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08/28/2005 Archived Entry: "Cruiser Prospect Williams Suffers Controversial Draw vs. Jolly; Figueroa Defeats Navarro in Pro Debut!"
Cruiser Prospect Williams Suffers Controversial Draw vs. Jolly; Figueroa Defeats Navarro in Pro Debut!
By Juan C. Ayllon
Aaron Williams dips as he throws a heavy right at oncoming Harvey Jolly (Josh Walls photo)
STONE PARK, IL, August 27, 2005 – It was a perfect day summer’s day, equally suited for photographing a wedding party or hosting a boxing match outdoors at the Casa Italia. Indeed, earlier, a wedding party posed for photos on a picturesque hillside, plush with manicured shrubbery and a sculptured scene of the crucifix. Two hours later, under an outdoor canopy 100 yards away, boxers furiously slugged it out before an appreciative crowd.
Highly touted amateur standout, Aaron Williams, 200 lbs., 3-0-0, 2 KO’s, swung for the fences and landed the better quality of blows, but came up short in garnering a majority draw against gritty, swarming and awkward Harvey Jolly, 201 lbs., 2-0-0, 1 KO.
Starting in round one, Jolly applied pressure, while Williams jabbed and circled, seeking to time his opponent with heavy rights. Taller by several inches, the 6’ 4” Jolly countered a series of jabs with a digging left-right combination to the body. Williams cracked him with a right to the head and followed up with a potent left-right. Jolly landed a left to the head; Williams countered with a left hook to the head. Williams circled back and to the left with Jolly in pursuit. Williams jabbed, while Jolly dug a left to the body. Williams missed with a chopping right, then jabbed. Jolly landed a long, looping right to the head. Surging at rounds end, Williams crackled with a left-right-left flurry at the bell.
Jolly (left) and Williams swap blows (Josh Walls photo)
And so it continued. With Jolly in pursuit in round two, Williams circled right, then left. The two trade in close. Williams jabbed and scored a stiff lead right to Jolly’s head. A pattern developed: the two traded, but Jolly often closed the gap and frequent clinches resulted. Williams hit Jolly with a heavy lead right, jabbed and moved side to side. Jolly kept his hands busy, working and pressuring. Williams threw a looping, overhand right with bad intentions. The two traded in close. Jolly bounced an uppercut off Williams’ head; Williams countered with a heavy right to the head; Jolly hooked him to the head with a stiff left; Williams banged in another lead right. The two traded freely as the round ended.
Williams came out on his toes in round three. Switching to southpaw momentarily, he jabbed with his right. Jolly came back with a heavy right to the body. Williams flurried and landed a sole left hook. Countering hard, Jolly threw a left jab, straight right and a right, then smothered Williams’ countering attempts. Responding to trainer Jesse Reid’s shouted instructions, Williams fired a stiff double jab. Jolly countered with a jab and a stiff right. Jolly jabbed; Williams double jabbed. However, he caught a hard left-right counter over the top. Aroused, Williams tore into Jolly with both fists blazing. The two slugged with a fury. Jolly savaged the body and attacked with a heavy left-right; and Williams countered with a heavy, two fisted fusillade, driving Jolly to the ropes. The savagery continued at rings center. Surging back, Jolly drove Williams to the ropes, where Williams blocked a closing volley.
Williams jabbed in round four’s opening moments. Continuing to pressure, Jolly batted him to the head with a left hook. Seeking to end matters, Williams unleashed another furious assault with a plethora of lefts and rights to the body and head. The two landed left hooks to the head. Backing Williams to the ropes, he threw a ponderous right to Williams’ head. Williams returned a leaden left hook to the head, ducked under a looping left hook return, and dug a left hook to the body. The two swapped blows briefly and clinched. Ducking under a right, Williams’ dug a left hook to the ribs. A prolonged clinch ensued. Surging, Williams cracked with a heavy left hook and right to the head. He blocked a looping right with his shoulder, but caught a left hook to the head.
Williams (right) and Jolly exchange in close (Josh Walls photo)
Seeking once again to end matters definitively, Williams bombed furiously with both fists. However, Jolly withstood the assault as the two fell into a clinch. Clearly gassed, a weary Williams leaned his head over Jolly’s shoulder. The two resumed and Williams missed a huge, but telegraphed overhand right as the final bell tolled.
The judges scored the bout 39-37 for Williams, 37-39 Harvey, 38-38 for a majority draw.This writer felt it was close, but saw it 39-37 for Williams for the more effective and generally harder blows.
William’s manager, Manager Pat Doljanin, was clearly upset with the result, saying, “The judges who scored this fight—especially the one who gave Aaron only one round: it was very clear who dominated the action, who won the fight—should have their licenses revoked as judges. We had the ‘two blind mice.’ Thank God we had one guy who saw the fight properly. Aaron won the fight. It’s clear as day.”
Harvey Jolly said, “It was a good fight. He was a tough fight; he’s the toughest I fought so far. But, I still could have beat him. I just halfway trained. That’s all. Not to make no excuse; I just halfway trained. He was a good fighter, though and I tip my hat to him in the fight, but I want a rematch.”
Aaron Williams did not want to comment, but acknowledged that he wouldn’t mind doing a rematch sometime.
Joel Campuzano, Executive Manager, Illinois State Professional Boxing Board, said, “It was a judges’ decision in a close fight. No fighter won hands down.”
One of Williams’ financial backers, Scott Borre, lamented that Williams was trying too hard for the knockout. He also noted that Williams had spent a lot of time sparring with heavyweights this last camp out—most notably with WBO Heavyweight Champion, Lamon Brewster—and that being accustomed to the lower work rate of heavyweights may have ill-prepared him for such a furious pace, adding “he (Jolly) worked him all fight long.”
Figueroa (left) and Navarro swap blows at close range (Josh Walls photo)
Debuting lightweights Luis Navarro, 132 lbs., and Miguel Figueroa, 132.5 lbs., eschewed defense and put on a nonstop display of punching in an entertaining battle, with Figueroa ultimately prevailing with straighter punching, output and the more telling blows.
In round one, Figueroa landed three right hooks to the body. The two traded toe to toe. Figueroa pressed the first half of the round, while Navarro surged back the second half, swapping innumerable punches in the process.
Navarro was warned to keep his punches up early in round two. As the two traded freely, he caught a heavy left hook to the head and a series of follow up blows that sent him stumbling backwards. In the process, he absorbed several more damaging rights. Abused in the extreme, he fought back hard, although on unsteady legs. He caught a powerful right uppercut to the head, but pressed on. The two traded freely. However, more often then not, it was Navarro’s head that bobbled.
Clearing his head, Navarro pressed the action, landing a big right to Figueroa’s head in the process. However, he suffered a pair of rights and a pair of heavy hooks that rendered him somewhat unsteady again. Yet, he still fought on. It was a huge round for Figueroa.
Round three saw Figueroa play matador to Navarro’s bull, jabbing while Navarro slugged. The two exchanged heavy blows to the body. Figueroa was warned for low punches, and banged in a heavy right to the head; Navarro countered with a heavy right of his own. Raising the stakes, the two swapped multiple heavy head blows. Navarro crackled with a right-left hook to the head. The two raked each other with heavy body blows. Figueroa slipped in a pair of low blows, then landed a right, left-right to the head. Storming back, Navarro backed Figueroa up with a fusillade to body and head at rounds end.
Figueroa backed up Navarro in round four’s opening moments and jarred his head with a heavy right. Navarro caught multiple hooks to both body and head and was drilled with a lead right. Navarro gained momentary reprieve when he lost his mouthpiece and the referee called time.
Figueroa (right) throws a right as Navarro fires back (Josh Walls photo)
Resuming, Navarro landed with both fists. The two traded heavy blows. Figueroa drilled a sharp one-two combination to the head and missed with a big left hook. He caught a heavy right and left return, but kept the pressure on. Navarro backed up under steady bombardment. He lost his mouthpiece again and, once more, gained a break as the referee had it reinserted. Figueroa continued to rain down blows on Navarro, but also caught thudding blows to his own body. Following one potent volley, Figueroa winced and complained of a low blow. Following a short breather, he reengaged and the two closed out the round slugging toe-to-toe, to the crowd’s delight.
The judges scored the bout 36-40, 36-40 and 36-40 for Figueroa.
And thus, a beautiful night of boxing ended on a high note, courtesy of Hitz Boxing LLC.
Aaron Williams (left) and Josh Walls (Jorge Bravo photo)
Harvey Jolly (left) with new CBZ writer, Jorge Bravo (Josh Walls photo)
