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01/24/2007 Archived Entry: "A ‘Speedy’ Comeback—Not!"
A ‘Speedy’ Comeback—Not!
Romine defeats returning Gonzalez by split decision; Williams dominates Davis with lopsided UD
By Juan C. Ayllon at ringside
Photos by Luis Ayllon
Romine (right) welcomes Gonzalez back to the ring with his fleeter fists
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – IT certainly wasn’t the comeback bout he’d imagined. Bleeding from a deep, one-inch wide gash on his swollen left brow, Al “Speedy” Gonzalez trudged forward, blows bouncing off his head, and swung for the rafters. And he lost.
At 7-1-1 and two knockouts, Nelson Romine, 26, didn’t have the pedigree of Gonzalez (16-2-1, 7 KO’s), who’d fought contenders Oscar Diaz and Demetrius Hopkins and had hellacious sparring sessions with the likes of WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. However, Romine had speed and crisp punching, which trumped Gonzalez’s brawling and higher volume punching style tonight.
And, Gonzalez was returning from a two year layoff.
In the first, Romine bounced a lead left hook off Gonzalez’s jaw. Gonzalez worked him over and under with a profusion of lefts and rights to the body, at one point trapping Romine on the ropes. Romine caromed another potent left hook and uppercut off Gonzalez’s chin. However, Gonzalez continued banking blows to the body at round’s end.
Round two looked like more of the same. Surging, Gonzalez rained lefts and rights on Romine. He caught a sharp left to the head, but resumed the bludgeoning. Then, as the bell rang moments later, blood streamed down his face from a nasty gash over his left brow.
Like that, Romine’s stock rose. Even though his punch output remained lower than Gonzalez's, his crisp lefts and rights drilled home with authority.
In the third, Romine drilled a sharp right to the brow as they traded, and bounced a hard left to the head. Gonzalez’ brow bled badly. Still, Gonzalez smiled at Romine after Romine bounced blows off his head. He ripped thudding blows to Romine’s sides. Gonzalez landed the higher volume blows, but Romine’s quick left hooks continued to bounce off his head.
In the fourth, a jarring left hook bounced off Gonzalez’s jaw. The crowd roared. As Gonzalez banged away with four and five punch volleys, a right snapped Romine’s head back. A counter left hook seemed to stun Gonzalez momentarily, then a big right. Romine raised both hands in the air at the bell.
In a heated fifth, Romine bounced a six-punch flurry off Gonzalez. Moments later, Gonzalez backed Romine to the ropes with a similar volley of his own. Romine began landed sharply in spots. Firing off the ropes with blazing fists, Romine awakened another Gonzalez rally. Pinning Romine to the ropes, Gonzalez flailed body and head with both fists. The two traded at the bell.
Romine appeared to kick into a higher gear in the sixth and final round, bouncing very quick, crisp lefts and rights off Gonzalez’s head. He was simply beating Gonzalez to the punch. Still, Gonzalez pressed. A right sent spray off Romine’s head. Wiping blood from his brow, Gonzalez desperately tried mounting a rally. A crisp left hook drove Gonzalez back on his heels. Gonzalez continued to press, but to no avail.
Judges scored the bout 58-56 twice for Romine, and 58-56 for Gonzalez, granting Romine a split-decision win.
It remains to be seen where Gonzalez goes from here.
In the main event, Aaron Williams, 201 lbs., 10-0-1 and seven knockouts continued to look like a solid prospect as he pitched a shutout over outclassed, but durable Charles Davis, 203 lbs., 17-11-1.
Williams started off quickly in the first round, jabbing, hooking the body and placing sharp rights on target. Davis dropped to his knees from a delayed reaction, apparently from a body shot. Williams surged, drilling body and head. Again, Davis sank to his knees and, again, on a delayed basis.
In the second, a right snapped Davis’ head back. Occasionally pot-shotting with lead rights, Williams continued to mix his punches well behind a stiff jab and superior footwork.
In the third, Davis bounced a slapping left hook to the jaw—one of the few headshots he landed thus far. Nonplussed, Williams continued pitching a shutout, maintaining an effective guard and peppering his foe with jabs, rights and hooks as he circled.
During a clinch in the fourth, Williams smiled at me.
A hard right jarred Davis towards rounds end as Williams stepped up the pressure. The one sided drubbing had a quieting effect on the audience. In the fifth, a heckler shouted “Quiet everybody, they’re boxing!”
He buckled Davis with a led right to the head, drilled him to the chest, and—like that—got up on his bicycle and worked his boxing skills. His opponent wasn’t going anywhere, so he made the most of it, honing his skills for tougher bouts down the road.
In the sixth and final round, Williams wound up and ripped a right uppercut to the abdomen as he worked Davis over and under.
The judges scored the bout 60-52, 59-54 and 60-52 for Aaron Williams.
What began as a good slugfest slugfest, quickly turned to a rout. Yazmin Mohammed (123 lbs., 7-14-1) and Francisco Rodriguez (123 lbs., 7-1) traded furiously in the opening seconds of the first. Then, like that, Mohammad dropped hard from a left to the jaw. A follow up rally punctuated by another thudding left hook dumped him into a seated position on the ropes, where he received an eight count by referee Gerald Scott.
Resuming, Rodriguez pounced with lefts and rights. A smashing overhand right found Mohammad’s chin. Stiffening, Mohammed froze. Moments later, he pitched forward face forward. Referee Scott waved off the bout at 40 seconds into round one for as convincing a knockout as I’ve seen in a while.
A very confident Ninos Abraham had “3-0” shaved into his close-cropped hair prior to the bout. He was proved right, as he pounced on James Lundy with both fists. A right hook staggered Lundy backwards and a looping left hook dropped Lundy hard. After a close look, referee Mat Podgorsky waved the bout off at 49 seconds into round one.
As advertised, Chicago’s Abraham, 169 lbs., improved to 3-0, while Indianapolis’ Lundy, 169 lbs., dropped to 0-2-1.
Looking hardly a day over 14, Baby faced Joseph Linenfelser, 169 lbs., 2-0, showed some skills, dropped shorter Troy Higgins, 174 lbs., 0-3, twice and halted him at 2:40 into round two.
It was sometimes entertaining, but by and large one-sided as Ottu Holifield (164 lbs., 7-2-0) boxed, then battered and bloodied Pat Coleman (164 lbs., 29-12-0). Yet, for all his efforts, he could not put the perrenial opponent away. Holifield walked away with a one-sided unanimous decision win [Editor's note: scores were accidentally deleted] over six rounds.
Thus, Hitz Boxing Promotions' night of boxing at the spacious Sears Centre was compelling and entertaining. And, it certainly didn't play out quite like we'd imagined.
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