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11/22/2003 Archived Entry: "De La Cruz Hammers Hadden in Four"
De La Cruz Hammers Hadden in Four!
By J.D. Vena at ringside
TAUNTON, MA – So far this year, three of New England’s up and coming middleweights have faced “Dangerous” David Hadden of Fort Pierce, FL. Unbeaten Willie “The Gladiator” Gibbs of Philadelphia, who has fought primarily on New England soil since turning pro two years ago, stopped Hadden in six competitive rounds at the Roxy in Boston. In August, Ian “The Cobra” Gardner won an 8-round unanimous decision over the Floridian. Last night, Hadden brought his difficult southpaw style in the ring with him to try to befuddle Hartford’s Julio Cesar De La Cruz. Originally from Villa Alta Garcia in the Dominican Republic, De La Cruz hadn’t fought in 20 months.
Ring rust was expected of De La Cruz, not the dominant performance he gave last night at the Matrix Entertainment Complex in Taunton. After finally getting by Hadden’s wide stance, De La Cruz, 165, began dropping Hadden with every hard combination he threw. Hadden, 164, hit the deck twice in round two and went into survival mode until going down again in the fourth. Usually, a corner will tell their charge to beat the count if they feel that their fighter has a chance of winning. In this case, Hadden’s corner urged their fighter to let referee Eddie Fitzgerald count him out at the 1:47 mark.
De La Cruz, now 15-3-1 with 14 KO’s will now return to the training camp of WBA middleweight champion William Joppy, who will meet undisputed champ, Bernard Hopkins on December 13th. A tall middleweight with good reflexes and better than average power, De La Cruz may be another story in itself should Joppy pull off the upset. Through an interpreter, De La Cruz said he would like to fight on promoter Rich Cappiello’s planned show in January or February. If he’s still interested in developing the careers of Gibbs and Gardner, two strong prospects, Cappiello had keep them away from De La Cruz.
You can ask any number of local scribes about this. But judge Bill Connelly was once seen falling asleep at ringside while he was judging a fight. Though I forgot to keep an eye on him, last night seemed as if he had fallen asleep in the last two rounds of a fight between Taunton’s Hector “The Pit Bull” Sanjurjo and Tampa’s Mark Doku. In a relatively close fight, Billy Connelly awarded a near shut-out performance (59-55) for the visiting Doku who did nothing but absorb punches and move away from the Pit Bull in the final two frames. Judges Ray Delicio had a more reasonable score of 58-56 for Doku while Don Fitzgerald had it even at 58-58.
Whether he deserved to win or not, as your writer felt he did, Sanjurjo, 190, has not performed well in a few years. The Pit Bull, now 12-8-5 with 7 KO’s has taken more punches in his last three fights (all defeats) and isn’t as relentless as he was years ago when he lived up to his moniker. The once promising 26 year old, who issued Scott Pemberton’s first defeat and nearly defeated contender Derrick Harmon until being DQ’d for spitting on Harmon’s then trainer Dan Goosen has probably seen his best days as a fighter, days that were short lived.
Doku, 191, on the other hand may be a fighter on the rise or at least a fighter that should be avoided. Now 5-3-1 with 3 KO’s, Doku is 2-0-1 in his last three which were all on his opponent’s home turf, the draw coming against unbeaten Donnell Holmes.
In a decisive victory, Taunton’s other favorite, Melvin Cumba did not disappoint as he pounded Dennis “The Bossman” Burly, stopping him in two rounds. Early in the 2nd, Cumba, 136, pinned Burly to the ropes after immobilizing him with some hard body shots. Burly, 135 was a sitting duck at that point and absorbed relentless punching from Cumba until referee Eddie Fitzgerald wisely called a halt to the bout at 1:53 of the round. The fast rising Cumba is now an impressive 8-0 with 5 KO’s.
In the opening bout, “Irish” Mike Culbert, 168, of Brockton, MA returned to Taunton for the first time in 12 years to outpoint Atlanta’s Jerald Lowe over 8 rounds. The 37 year old still carries some hand speed that earned him several regional titles and an opportunity to face the great Roberto Duran, the last man to beat him. Culbert, who won by scores of 78-72, 78-73 and 80-70 is now 28-4-1 with 6 KO’s.
Two other bouts were scratched, the most significant being a match-up between Springfield, MA light heavyweight, Saleh Zabian who was to have faced Guyana native, John Douglas. Douglas mysteriously withdrew from the fight on Thursday night.
Promoter – 10 Count Enterprises (Lorenzo DiClemente)
Matchmaker – Mike Nosky
Ring Announcer – Yours Truly
Replies: 2 Comments on this article
That's incredibly good looking, imposing man to you!
;o)
Thank you,
JD
Posted by jdvena@cyberboxingzone.com">JD @ 11/24/2003 01:07 PM EST
the best part of the show was the imposing figure present in the center of the ring doing the ring announcing!! LOL
thanks, bud.
Posted by mikenosky@aol.com">mike nosky @ 11/22/2003 01:26 PM EST
