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02/26/2005 Archived Entry: "Jones Decisions Reid"
Jones Stays in Light Heavyweight Mix, Decisions Reid over 12
By J.D. Vena at ringside
Lowell, MA - It’s difficult imagining that the light heavyweight division is no longer dominated by Roy Jones, Jr. The boxer, arguably the best ever, could do no wrong in the ring until father time curtailed his superiority last year. The division is now run by Glencoffe Johnson, who only a year ago was viewed as a tough journeyman. Now with wins over Roy Jones, Antonio Tarver and Eric Harding, Johnson is the top dog, but with a record of 42-9-2, many of the division’s top contenders and even journeyman have adopted the “If he can do it, then I can do it” mentality. This would include another Jones, George Khalid Jones, which is why his 12-round encounter with veteran Thomas Reid last night at the historic Lowell Memorial Auditorium was an intriguing contest.
Jones, 175, of Paterson, NJ (though Boston Herald scribe George Kimball pointed out that his trunks read “Seacaucus, NJ”) and the NABA light heavyweight champion had a much tougher time than most anticipated, despite how two of the three judges saw it, in winning a unanimous decision over the 37-year of Reid of Jackson, TN.
Reid, in case you didn’t know is very much a spoiler type, upsetting the likes of James Butler and nearly toppling Teddy Atlas project Elvir Muriqi. He’s also swapped blows with the likes of former champs, Montell Griffin and Julio Cesar Gonzalez, as well as unbeaten contender, Librado Andrade.
If you were to hear it from an experienced boxing trainer, Jones’ biggest problem was that most of his punches were delivered as slaps, which is why he could never really wear Reid down. But his overall activity won him the first half of the fight. Despite his vast experience, Reid, 174, had difficulty with Jones’ southpaw stance and he often lost his balance when he missed with round-house rights.
But by the 6th round, Reid began to land some well-timed right hand leads, which are often effective against southpaws. Whether it won him the round or not, it surely made Jones’ task of putting Reid away, more difficult.
It was evident that after the next few rounds, a knockout by Jones would not happen as the momentum began to swing in Reid's favor. And with neither fighter being from the Mass. and the Lowell crowd more accustomed to chanting for the “Red” or “Blue” corner, there was clearly no crowd favorite. Incidentally, the Lowell Memorial Auditorium has hosted all 59 of the Annual New England Golden Gloves tournaments, which is why most in attendance were unfamiliar with both boxers. But more people started cheering for the guy with the bigger loss column after he began piling up rounds.
A better round 11 for Jones interrupted Reid’s rhythm but Jones was clearly the more tired of the two. In the final round the two had some strong exchanges with Reid stunning Jones with sharp right hands, but it wasn‘t quite enough for the judges who had Jones winning 117-11, 116-114 and 115-113, the CBZ‘s score. Jones, now 21-2-1 with 13 KO’s may eventually earn a tile shot this year, but he’ll have a tough time convincing people that he’s ready to take down division kingpin Glencoffe Johnson or any other top five 175-pounder.
“We were looking for a tough fight from Reid and that’s what we got,” said Jones. “What I would like to do now is have a chance to avenge my two losses, so I’d like to fight (Eric) Harding and (Montell) Griffin.”
Harding of Hartford, CT knocked out Jones in 2001, while Griffin won a close decision over Jones the following year. Beating one of these two fighters would certainly convince more people of his chances of winning a world title than his showing last night. Reid, now 33-15-1 with 13 KO’s will now have to wait another time to become the next Glencoffe Johnson.
In a strong supporting bout, Brazilian 2000 Olympian, Agnaldo Nunez of Revere, MA put on an impressive boxing display en route to stopping tough Freddy Castro, 130, of San Pedro, CA in seven rounds.
Nunez, 130, was the sharper of the two and landed a number of clean, crisp head and body shots during the first four rounds. Looking like a true pro, the southpaw Nunez methodically worked the body to set up his left crosses, among his nice combinations.
A seemingly overwhelmed Castro, looked like he was going to fold from his attack but he must have Castrol in his veins. During rounds five and six, he made the fight more competitive by landing some counter shots and Nunez was more wary when pressing his slower opponent.
Castro paid for his efforts in the seventh, when Nunez caught him with some head-turning left crosses. The stubborn Castro stumbled from a few of the shots and Castro’s corner threw in the towel at 2:12 of the round, prompting referee Mike Marvelle to stop the bout.
The win improved Castro’s record to 10-1-1 with 6 KO’s while the game Castro fell to 5-11-5 with 2 KO’s.
Ending a two fight losing skid, welterweight prospect Luis Hernandez of Ibarra, Equador made quick work of Robert Kamya of West Palm Beach, FL when he knocked him out after the bell had ended the second round. Hernandez, 150, couldn’t have made it look any prettier, when he countered Kamya’s right uppercut to the body with a crisp right cross to the jaw. Kamya, 150, bent over backwards from the punch until he hit the canvas and took referee John Zablocki’s 10-count. Though the fight ended after the bell had rung, the Massachusetts State Boxing Commission officially had the time of the knockout announced at 2:57. Hernandez is now 12-2 with 6 KO’s while Kamya is now 12-5 with 4 KO’s.
Castulo “El Pebeioso” Gonzalez, 125 ½, of Wilmington via Guatemala, should have made quick work of Lowell’s hometown hero Jose Ayala, but the inexperienced referee Mike Marvelle failed to halt the bout in the first round, when it should have concluded. Only Ayala’s big heart picked him off the stool for the second round, which saw him hit the mat for the third and final time in the fight. El Pobeioso, which means ‘the powerful,’ only needed 33 seconds for the final knockdown to occur. Gonzalez, a former multi-national amateur champion of his homeland, is now 3-0, all by KO, while Jose, who has been told to ‘Hang ‘em up,” droped to 8-4 with 2 KO’s
In a wild second bout of the night, Favio Medina of Tilton, NH won a hard-fought split decision over Worcester’s exciting Bobby McAndrews. In the opening round, Medina, 152, landed a hard right hand to the jaw of McAndrews, who was stunned but fought back well, well enough to floor Medina with a powerful right hand. Medina was slow getting up because it was a clean shot to the temple.
In the second round Medina returned the favor with a roundhouse right of his own, which dumped McAndrews on his back. He too was hurt when he climbed off the mat but he stung the Medina who was looking for an early night. Medina seemed to outwork McAndrews over the last two rounds but still took some head-turning shots which kept Medina honest. Medina’s aggression and more clean shots won over two of the judges who saw it 38-36 while the other had it 38-37 McAndrews.
In the opening bout Rob Kucher, 166, of New York, NY won his professional debut by out-pointing stocky Jose Sabino, 164, of Catlettsburg, KY, over four tough rounds. Kucher used his noticeable height and reach advantage to keep Sabino from landing some wild hooks and won by three scores of 40-36. Sabino is now 1-1.
Promoter - New England Ringside
