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10/15/2006 Archived Entry: "Manfredo-Spina Ringside Fight Report"
Manfredo Punishes Spina!
KO Kid KO’d in Three
By J.D. Vena at ringside
Providence, RI - After all of the hoopla, it was the “Pride of Providence,” Peter Manfredo, Jr. that proved to be the toast of the town. In just over seven minutes of boxing, Manfredo, 167 ½, toasted previously unbeaten cross-town rival, Joey “KO Kid” Spina in front of all of their friends and fans last night at the Dunkin Donut Center, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he is the city‘s best boxer. He may have also guaranteed himself a shot at the shot Roy Jones, Jr. sweepstakes.
Young Peter pulverized the heavily muscled Spina, 168, and won emphatically in front of an audience that preferred Peter before the fight had even begun. Reminiscent of his last fight, a one-sided beating over the aged Scott Pemberton, Peter excited the crowd with his crunching power, what some said he would lack moving up to the super-middleweight division since the 1st season of the Contender last year. As had been the case in his bout it Pemberton, it took until the second round for the 26 year old to put on the hurtin.’
In the first round, Peter seemed to be comfortable with landing a couple of counter shots until Spina appeared to have stunned him with a hammering left hook at the end of the first round. Spina followed up with a volley of shots until the bell that was drowned by the eruption of the crowd. Spina appeared to find some success when Peter was on the ropes. It was something Manfredo understood as he kept the fight in the middle of te ring for the remainder of the short fight, if it could be called that. Despite the clear size advantage Spina had, Peter did not let Spina become the stronger of the two.
Early the second round Manfredo began landing his vicious counter shots and by the end of the round Peter couldn’t miss the perplexed Spina with his right hand. Peter was beginning to land with such regularity that it seemed even the cocksure Spina knew that the fight wasn’t going to go his way any time soon.
Manfredo couldn’t miss had he been blindfolded whether it was his lead right hands or left looks. It also appeared that the now dulled Spina wouldn’t be savvy enough to land anything close to what he had hit him with in the first round. Midway though the third, Manfredo landed a crunching right which dropped Spina for the second time in his career. Spina took his time getting up but also had difficulty getting to his feet. By the time he did, it didn’t take too many shots or much to convince referee Charlie Dwyer to halt the one-sided affair at 1:01 of the round.
“I never wanted this fight,” Manfredo admitted afterward. “I never wanted to have to fight anyone from Rhode Island but he did all of the talking to make this happen. I guess he made his money now, but he had to take the beating of his life for it.”
Shortly before he had hit the canvas, Spina seemed to be waving his left hand around claiming afterwards it was broken but the fact that he couldn’t throw it didn’t factor in that Peter’s right hands could land over it at any time he wanted.
As mentioned earlier and in other reports, there has been talk of Manfredo, now 26-3 with 12 KO’s, taking on Roy Jones, Jr. in what would be another good payday for the well rounded boxer, Manfredo. For Jones’ sake, he better hope that Manfredo fights someone that will truly ready him to meet the like of the division kingpin, Joe Calzaghe. For the game but limited Spina, now 18-1-1 with 14 KO’s, a shot at being the contender he had hoped to become may need to start from scratch.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, hard punching Allan “Sweetness” Green of Tulsa, OK stopped reluctant Jerson Ravelo of Newark, NJ at 2:24 of the 8th and final round. There was very little action despite the fact that the winner, now 23-0 with 15 KOs had predicted and easy knockout victory. It appeared throughout the night that he could have done so had he pressed the action more.
The first several rounds were uneventful with Ravelo fighting nervously, and Green pursuing him without much of a jab or a sense to press the action. Whatever Ravelo was feeling inside was somewhat justified. Every time Green had landed a solid punch, he got Ravelo’s respect.
Ravelo, a former Domincan Olympian snuck in a few right hands but wasn’t interested in throwing many follow ups. Perhaps it was one of those rights from Green that may have hurt Ravelo and reminded him that he has a questionable chin.
In the 8th, it was a stiff left hook from Green that made his green foe fall to the canvas. Ravelo showed guts in getting to his feet but a now reinvigorated Green to finish what he finally started. Green sent Ravelo through the ropes for the second knockdown and then referee Joe Lopino stopped the contest when a desperate Ravelo walked into some shots that all but sent him down for a third time.
“I gave myself a ‘C’ tonight,” said Green. “I wasn’t doing what my coaches were telling me. I don’t think I warmed up enough. I’m going to take the rest of the year off and hopefully something big comes up.”
Ravelo is now 17-2 with 12 KO’s and will need big win to be considered among the division‘s up ad coming prospects..
The two did little to show that they belonged with cream of the young American super middleweight class that includes Anthony Hanshaw, and now Manfredo.
In the third round of his pro debut, Pawtucket’s Jose Sanchez, 126, dropped Rasool Shakoor, 126 ½, with a well-timed right hand, and put on the finishing touches in the 4th and final round, again courtesy of his right hand shots. After the second knockdown of the 4th, referee Charlie Dwyer stopped the contest at the 2:20 mark.
In the wild opening bout, Pawtucket’s Eddie Soto, 136, remained unbeaten when he outpointed Boston’s Felisberto Fernandes, 134 ½, over four rounds. The bout was competitive with both landing wild punches. With less than 10 seonds remaining in the final frame Soto dropped his opponent with an overhand right. By the time referee Joey Lopino finished his mandatory 8-count, the final bell had rung. Soto, who won by 3 scores of 40-35 improved to 6-0 while Fernandes fell to 4-5 with 2 KO’s.
In a swing bout Philadelphia’s “Hammerin’ Hank Lundy, 138, improved to 2-0 with 2 KO’s when he easily dispatched Mike Williams, 131, of Tuscaloosa, AL in the first round. Charlie Dwyer stopped the fight at 2:20 of the round after Williams went down the second time from body shots.
Promoter - The Contender in association with Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & SportsNetwork - ESPN2
