I-Light Media
Brooks Brothers Split, Superman Grounded
By: Jason McDonald
For the second time in as many weeks boxing took center stage in Atlanta area. Eleven fighters displayed their pugilistic form in front of a packed house at Club Europe Friday night.
Cruiserweight Deric Flores set the nights action in motion with a 4 round unanimous decision over Joe Bonds. After a minute of feeling each other out Bonds –fighting in his professional debut- lit the fuse pinning Flores against the ropes with a series of bombs. Un-fazed by the onslaught, Flores simply smiled behind his Ali-like 'rope-a-dope' defense. By the middle of the second round Bonds' early leather barrage began to take its toll. Sensing his opponents' exhaustion Flores launched his own offensive attack. Flores sent Bonds reeling by a hard left hook. Defenseless against nearly everything from the left, Flores let loose a steady stream of combinations doubling up the hook with sharp uppercuts. With his punches repeatedly finding their mark, Flores pressed forward through the defensive punching of Bonds. The win moved Flores to 3 wins and 5 losses and dropped Bonds to 0 wins and 1 loss.
In the second match of the evening Anthony 'Ice' Greenidge took on Joe Grubbs in a super middleweight contest. Action was steady in the first two rounds but a vicious left hand from Greenidge woke the crowd up and stalled Grubbs' pressing offense. On the attack, Greenidge pounded away with a flurry of head and body punches. Covering well Grubbs regained his senses punching just enough to keep Greenidge honest. Round four picked up where the third round left off with Greenidge landing the majority of effective punches and dancing away from Grubbs attack. There was no disagreement among the judges as Greenidge won on all cards to remain undefeated at 2-0-0.
Slick punching Marcus Brooks won a unanimous decision over journeyman Anthony Bowman. Brooks stayed busy most of the night keeping the shorter Bowman at the end of a stiff left jab and equally effective right lead.
Tony Foster -235 lbs- won the battle of the bulge winning a unanimous decision over 256-pound Greg McWhirter. After being led into the ring by a large entourage of supporters Foster attempted to end the fight early landing a couple of big blasts that stunned McWhirter. But the bigger man weathered the storm even landing a few strong shots of his own in the round’s final minute. Over the next two rounds McWhirter targeted Foster’s midsection often at the expense of enduring more than a few heavy hooks. Foster’s cleaner punches earned him the decision and his third win in twelve professional bouts.
Super middleweights Randy 'Goodtimes' Pogue and Edgar 'The Machine Gun' King earned what could easily be argued as the hardest fought fight of the night. King peppered Pogue with timely flurries that took took the steam out of Pogue’s engine. The final rounds belonged exclusively to King but the game Pogue made it interesting. Seemingly hurt and exhausted by the fifth, Pogue reached deep down battling until the final bell. For his dominating performance King was named the victor by unanimous decision bettering his record to 3-4-1.
Crowd favorite Paul 'Superman' Squires couldn't live up to the support from the crowd in his cruiserweight fight against Adam Jaco. Jaco, looking very workmanlike, seemed unaware of all the hoopla and chanting accompanying Squires entry into the ring. The chanting subsided in the second round as Jaco dropped Squires to the canvas for a three count. By the time the crowd favorite was getting up off the canvas for a second standing eight count in the round, the crowd was deathly silent. After a discussion between rounds, the blue corner tossed in the towel giving Jaco the win via technical knockout.
Light heavyweight Brian 'The Assassin' Norman ended Johnny Brooks bid to turn the night into a family sweep with a 4 round unanimous decision. The Decatur native, Norman, improved his record to 9 wins and 4 losses.
After a brief intermission Phillip Botha disposed of Rhan Nanton in a heavily contested 4 round junior middleweight bout. Botha an Atlanta transplant by way of South Africa used his vast ring experience in Thai boxing and full fighting to cut off the ring and keep Nanton in front of him.
New heavyweight Mike Middleton wishes now that he had stayed from in front of hard-hitting Travis Walker. The extra large Walker needed only 45 seconds to knockout Middleton. A huge right hand sent the new pro spinning to the canvas. Middleton compounded his problems by getting up to before he had his legs underneath him. Disoriented Middleton walked into another big Walker right hand that sent him on a return trip to the canvas. Middleton fell with such force that he landed head first and literally bounced off the canvas. Referee Dennis Nelson jumped in immediately to stop the fight.
In the co-main event Melissa Hernandez capped off her dynamic entry with a show-stopping performance over Leora Jackson. It was clear from the onset what Hernandez thought of Jackson's power. Much to the delight of the crowd, Hernandez mugged, danced and even stuck out her tongue to demonstrate her confidence. But it was her crisp punching that kept Jackson against the ropes for most of the fight.
To her credit Jackson landed a few big blows to slow down Hernandez's attack. Jackson's biggest mistake came at the end of the fourth round. Out of the clinch Jackson threw Hernandez to the floor. When the Boriqua boxer regained her feet it was clear that all of the playfulness of the earlier rounds was gone. Hernandez jumped back into action this time with more spirit cornering Jackson and unleashing hook after vicious hook. Over the next two rounds Jackson's focus was limited to staying upright.
The action-packed night ended on a flat note as the highly touted match-up between undefeated heavyweights Moultrie Witherspoon and Arron Lyons ended in a no-decision. A non-punched gash over the left eye of Lyons forced a stoppage of the fight n the second round. After hurting Lyons in the first round Moultrie wasn’t happy with how the fight ended. "I had the guy hurt and I just didn't followup like I should have" said a visibly disappointed Moultrie. "My coach got on me cause I should have knocked him out," he added. Moultrie attributed his performance to ring rust after having a 5 month layoff since his last fight. The big guy is hoping to get a chance to knock off the rust in July or August.
Atlanta's KO Kings in association with Gladiator X Promotions and Club Europe presented the night of fights. The famous Gladiator X Ring Girls handled the cards between rounds. Reality television star Cristal, Serious on VH1s Flavor of Love, shared the duties with the beautiful Candice, Adrienne, Envy and Ki.