexes and speed to overwhelm his opponent over the course of the six rounds en route to a shutout unanimous decision victory with all scores reading 60-53.
Luis Del Valle (15-0, 11 KOs) fought a tougher than expected Jose Angel Beranza (34-21-2, 26 KOs) in their junior featherweight bout. Del Valle was in control the whole fight, but Beranza was not there just for a payday. He fought hard with his much younger opponent and had some very impressive moment while stealing some rounds. But Del Valle just punches too hard, is too fast, and can defend himself too well. The entertaining fight went the full eight rounds and the final scores read, 80-72, 78-74, 79-73 for Del Valle. Some felt that the fight could have been closer.
Ran Nakash (26-1, 18 KOs) made his return after a disappointing loss to Marko Huck. He fought the tough Derek Bryant (20-7-1, 17 KOs). Bryant had nothing for Nakash, as he was bullied around the ring for eight rounds en route to a shutout. The three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Nakash.
Danny McDermott (8-3-2, 3 Kos) took on Terry Buterbaugh (6-6-3, 3 KOs) in a junior welterweight matchup. The style matchup looked good on paper. Buterbaugh is someone who throws a whole lot of punches, while Mcdermott is someone who has a great chin while landing more precise blows. It was a bit sloppy at times when reality hit that their styles did not really gel as we all had hoped. The fight ended up being scored a draw, with scores reading 55-59, 59-55, 57-57.
Sonya Lamonakis (6-0-1, 1 KO) fought an all out brawl with Carlette Ewell (15-7-1, 9 KOs) in their heavyweight bought. Both fighters landed big punches throughout the fight and gave them a standing ovation when it was all over. The judges ruled it a draw with scores of 58-56, 56-58, 57-57. Many at ringside thought Ewell should have gotten the nod.
In a sloppy affair, heavyweights Thomas Hardwick (4-0, 2 KOs) and Richard Mason (0-4) squared off for four rounds. Hardwick was the more polished fighter of the two and won an easy unanimous decision victory based off of his harder and more accurate punching. The scores read 40-36 in his favor.
The opening fight of the night was a surprise as the very talented Alex Perez (15-0, 9 KOs) squared off against Josh Sosa (10-2, 5 KO’s). Most Broadway Boxing cards open with young fighters, new to the professional ranks, but Perez is a legitimate welterweight prospect in the region. From time to time, Dibella enjoys catering to the hardcore boxing fans that show up early no matter what. This time, we saw the knockout of the night. After scoring a spectacular knockdown in the first round off of combination punching, Perez only needed half of the second round to fishing Sosa off. An absolutely perfect right hand landed on the point of Sosa’s chin, sending his head snapping back as his knees buckled underneath him. The time of the stoppage was 1:39 of the second round, giving Perez a TKO victory.
