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12/16/2005 Archived Entry: "D-Train Roars Through Kennedy!"
D-Train Roars Through Kennedy!
Utica Observer-Dispatch
December 2005 - #2
By Dave Iamele
Photos by Marianne Iamele
Brown (left) pounces on Kennedy (photo by Marianne Iamele)
Verona, NY (Dec. 10, 2005) The roar of the crowd at The Turning Stone’s Event Center must have seemed like a 1,000 people welcoming Utica’s heavyweight Derrick Brown back home. As Brown—now a trim 213 lbs.—made his way to the ring, cries of “Deerricckk!” filled the arena and brought a quick smile from the “D-Train.” It was easy to spot Brown’s nervous energy as he bounded into the ring and bounced around like a pin-ball. His manager, Chip Pugliese, paced around ringside like an expectant father in a hospital waiting room. Across the ring, Brown’s 235-lb. opponent, Ricardo Kennedy, stood in his corner shooting his gloves out, getting loose. He shot Brown a wary glance as if he was having a premonition of his brief stay in the ring that evening.
As diminutive ring announcer Bill Keeler introduced Brown, the crowd shouted in approval, and when Keeler stated Brown’s new chiseled weight of 213, a shout of “Whoo!” rang out. Brown’s smile grew even larger at the outburst. You didn’t need to be a psych major to perceive how pleased Brown was to be back in business in front of this home crowd. When Brown and Kennedy touched gloves in ring center, it may well have been the only time in the brief bout that Kennedy’s leather touched Derrick Brown.
If Derrick was concerned about Kennedy’s power (14 KOs in his 14 wins), he didn’t show it. I believe the youngsters would describe Mr. Brown’s rapid assault of Mr. Kennedy as a “bum-rush.” Brown shot out a terrific blow that landed with a heavy thud square upon Kennedy’s chest and sent him stumbling backward into the ropes. Kennedy never got a chance to return to ring center as a rapid series of serious blows incapacitated the overwhelmed Kennedy and forced the referee to intervene at the 1:01 mark of Round One. If fans had any doubts about the stoppage, they were clearly laid to rest at the sight of Kennedy folding stiffly onto the stool hastily provided for him, with his eyes still glazed over.
After over a three-year absence, Brown’s return lasted a brief 61 seconds, but the crowd shouted its approval as the baldheaded Brown beamed. It was just like old times. Brown’s manager hugged him with a mixture of elation and relief written on his face. Chip and Derrick knew that taking on Ricardo Kennedy, now (14-9-1 with 14 KOs), was a calculated risk. In the heavyweight division, one good shot can be a fight-ender, and that’s why fight fans are particularly enamored with the big guys. Brown’s Blitzkrieg of Kennedy never allowed that consideration into play.
After his name was announced as the winner (now 12-2-1 with 10 KOs), Brown held his baby girl high over his head in center-ring. His thick, ebony muscles glistened under the hot, bright lights as he smiled up at the love of his life, and the beautiful baby just stared back. Her big brown eyes shined with amusement as she took in the circus-like atmosphere surrounding her.
As Brown very slowly made his way back to the locker room, he was mobbed by people. Mink enshrouded “playas” as well as families with their youngsters in tow gathered around to congratulate Derrick on his successful return, and he generously signed autographs and posed for photos, clearly enjoying his return to the spotlight.
When Brown eventually made his way back stage, I first congratulated him on his victory and then immediately got down to business:
DI: “How’d you feel out there tonight?”
DB: “I feel great! I feel great! Man, ugh!”
DI: “Are you glad to have this one finally over?”
DB “Definitely! Definitely! There was a little bit of ring-rust, but let me tell you I was feeling this guy out, you know, he’s a big guy, so anything can happen. So he was comin’ and I was ready for him to try to get the rush on, so I was just being a little fleet-footed and doing what I had to do. Then he just wanted to sit there, so I was just ‘here, take this hook with you then…here, take this right hand!’ I know the right hand caught him! That was why his eye was all ugh!”
DI: “The first shot that sent him stumbling back looked like the old solar-plexus punch.”
DB: “Yeah, I was trying to interrupt his heart beat there!”
DI: “What’s next? Back here in February?”
DB: “Yeah, February! The D-Train is back on track!”
DI: “How did it feel being 213 lbs. in there tonight?”
DB: “Oh man! 213…it’s been almost 230 to 235 lbs., my goodness! If I can be sharp at this weight—that’s what we do! That’s what we do! I mean all that training and all that running—I felt so nice and light!”
DI: “Six rounds next time?”
DB: “Oh yeah…”
At this time more level-headed members of “Team Brown” curb our enthusiasm and state that another four-round bout before advancing on to a six rounder may be the more prudent route. “I’m glad that he won the bout and he showed a lot to me, but let us work our way in there. I mean, I’m very impressed with what I saw in there, but one more four-rounder, then we’ll go to six. I guess we’re all teachers…” stated Brown’s corner man, Bernard Grimes. “I guess that means I can’t go to recess yet,” Brown shot back, smiling.
Although there wasn’t a lot of fight to analyze in Brown’s one-round demolition, his handlers still had some constructive criticism for Brown. It was pointed out that when he had his man hurt, he may have been a little over-anxious for the KO and did a bit too much head-hunting, neglecting the body.
“Gottcha. Next time I’ll put it on him. Next time, I promise you. See, I’m still learning!” was Brown’s sincere reply to his “teacher.” The only one on hand that could have rivaled Brown for sheer happiness was his manager, Pugliese, who was constantly fielding cell-phone calls of congratulations.
Overall, the entire card was a crowd pleaser with the exception of the main event between Lajuan Simon and Richard “The Alien” Grant. Simon convincingly outworked the pot-shoting Grant to earn a unanimous decision in a bout that lacked sizzle.
Rochester’s Russell Jordon scored the only “clean” KO over tough Max Cuevas of West Palm, FL, at 2:13 of Round Three. Just as I began to think that the lighter hitting Cuevas might outwork Jordon, a series of powerful, lightening-like punches crumpled his man in ring center for the ten-count. “I’m proud of Russell,” manager Pugliese said. “He was in there with a tough kid.”
As I hinted at in my last column, the East Coast vs. West Coast duel between undefeated Cindy Serrano (Brooklyn) and Rhonda Luna (Ontario, CA) was the most closely contested bout, and even ended in a draw. From the crowd reaction, many on hand believed Luna deserved the nod, but everyone was pleased to hear that these featherweight ladies would be back in the future at The ‘Stone for a rematch.
Newark’s Alexis Perez and Philly’s Patrick Lopez kept their undefeated streaks alive with TKOs in the second and third rounds respectively. Perez advances to 3-0 with 3 KOs, and Lopez brings his tally up to 4-0 with 4 KOs.
Jamar Patterson (left) in previous bout vs. Terrance Thomas on October 21, 2005
As I stated, the fans at The ‘Stone got their monies-worth this past Saturday night with the only “blemish” of the evening being the nonappearance of Utica’s Young Prince, Jamar Patterson, which brings me to Part 2 of my column -
Where was Jamar?
Fans in attendance Saturday night surely wondered where Utica’s “Young Prince,” Jamar Patterson, was. Patterson was conspicuous by his absence as he was prominently featured on the advertising for the card. After talking with a few of the key people involved, I think it would be safe to say that the whole thing really boiled down to a miscommunication/misunderstanding.
Most boxing fans don’t realize the incredible amount of work involved in “producing” a live boxing card. If you ask anyone involved with the entertainment at The ‘Stone what would be easier to put on, boxing or… [fill in just about anything else]…the answer inevitably would be just about anything else. Boxing is the toughest, hands down. There are so many factors involved in setting up even just one match on a card that it seems to be a miracle that fights cards ever come together. Why do you think there is a disclaimer in all fight-card advertising that basically says “fight card subject to change.”? That’s on there because anyone who has been involved with even just one boxing show knows the headaches they instill.
I’ll give you an example of just one problem to consider that every match on every boxing card faces: the opponent. Seems simple enough, right? You have your fighter, so now who’s he going to fight?
This one factor is a Rubik’s Cube of a problem. Step one is pretty obvious: the guy’s got to be the right weight. Next, you want a “good match-up,” meaning a competitive bout—but you want your guy to win. This part’s a little tricky. And in boxing, naturally the logic is almost inverse. The fewer fights that a boxer has had, the harder it is to successfully match him. Additionally, please consider that a “good opponent” means almost a completely different animal to the manager, the promoter, the venue, or the TV sponsor (if applicable).
It’s the manager’s job to move his kid along properly, and a big part of that is getting the right level of opposition. A good example of bad match-making was the recent bout featuring Lou DiBella-promoted Jason “The Don” Coddrington, who was 9-0 with 9 KOs at the time. The Don’s opponent had twice as many bouts and had just as much power. The Don was knocked cold in 18 seconds. That kind of fearless match-making can ruin a kid quick.
On the other hand, any criticism thus far of the natural progression of Jamar Patterson’s career would be unfair, in my opinion. He’s had four fights, and he’s won four fights. Some fans may be critical of the judges and the referee of two of those particular bouts, but that shouldn’t reflect poorly on Jamar; he did his job.
I should state also that I don’t subscribe to the theory that any bout scoring or officiating has occurred at The ‘Stone in order to “protect” Jamar Patterson. The referee’s job is to protect the fighters and is especially important in four-round fights where the boxers are still inexperienced. The judges, of course, are supposed to accurately score the fight they are seeing, not award points to the local fighter or the fighter with the powerful promoter or the HBO contract.
In these two cases in question, I think Jamar’s 2nd bout, which was a close one, could have been a draw since a point was taken from Jamar for a foul, and Jamar’s last bout should have gone on and not been stopped. But, it’s easy for me or you to second-guess officials, and of course, controversial calls and questionable officiating are problems not unique to The Turning Stone or even to boxing; we sport fans see them all the time.
The fact that Jamar’s fight was scheduled to be a six-rounder indicates that both Jamar and his manager are willing to step it up. Bearing in mind that it would only have been his fifth bout, and also that his previous four bouts only totaled about seven rounds, I’d say the progression of Jamar’s career certainly wouldn’t be labeled as slow. As for fighting guys with better records, that comes with time. You want to build a young fighter’s confidence and let him gain experience before you really test him. If you considered 90 percent of the boxers with records like 20-0, while that may seem pretty impressive at first blush, when you look at their opponents’ records, you’ll notice they’re lousy—especially a guy’s first ten or so opponents. After that, it’s time to find out if your fighter is “the goods” or not.
If you look at young Samuel Peter’s boxing career, you’ll see what I mean. He fought some bums and then gradually faced better competition until he was 20-0 with an impressive number of KOs. Then his backers put him in with Wladimer Klitschko, and he suffered his first defeat over 12 rounds. Bad match-making? No. Here’s why: Peter made good money, it was a good gage of his skills, and it showed where improvement needed to be made. Peter had Klitschko down three times, and with more experience, and if he can learn to make adjustments during bouts, he will go on to be a better fighter for the experience.
So, you can see from just the difficulties involved in selecting the right opponent at the right time that putting on even one boxing match is no picnic. Even when the “right guy” is found, he still must pass his physical, make weight, and, most importantly, show up! This time things didn’t fall into place for Jamar, so he didn’t fight. Hopefully, everything will go smoother in February, and we’ll see him in action at The ‘Stone. Maybe a rematch of his last opponent would be a good choice in order to make everyone reasonably happy? If Jamar doesn’t fight at The ‘Stone, the real losers are Jamar and his fans who want to see him in action. All I can say is I’m hopeful that we’ll see the Young Prince continue his career here at The ‘Stone in February.
Portions of this article were originally published as 'Brown Receives Welcome Home' in the Utica Observer-Dispatch on Thursday, December 15, 2005. Reprinted with permission.
