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04/29/2004 Archived Entry: "April 28th Rumble Packs Mega-Hitz"
April 28th Rumble Packs Mega-Hitz
Marks Halts Nash
By Juan C. Ayllon
Photos by tom Glunz
(Chicago, IL): Under clear bathwater spring skies, Bobby Hitz provided yet another scintillating fight card at the Ramada-O’Hare.
Headliner, Junior welterweight Jermaine Marks (9-2-2) following a relatively slow start against smart countering Reginald Nash (8-8-0) for the first two rounds, turned up the intensity in round three and began wearing down his crafty, crack-shot of an opponent. Up until the third round, Nash appeared as if he might pull the upset with his mixture of jabs, hooks and crisp rights. Effective at longer range, he effectively peppered the shorter Marks—who repeatedly came up short with his punches—in the first two stanzas.
Nash tries to find Marks with his Right
Using an accelerated attack in the third, Marks stunned Nash along the ropes with fast and hard lefts and rights and knocked him down with a wicked right hook to the body. Clearly winded, Nash rose only to get knocked down with a hard right hook to the belly. Surprisingly, Nash survived to rounds end, where he managed an entertaining exchange at the bell.
However, Reginald Nash’s respite was only momentary. In the fourth round, Jermaine Marks was poised to finish this fighter. Following a series of hooks to the body, he landed a right uppercut, followed by a jarring left uppercut to the head, depositing Nash hard on his trunks. That was it! The referee waived off the fight at 2:18 into the fourth round for a TKO victory for Marks.
Troupe (left) about to be countered by Steward's left
In the fight of the evening, former Golden Gloves Super Heavyweight Champ and current cruiserweight Chris Riley (1-0) took a huge step up for his second professional fight, taking on a risky and ruggedly seasoned opponent, Joseph Awinongya (11-7-4, 3 KO’s), who had previously gone eight rounds against one Ezra Sellers, a fighter who according to Publicist Trayce Zimmerman, “…many consider the hardest puncher in the cruiserweight division.”
Riley (left) closes in on Awinongya
Initially, Riley’s gamble appeared to be going his way. In round one, he clearly demonstrated an edge in power as both fighters engaged in a crowd-pleasing give and take battle. He pressed matters early on behind a combination of jabs, hard right crosses and heavy hooks.
However, Awinongya fought back, countering neatly with lead rights, hooks and heavy right hands. Both fighters landed repeatedly, with Riley coming on strong the last minute of the round with jarring rights, uppercuts and hooks. He closed out round one with a two rights and a left hook that appeared to rock Awinongya. Clearly, he had the edge in that round.
Awinongya wing a left hook
The second round was similarly entertaining, with a lot of give and take. Awinongya landed some hard left hooks and rights. However, Riley surged, as he hurt Awinongya with heavy rights on the ropes. Escaping, Joseph Awinongya stumbled across the ring with Chris Riley in hot pursuit.
Running behind him, Chris Riley tripped at ring’s center. By the time he rose to his feet, Awinongya recovered. Regrouped, Awinongya fought back hard with both fists. The two exchanged hooks and rights at close quarters. The crowd cheered enthusiastically as they mixed it up heatedly. Riley pursued and Awinongya jabbed and countered. Chris Riley favored compact and straight right hands, whereas Joseph appeared to prefer looping, overhand rights. Again, Riley appeared to edge the feisty Awinongya.
In the third, Awinongya appeared to land more power punches. Bristling exchanges continued, as Riley pressured, firing potent jabs and thudding left hooks, crosses and right uppercuts to head and body. Awinongya alternatively retreated, planted and countered with jabs, hooks, lead rights, landing several crackling rights and a left hook to the head that sent sweat flying and elicited a collective gasp from the crowd. This round appeared fairly even although Riley generally appeared to land the heavier blows.
In the fourth round, Awinongya appeared to be taking over the bout as he outboxed and appeared to outland Riley. Chris continued to play the bull to Joseph’s matador. Early on this round, the crowd chanted “Riley, Riley, Riley,” exhorting their favorite to end matters.
However, this was one tough matador who took delight in spearing his oncoming adversary. Uncooperative and cagey, he repeatedly countered his less experienced opponent after weathering blistering fusillades of rights and lefts, landing his own share of hooks, rights and jabs.
As the bout wore on, Awinongya’s confidence appeared to grow as he came on, while Riley’s efforts seemed a bit more belabored. To his credit, Chris Riley landed big hooks and rights at the end of the round and appeared to be overpowering him at the bell.
The fifth was hotly contested as both exchanged punches at fairly close quarters. There was a sense that Joseph Awinongya’s momentum was surging even as Chris Riley’s efforts took on an increasing tone of desperation. Awinongya boxed more, while Riley pressured in close. Riley landed a big right at the bell.
In the early seconds of the sixth and final round, Chris Riley appeared poised to pounce. However, Joseph Awinongya pulled the trigger first, exploding with a big right and two heavy hooks that shocked the crowd and put Riley momentarily on the defensive. From there on, Riley sought to catch Awinongya, pursuing hard with both hands. In his finest round, Awinongya appeared in control as he out hustled and out landed with spearing jabs, lead rights, hooks and uppercuts. Confident, he smiled and winked at the crowd, while Riley, who appeared a little tired, struggled to mount an effective counter offensive. Closing out the round, Awinongya repeatedly landed left hooks and the higher volume of blows.
The final tally for the pitched battle was 58-56 for Awinongya, and 57-57 (twice), which resulted in a majority draw. The announcement drew a mixture of boos, whistles and cheers and had fans talking about the fight long after its conclusion.
Middleweight Andre Tsurkan (20-2-0) continued his winning ways, dominating opponent Anthony Ivory (29-69-4) with a relentless and busy attack.
Tsurkan on right
In round one, Tsurkan pitched a virtual shutout, pursuing and peppering a retreating Anthony Ivory with rights and lefts.
Round two saw Tsurkan incorporate a fairly effective left hook into his repertoire, jarring Ivory several times in the process. Round three was more competitive, as Ivory retreated less and countering more effectively with rights to the head and body. In round four, Tsurkan pressured with three and four punch combinations.
As round five heated, the referee momentarily halted the action to have Ivory’ corner fix loose tape on his glove. However, his corner couldn’t find its black bag with the tape and scissors for a couple of minutes. Eventually, scissors were produced, the tape fixed and action resumed. After fighting resumed, the battle was fought at close quarters, with Tsurkan appearing to out hustle.
Round six featured more of the same effective pressuring tactics by Tsurkan, who fired a six-punch combination and dozens of one-two combinations. Ivory primarily jabbed, but also landed several jarring rights to the head to make it interesting before Tsurkan closed out the show back in control. Tsurkan won the bout by scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 59-55 for a solid unanimous decision victory.
In a bizarre heavyweight match up, Lamar “T Rex” Stephens (2-0, 2 KO’s) repeatedly shook up the shorter and pudgy David Cleage—who looked like a smaller, poor man’s version of the original Buster Mathis—with heavy right hands in rounds one and two. Lamar appeared to be enroute to a stoppage victory, only to have this opportunity snatched from his grasp by Cleage’s repeated hitting on the break. After three incidents and two deducted points, the referee stopped the contest at 1:37 into round two. Stephens won by DQ victory.
T-Rex has Cleage on the ropes
Super middleweights, Adam Stewart (2-7-2) and Chris Troupe (6-1-0) put on a surprisingly entertaining opener. Dominating throughout with harder and crisper punching, Troupe repeatedly jarred Stewart, only to suffer pressure and abused in return. Towards the end of the fourth round, it appeared that Troupe was close to a stoppage victory, hurting Stewart to the body with a heavy left and momentarily trapping him on the ropes with a heavy right-handed attack. However, the gritty Stewart escaped and managed to fight back until the final bell. Troupe won by UD by 40-36 all.
Stewart (left) tries to duck Troupe's right
Clearly, this Wednesday’s Rumble at the Ramada left the spectators with something to talk about long after the sun set in Chicago’s balmy skies.
For more pictures taken by Tom Glunz, be sure to visit www.comvantage.com/webpage/BoxingPics04282004/
Replies: 1 Comment made on this article
FYI,
My photographer and friend, Tom Glunz, provided a link to more pictures from Wednesday's Rumble at the Ramada:
http://www.comvantage.com/webpage/BoxingPics04282004/
Best,
Juan C. Ayllon
Posted by Juan C. Ayllon @ 04/30/2004 05:40 PM EST
