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11/22/2008 Archived Entry: "Perez Defeats ‘Punch-and-Grab’ Styled Mitchell for Title by Disqualification!"
Perez Defeats ‘Punch-and-Grab’ Styled Mitchell for Title by Disqualification!
By Juan C. Ayllon at ringside
Photos (unless otherwise stipulated) by Stephen Santiago
Perez (left) and Mitchell engage in the main event
HAMMOND, Ind., November 21, 2008 – It was a night filled with exciting finishes, hard contested bouts, and, unfortunately, a disappointing main liner at the Horse Shoe Casino.
There is an axiom that some hold to in boxing that goes, "if you don't cheat occasionally, you ain't trying hard enough." Tonight, Eric Mitchell applied this to its zenith. He grabbed excessively, repeatedly hit low, and wrestled in close. It was apparent that he was talented and had solid, wily veteran skills. Too bad, at least on this night, the effective use of these skills was overshadowed by flagrant fouling.
In the main event, flat-nosed Danny “Dynamite” Perez (154 lbs., 33-5, 17 KO’s) remained the aggressor and prevailed over Philadelphia’s Eric Mitchell (154 lbs., 22-4-1, 11 KO’s).
An inadvertent hint of things to come revealed itself at the tail end of one close-up exchange in the first round; The taller and lankier of the two, Perez, 31, grimaced from a low blow, prompting referee Blake Allen to give him a break.
Resuming, they traded in close where, head to shoulder, Mitchell, 39, threw several follow-up low blows in the plethora of body punches that went undetected by the ref. An infamous quote of all-time great dirty boxer Fritzie Zivic – “work the ref’s blindside” – came to mind and could be heard muttered by several observers at ringside.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding, the bell rang out, mimicking the sound of a train crossing as interpreted by middle-aged timekeeper Carol Crowell, signaling the end of round one. Connie Paige, wife of legendary Indiana boxing judge and referee Bill Paige serving next to her as knockdown timekeeper, needled her over excessive ringing of the bell. But, at least that was legal and somewhat endearing.
Kicking off round two, Perez shook his head “no” as he walked through some blows of Mitchell’s. Across his back, the blue leafy cross-like palm tree with boxing gloves hanging from it adorned the expanse of Perez’s back, underscoring his aggressive attack on Mitchell, who clutched in close and sought to counter and mix it up at close quarters.
Borrowing a page from Mixed Martial Arts, the two tied up in what appeared to be a mutual armbar attempt in the third round, prompting referee Allen to tell them to stop. Mitchell was subsequently warned that a one-point deduction would follow if he didn’t stop his excessive holding. By this time, he was regularly trapping an arm or two and then digging in sharp blows to the midsection (some low).
Mitchell was deducted one point for excessive holding in the fourth. Hostilities grew feverish. Referee Blake Allen warned them both when he tried breaking them and they continued slugging. Allen said simply, “That’s it!”
A pattern emerged in round five: Perez got off two or three shots and Mitchell grabbed. Like two stags with horns locked together, they slugged and thrashed with great angst at close quarters.
“Are you guys getting engaged, or are you going to fight?” asked one frustrated female observer at ringside, prompting several to laugh.
Mitchell was warned again for excessive holding in the sixth.
In the seventh, Mitchell began opening up, circling and peppering with crisp counters, out-boxing his relentless foe.
Mitchell (left) attacks the body inside
Then again in the ninth, Mitchell was deducted yet another point for excessive holding. Guess he didn’t like the rights coming over his shoulder or up the middle and thumping his noggin. Still, the sting of another lost point seemed to light a fire in Mitchell’s belly as he unleashed furious lefts and rights to close out the round.
Tedium sank in like a broken record. Mrs. Paige spontaneously burst into song as she watched the two trade blows. Was it a dirge? Apologizing for her, Ms. Crowell said they’d been here since 2:30 and it had been a long day. Somehow watching the laborious hit-and-grab show, I knew the feeling.
It wasn’t that there wasn’t action, for there was. It was just the incessant grappling inside, the hitting and holding by Mitchell – the stifled punching – that frustrated timekeeper and protesting audience alike. In the waning moments of round 10, Mitchell ripped a sharp right to the chin that jarred Perez, rousing the crowd and sparking a rousing finish.
More of the same in round eleven. Sharp punches punctuated grappling sessions. Mitchell dug a left into Perez’s hip at one juncture. And yet more grappling!
”This is your last warning: You will be disqualified,” referee Allen warned Mitchell. Hey, why not just shoot him—or us—and get it over with?
Referee Blake Allen performed the honors at 2:08 into the eleventh round. Perez won the USBA and WBO NABO Junior Middleweight Championship by disqualification.
Aaron Mitchell (right) has Delray Raines on the defensive
When an opponent is flown in from Kansas to fight the house guy with the stellar record, it’s generally assumed he’s good for several rounds, if that. However, Paris, Arkansas’s Delray “D-Ray” Raines wasn’t cooperating with the scheme.
Fighting for the WBO NABO Middleweight Title, Eric Mitchell’s twin, Aaron Mitchell (160 lbs., 26-1-1, 21 KO’s), found the going rougher than expected in defeating Paris, Arkansas’ Delray Raines (159.5 lbs., 15-4, 9 KO’s) over 12 rounds.
Starting off, it appeared that the smoother boxing, swarming Mitchell would have an early night of it, raking his taller, raw-boned opponent over and under with impressive looking blows.
“Keep playin’ with it, Philly, and you’ll find it!” shouted a ringsider. “Don’t force the knockout; it’s going to come.”
Raines landed a right uppercut at the bell ending the first round.
Raines grew in confidence in the third, as he began landing the jab and an assortment of blows. This prompted one ringsider to say to Mitchell, “Hey, man, you ain’t from Philly! I’m going to call Zahir Raheem on you!”
Picking it up in the fourth, Mitchell swarmed with blows, mostly blocked by a smiling Raines. Rallying in spots, Raines wasn’t lying down, and the punches he absorbed, he took well. As he walked to his corner at the bell, Raines looked back over his shoulder with a confident grin.
Raines (left) follows through with a left hook
Raines drew loud roars of approval in the fifth as he jolted Mitchell with sharp rights and uppercuts as Mitchell sought to do something. Mitchell focused more of his energies digging to Raines’s ribs and was warned to keep his blows up by referee Kurt Spivey.
Mitchell was deducted one point for low blows by Kurt Spivey in the sixth. Raines was warned for hitting on the break, but managed to land several thudding hooks to Mitchell’s head.
Raines seemed to tire early in the seventh, maintaining a tight guard as Mitchell swarmed and dominated him for the full round. At one point, Mitchell bounced a noticeably jarring right to the head along the ropes.
Taking heavy abuse in the ninth, Raines fired off a half-dozen rights and lefts at rounds end and gave Mitchell a hard shoulder brush on his way back to his corner.
Teeing off on Raines with lefts and rights in the tenth round, Mitchell dumped him into the ropes with a heavy right-left. It appeared that a stoppage victory might just be eminent. However, it was not to be as Raines fired off his customary flurry at rounds end.
Mitchell (left) unloads on Raines
The two traded hard in earnest at rounds end of the 11th, trading long beyond the bell and forcing referee Spivey to forcibly separate them.
Almost as if on cue, ring card girl, Jolina, did the splits with the 12th round placard over her head.
Mitchell did not disappoint, as he teed off on Raines with fierce abandon in the 12th and final round. However, after absorbing heavy abuse, Raines dug back in spots as Mitchell caught a breather. Trapping him on the ropes, he raked him with rights and lefts, bobbling his head with occasional rights. The two traded blows to the final bell, prompting cheers from the crowd.
Judges scored the bout 118-110 twice and 119-109 for Mitchell, who won the WBO NABO Middleweight Title with this unanimous decision win.
Afterwards, Raines said, “I feel good! He had hundreds of amateur bouts; I didn’t have any. I did all right!”
Contestabile (right) lands a hard right on Terrance Roy
Fighting like two whirling dervishes hopped up on caffeine, Rippley, Tennessee’s Terrance Roy (142 lbs., 9-28, 1 KO) and Italy’s Giampiero Contestabile (132.5 lbs., 11-0, 6 KO’s) pitched an entertaining, if one-sided battle, with Contestabile prevailing inside five rounds.
In the second, Roy dropped clutching his eye, apparently pained by a possible thumbing and was warned later by referee Blake Allen to take it easy for follow-up roughhouse tactics.
In the third, Constestabile dropped Roy with a short straight left to the ear. As Cotestabile rushed in to take advantage in a strong rally, they tangled up in the rope and a grimacing Roy complained, “It’s a F—ing knee!”
This just wasn’t Roy’s day.
Contestabile dropped Roy with a flourish in the fourth and hit him while he was down, prompting Roy to jump up and rush him. Referee Allen intervened and a little later, Roy dropped from a hard right to the chin. Another single right to the jaw dropped Roy to the ropes. Bouncing back, he thudded into the arms of referee Allen who asked him, “Do you want to go?” Roy answered in the affirmative and the bell ended the bout moments later.
Italian boxer Contestabile gets a warm congratulations from the ring card girls on his victory
In the fifth, Roy went down from an accumulation of blows, the last being a hard jab. It wasn’t long before he went down a last time from another searing right. That was it. Referee Allen waved off the bout at 2:39 into round five.
Joey Hernandez (left) bounces a hard left off the jaw of rugged Jesse Davis (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
The slicker boxing Joey “Twinkle Fingers” Hernandez (156 lbs., 14-0, 7 KO’s) from Miami, Florida found the going tougher than expected versus Jackson, Tennessee’s Jesse Davis (153.5 lbs., 10-11, 7 KO’s) as he stopped him inside four rounds.
In a fast-paced mill, the two jarred each other in the second, forcing Hernandez to circle and hold more than he may have anticipated.
Hernandez drilled Davis with a huge straight left that drew oohs from the crowd and knocked him into the ropes in the third round. Still, Davis pressed on with lefts and rights and forced Hernandez to hold on as he tired in the latter minute of the round.
Hernandez drilled Davis with hard single straight lefts in the fourth. As the two traded in close, Hernandez was warned for shoving a forearm into Davis’ throat. Hernandez exploded with great gusto as he rained an avalanche of blows that batted Davis’ head to and fro, prompting referee Spivey to halt the bout at 2:15 into the fourth. Even so, Davis appeared lucid and steady at the time of the stoppage.
Carl Davis slams a hard right into the chest of Wallace McDaniel as referee Kurt Spivey looks on
Chicago’s hard-punching heavyweight Carl “Iron Fist” Davis (238 lbs., 11-2, 8 KO’s) made short work of Wallace McDaniel (296 lbs., 8-20-1, 4 KO’s), flattening him inside one round.
A hard left jab dropped McDaniel in the first minute. A winding uppercut dropped McDaniel for an eight count and a follow-up barrage of rights to the ribs dropped him for good, as he was counted out at 1:31 into the first.
Kurt Spivey served as referee.
Cedrick Agnew (right) staggers Demetrius Jenkins (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
Chicago’s undefeated light heavyweight prospect Cedrick Agnew (174.5 lbs., 9-0, 4 KO’s) defeated Detroit, Michigan’s Demetrius Jenkins (168 lbs., 21-15-1, 16 KO’s) over 6 rounds by unanimous decision, knocking down Jenkins in the fifth round with a right-left hook combination.
Afterwards, Agnew said that one of his elbows troubled him, forcing him to try and avoid contact on it, and would have an M.R.I. performed on it as soon as possible.
Cedrick Agnew mugs for the camera after his victory (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
Interestingly enough, Bernie Barhmasel, publicist of 8 Count Productions in Chicago, suggested that Agnew might do well to take on Chicago's Mike Nevitt in the near future for a fan-friendly showdown in Chicago. Either way, there's plenty of possibilities for this hungry young fighter.
Covington, Tennessee’s Donnell Logan (10-17-2, 5 KO’s) stopped Avezzano, Italy’s Ivan Fiorlettas (22-4-2, 5 KO’s) at 1:04 into the sixth round.
Burbank, California’s Johnny Suarez (2-1-2, 1 KO) stopped Covington, Tennessee’s Rodney Freeman (5-10, 3 KO’s) at 2:50 into the first round.
Memphis, Tennessee’s Ira Terry (19-1, 10 KO’s) stopped Michigan City, Indiana’s Leroy Newton (6-12-1, 4 KO’s) at 58 seconds into the first.
Debuting Florida’s Eli Augustam defeated Memphis, Tennessee’s Tyrone Dowdy (4-16, 3 KO’s) at 1:54 into the third round.
Covington, Tennessee’s Chris Budd (5-0, 3 KO’s) knocked out Patrick Walker of Kokomo, Indiana (0-1) at 59 seconds into the first round.
Foster Knodo (1-0) of Cameroon defeated DeGary Burbridge of Cincinnati, OH by TKO at :54 into the first round.
Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini with Stephen Santiago (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
Acclaimed Chicago news anchor Walter Jacobsen (right) with Stephen Santiago at ringside (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
Stephen Santiago with the ring announcer Steven Carbo (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
Giampiero Contestabile (right) and Stephen Santiago touch fists in a lighter moment following the fights (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
The show was promoted by Richie Boy Entertainment LLC
