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09/18/2004 Archived Entry: "Novak Prevails, White Shines in Fight for Freedom at the Star Plaza Radisson"
Novak Prevails, White Shines in Fight for Freedom at the Star Plaza Radisson
By Juan C. Ayllon at ringside
Novak (L) attacks Hoffman in a corner
(Merrillville, Indiana): Last night, the Star Plaza Radisson’s sophisticated Garden Restaurant pleasantly surprised this writer with a tasty steak and bleu cheese appetizer. Replete with capers, black olives, tomato, basil and thinly sliced pretzel bread glazed over with a dollop of gravy, it made a fine meal combined with a full-bodied glass of zinfandel and a bowl of savory shrimp bisque. At the same time, it also whetted the appetite for more from the tantalizing—and somewhat expensive—menu. However, its surprising mix of flavors in a way reflected the hotel’s exotic ambiance, with its carefully landscaped indoor waterfall and adjoining pools. More importantly, the meal hinted at pleasant surprises in store in this night’s entertainment: One in a Million, Inc.’s exhilarating “Fight for Freedom” boxing card.
In the main event, Johnny Novak (10-1, 5 KOs)—who just signed on with “One in a Million” last month—won an electrifying, competitive and compelling bout decisively, forcing his opponent, John Hoffman (10-14-0, 3 KOs), to quit inside five rounds, becoming the new Indiana Boxing Association’s Lightweight champion in the process.
Round one kicked off matters with a sprite series of fast exchanges, Novak drawing the larger applause for his hard punching, but Hoffman countering well as the two nimbly canvassed the periphery of the ring, parried and zinged snapping punches at one another.
In round two, Novak boxed neatly, sidestepped Hoffman and in a deft move, turned him awkwardly facing outwards in a corner, rending him momentarily defenseless. After the referee intervened, the two skirmished along the ropes. Then, as he pressed Novak back, Hoffman pushed him through the ropes drawing loud boos of protest from the crowd. Resuming battle, Hoffman inexplicably lost his mouthpiece twice, as the two engaged in bristling give and take skirmishes. It was a close round, with Novak perhaps prevailing. Hoffman landed a hard body shot just as the bell rung, prompting harsh expletives from Novak.
New Indiana State Lightweight Champ Novak (L) is congratulated by promoter Octavius James
Hoffman fought more effectively in round three, pressuring, pursuing and banging hard shots to the body while Novak circled, moved side to side and countered. It was a more tactical fight on his part as Hoffman played bull to his matador.
In round four, Hoffman continued to pressure. Suddenly, Novak pounced. Trapping him in a corner, Novak unleashed a series of torrid volleys to head and body. Escaping, Hoffman retreated to rings center, where he was forced to hold. In the midst of a furious exchange, Hoffman again lost his mouthpiece. They exchanged some more and once more Hoffman lost his mouthpiece. The referee called time and deducted a point for excessive spitting out of the mouthpiece. After the fighting resumed, the two inadvertently clashed heads and Hoffman seized the opportunity, bombing a slightly stunned Novak. However, Novak maintained his composure, as the two traded back and forth in the remaining seconds of the round, the fight very much up for grabs.
In round five, Novak pounced on Hoffman with a vengeance, landing some jarring, clean rights to Hoffman’s jaw. Hoffman gave ground. Encouraged, Novak surged, unleashing a furious fusillade of lefts and rights to head and body. Hoffman was visibly weakened and sagged as he absorbed a harsh drubbing. To his credit, he managed to remain upright. However, 
White (L) pursues Staten
once again, he spit up his mouthpiece. The ref had seen enough. Thoroughly beaten, Hoffman stood in a corner, his back turned to rings center. The ref halted the bout at 1:55 of round five, officially disqualifying Hoffman for excessive spitting out of his mouthpiece.
Prior to the main event, a touching tribute was paid to fallen war hero Greg Sanders. An announcement was made and a moment of silence followed an honorary toll of ten bell rings as Sanders’ widow and son stood at ring center 
Staten is out!
between the American and Indiana flags. Sanders had been killed in Iraq this last spring.
Slick and exciting junior welterweight Jermaine “Too Sweet” White (4-0-0, 2 KOs) made short work of his taller and rangier opponent, George Staten (0-3-0), pursuing him about the ring, rocking him and flattening him for good with a couple of overhand rights in the first heat. While Staten was game and offered cursory resistance, he was no match for his quicker and more powerful antagonist. The fight ended at 1:24 into round one. Staten remained on the canvas for several minutes, but arose on his own power apparently disappointed but unharmed.
In an exciting and rousing battle, light welterweight Michael “Midnight Stalker” Walker (3-0-0, 3 KOs) surprised all by stopping rugged Nathan “the Weasel” Martin (6-2-0, 2 KOs) in the third round.
Walker (L) and Martin engage in a fierce exchange
In a round of give and take, Walker showed why he sports a perfect kayo record thus far when he landed a big left hook that rocked Martin and had him blinking with a silly grin on his face at the bell of an otherwise competitive first round.
In round two, Walker opened up to head and body to good effect. However, Martin countered well in spots with whistling rights and lefts of his own, which kept Walker honest and made for some bristling exchanges.
In the third, Walker mixed good movement with hard hooks to body and chopping rights to the head. Martin was forced to grab on several occasions, yet returned hard shots as well. Suddenly, Martin went down from a hard combination, possibly a hook to the head. Several seconds later, he attempted to rise, only to collapse hard to the mat, forcing an immediate halt to the bout. The ref waived off the fight at 1:34 of round three.
Walker (L) raises hands in victory as the ref stops the fight
Afterwards, Martin said to his corner men, “I tried to get up to quickly. I think I stepped on my lace and tripped.” However, other ringside observers suggested otherwise, one stating that moments before, Martin complained of slipping on a slick portion of the mat; by all appearances—he was simply rocked badly and got up too soon.
Light heavyweight Guy Solis thrilled and dominated in his bout versus debuting gutsy Chad Taylor in the latter’s professional debut. In the first round, he pursued Taylor—who primarily covered and countered in spots—about the ring behind a steady jab and follow up rights and lefts. This pattern continued into round two, mixing head and body shots well, where Taylor fell from the apparent accumulation of body shots towards the end of the round, but finished the round with his senses intact.
Solis (L) attacks as Taylor covers up
Round three surprised; as Solis pursued, Taylor countered effectively with heavy rights hands over the top that sent sweat spraying form his head. Moments later, Taylor landed a surprise right that dropped Solis. Solis appeared not to be hurt, but took advantage of the breather, rising somewhere between the count of six or eight. Once up, Solis resumed his pursuit of Taylor as if nothing had happened.
In round four, even as Solis pursued and pressured, a newly confident Taylor countered well in spots. However, at about the two minute mark, Solis rocked Taylor with a series of raking rights and lefts that nearly had a gassed Taylor out on his feet. Clinging and grabbing where he might, Taylor hung in till the final bell.
The final scores were 39-35, 39-35 and 40-36 for a UD victory for Guy Solis, the latter score which appeared particularly dubious, as Solis suffered a knockdown and should have been deducted two points.
(From left) Announcer Joe York introduces Indiana State Light Heavyweight Champ, Jeff "Boom Boom" Baker" as Al "Speedy" Gonzales looks on
Middleweights Vance Garvey (4-10-1) and Joseph Pujoh (2-3-1) entertained in a heated and scintillating battle of quick reflexes, hard swinging and cat and mouse tactics sans the cursory jabbing oft associated with good boxing.
In round one, the crowd was tense with anticipation, as Pujoh demonstrated a hair trigger straight left and ripping right hook in brief skirmishes about the rings periphery while the naturally bigger Garvey feinted and countered quickly and hard, forcing Pujoh to take a more cerebral approach to the match than might be expected.
Round two appeared to be a dicey chess match between two cat quick opponents as the two alternatively attacked, posed and countered. Pujoh again appeared to edge, landing hard right hooks in spots. However, Garvey landed a very hard right hook of his own and made it a more competitive round than the previous one.
In round three, fireworks ignited as Garvey snapped Pujoh’s head back with a fierce flourish of potent lefts and rights inside and then drove him to the ropes with bludgeoning rights and lefts. However, Pujoh came back hard, rocking Garvey with wicked rights of his own and forcing Garvey to hold for the latter minute and a half of the round. In the course fo the action, Garvey spit out his mouth piece and gained some valuable time as the ref had it rinsed and then reinserted. Pujoh finished the round strongly. .
Round four saw the pace slow a bit, as Pujoh worked more in close, accumulating valuable points while smothering Garvey’s efforts. Meanwhile, Garvey appeared to seek a breather.
The slower pace continued into round five. That is, until Garvey nailed Pujoh with a big left hook. Mocking him with an exaggerated stagger, Garvey lured Pujoh into heated exchanges, baiting him further with repeated statements like “Whatcha gonna do,” in close. Bigger but less skilled, it appeared that Garvey was attempting to get Pujoh out of his game and capitalize on emotional carelessness. This appeared to be working somewhat, as Pujow pursued with almost reckless abandon. However, Pujoh picked up the slack well for all Garvey’s histrionics, lambasting him harshly with overhand rights and lefts in close to head and body.
Pujoe(L) is victorious!
Sitting at ringside, 8 Count promoter Dominic Pesoli said, “It’s an exciting battle,” adding the parenthetical statement, “You know, Pujoh’s been off for about three years.” For a three year absence, Pujoh did not appear to have too much rust on him, that was for sure!
In round six, Garvey went into mockery overdrive, shouting “Whooo” every time Pujoh swung, missed or landed. He shimmied and showboated about the ring and, at one point, even lifted his leg in a mock Kung fu stance when Pujoh swung again. This angered Pujoh, who rushed his opponent seeking to knock him out with great fervor, while Garvey tried to time him on the way in with sneaky straight lefts and right hooks. Towards that end, he succeeded occasionally. However, it was Pujoh who was landing the greater volume of punches, often mauling on the inside. In the end, Pujoh prevailed winning by scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 59-55.
Fight Fan, Danny G. really loved the fights
The crowd buzzed long afterwards, basking in the afterglow of another exciting evening of boxing. Ruben Galvan (20-6-2, 9 KOs), who last week lost a sizzling eight rounder to Dimitriy Solito (18-0-0) in Brooklyn, New York, stopped by with his pretty girlfriend to say hello. Chicago's very own junior welterweight prospect, Al "Speedy" Gonzales greeted as well. Affable ring announcer, Joe York, who did a splendid job of announcing, schmoozed in the waning moments.
For fight fan, Danny G.—who also visited the press table at fights end—the matches no doubt bore extra poignancy for him; he said that he Mike Tyson had done time together. He left no doubts that he had a terrific time at these fights!
Jermaine White (wearing hat) celebrates his victory at the "Post-Fight" party!
The festivities spilled over into a “post-fight party” thrown by promoter Octavius James at the packed Wood Hollow Loft Bar and Grill several miles away. There, the resident DJ sponsored by Sony kept the dance floor flooded with writhing bodies as he spun a throbbing weave of hip hop, rap and other pulsating dance fare. At around 2 A.M., Jermaine White was spotted dancing with companions to a popular dance anthem. Needless to say, the celebrating continued well into the wee hours of the morning!
Shelly the ringcard girl pulls double duty in bartending at the "Post-Fight" party
Photos by Juan C. Ayllon
