ANDRADE DESTROYS HERNANDEZ IN TWO

In the ESPN Friday Night Fights main event, former U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade made short work of late sub Angel “Toro” Hernandez; knocking him down and then out inside of two rounds. Hernandez, who was woefully outclassed from the opening bell, took the fight on two days notice when Andrade’s original opponent Derek Ennis pulled out with the flu. Perhaps thinking his only chance lay in an early knockout, Hernandez came charging out of his corner straight into the fists of Andrade. Almost immediately, Hernandez was staggered by right hook and straight left hand counters from Andrade. Hernandez took a beating all throughout the first round and at the bell, walked back to his corner on shaky legs. About a minute into the second, a straight left hand from Andrade dropped Hernandez hard. Up at the count of two, Hernandez was clearly hurt. Had Hernandez not risen so quickly, the fight would most likely have been stopped. But referee Steve Smoger allowed it to continue and seconds later Hernandez caught another flush left hand on the chin, teetering momentarily before falling face forward to the canvas. No count was necessary as it was clear Hernandez was out. The fight was a classic example of a late sub facing an up and coming prospect and neither fighter strayed far out their assigned roles. With the win, Andrade improves to 16-0 with 11 Kos. Hernandez drops to 30-11 (17Kos.)

Junior welterweight Raymond “Tito” Serrano of Philadelphia, PA put on a surprisingly lackluster performance against Rochester, NY native Kenny Abril in the ESPN Friday Night Fights co-feature. Serrano started well and was backing Abril up with good hooks and body shots over the first two rounds, but his momentum came to a grinding halt when Abril caught him in the third with a right hand going backwards. Serrano hit the deck but was up quickly and was seemingly more off balance than hurt, yet his output following the knockdown wasn’t anywhere near that of the previous two rounds. The fight then diminished into a clinch fest, with Abril doing most of the holding and Serrano doing little to avoid it. For the most part Serrano had the higher output but Abril managed to keep the fight somewhat close with good showings in rounds 6 and 8. When the final bell rang, Serrano had done enough to get the win but not enough to gain any new fans. He took the unanimous decision by scores of 97-92 (twice) and 95-94. He improves to 18-0 (8Kos) while Abril drops to 11-2-4 (6Kos.)

Junior welterweight “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis of Astoria, Queens, NY, scrapped his way to an entertaining 6 round unanimous decision over Norwalk, CT’s Shaka Moore. The two southpaws were evenly matched through three, with Moore putting in good bodywork and Arnaoutis landing well to the head. The fight turned in round 4 when Moore visibly began to tire mid round. Arnaoutis took advantage of the increasingly stationary Moore and began to land flush lead lefts that took the remaining fight out of Moore. Despite a few spirited flurries, Moore never regained the energy he showed over the first 3 rounds and ate flush shots for the remainder of the bout. In the end, Arnaoutis picked up a unanimous decision by scores of 60-54 (twice) and 59-55; improving to 23-7-2 (10Kos.) Moore drops to 11-17-3 (2Kos.)

In one of the most exciting fights of the night, local super featherweight Joseph “Chip” Perez (Hartford, CT) waged a 6 round war with Rochester, NY’s Jamell Tyson. Both fighters threw with reckless abandon from the opening bell, ignoring defense and simply letting their hands go. The fight was close until the 4th round when Perez, spurred on by the crowd, began to overpower the fading Tyson with his sheer volume of punches. At the end, Perez simply had a little more in the tank and managed to take the unanimous decision by scores of 59-55 and 58-56 (twice.) Perez now stands at 7-1 (2Kos) while Tyson falls to 2-5-1 (1KO.)
Super middleweight Charles Foster (2-0 1KO) overcame a first round knockdown to sneak by with a decision win over Borngod Washington (3-10 1KO.) Foster was dropped early by a right hand but fought hard over the remaining 3 rounds to remain unbeaten. Scores were 38-37 on all three scorecards.
Unbeaten super featherweight Emanuel Gonzalez kept his record intact with a 4 round unanimous decision over Jesus Bayron. Gonzalez had the more accurate punches throughout the bout and won by scores of 39-37 (twice) and 40-36. He remains perfect at 10-0 (7Kos) while Bayron slides to 5-4-1 (4Kos.)
In the opening bout of the evening, junior welterweight Jair Ramos (2-0 2Kos) of Waterbury, CT easily dispatched Philadelphia, PA native Miguel Rodriguez (0-2) in the second round of a scheduled four. Ramos felt out his opponent in the first round before unleashing a string of rights early into the second that sent Rodriguez to the ropes. Stunned, Rodriguez absorbed three more flush right hands and a window dressing uppercut before taking a knee. Although Rodriguez rose at the count of 9, referee Steve Smoger wisely stopped the fight at 53 seconds of round two and handed Ramos his second pro victory.