By: William Holmes
The 2300 Arena, formerly known as the infamous ECW Arena, in South Philadelphia is quickly becoming a favorite destination of boxing promoters in the Philadelphia area. Peltz Boxing, Bam Boxing, and Joe Hand Promotions put on a six-fight card on Friday evening that was televised online at go fight live (gfl.tv).
The first bout of the night was between Jerome Conquest (1-1) and Kevin Garcia (0-0) in the lightweight division.
Conquest, a southpaw, took control in the first half of the bout with his straight left hands and pinpoint combinations. Garcia was able to land a few power shots of his own , but most of his punches were thrown off balance and he wasn’t able to hurt Conquest.
Garcia did have a good third round that was highlighted with a two-punch combination in the first thirty seconds that stunned Conquest. Conquest however, dug in and willingly exchanged with Garcia. The fourth round was Conquest’s best round of the night as he was able to counter Garcia very effectively whenever he rushed in.
The final scores were 40-36, 39-37, and 40-36 for Jerome Conquest.
The next bout of the night was between Ring of Combat MMA champion Jeff Lentz (4-0) and Philadelphia native Fred Jenkins (9-1) in the junior middleweight division. Both boxers had a good sized crowd in attendance.
Lentz started off in the southpaw stance and switched to orthodox and back to southpaw constantly throughout the bout. Jenkins started off the first round by landing sharp straight right hands, but Lentz outworked Jenkins with constant moving and constant punches.
Lentz continued to outwork Jenkins in the second and third rounds, though Jenkins was landing the crisper punches. Lentz ended the third round strong with a straight right.
The fourth round was close as Lentz and Jenkins spent most of the round exchanging jabs but Jenkins was the more accurate jabber. The fifth and sixth round featured hard exchanges by both men and Lentz was visibly tiring, but he still outworked and out hustled Jenkins to secure the win.
The final scores were 60-54, 60-54, 59-55 for Jeff Lentz.
The next bout of the night was between Keenan Smith (5-0) and Malik Jackson (1-5-4) in the welterweight division. Philadelphia is known for having tough competitive bouts on nearly every fight on any card. However, this bout was a mismatch.
Smith was a southpaw and gave up several inches in height to Jackson. Jackson, despite being significantly taller, could not find his range through the bout. Smith stayed in tight on Jackson and moved him around the ring with his hard left hands.
The end came in the third round when Smith hurt Jackson with a crisp left hand and then followed it up with a combination in the corner. Jackson stayed huddled up in the corner and offered no offense in response and the referee stopped the bout.
Keenan Smith won by TKO at 1:41 of the third round.
Victor Vasquez (19-7-1) met Jose L. Guzman (5-8-1) in the lightweight division.
Guzman was seven inches taller than Vasquez but was hurt early on in the first round with a hard left hook. Guzman, while still wobbly, took Vasquez down to the mat to avoid an further damage but he was close to being knocked down.
Vasquez’s right eye began to swell up in the second round, but he was still doing more damage on Guzman. Vasquez’s head movement increased in the third round, as he artfully dodged most of Guzman’s punches to get in on the inside and do damage while in tight.
Vasquez bullied Guzman in the fourth round and had pummeled his opponent by the corner and the ropes. Guzman was fading badly as the round came to an end and Vasquez unleashed another combination before referee halted the assault.
Victor Vasquez won by TKO at 2:59 of the fourth round.
The next bout of the night was between Joey Dawejko (13-3-2) and Ebonong Umohette (9-2) in the heavyweight division.
Dawejko looked to be in excellent shape and he showed he’s been working hard almost immediately. Dawejko connected with a left hook that knocked Umohette out immediately and he crashed to the mat face first. The referee didn’t even need to count and immediately waved off the fight.
Joey Dawejko wins by KO at 0:27 of the first round and expressed his desire to face Amir Mansour next.
The main event of the night was between Bergman Aguilar (12-1-1) and Jason Sosa (13-1-3) in the junior lightweight division.
Sosa has the build of a professional body builder and came out pressing the pace. Sosa was loading up on his punches in the early rounds and was able to surprise Aguilar with some hard shots, but he wasn’t putting his combinations together and at times was reaching for his punches.
Sosa had a good third round and hurt Aguliar when he unwisely decided to exchange with Sosa in the center of the ring. When Aguilar went back to his corner at the end of the third, he had blood coming out of his nose.
Sosa kept up the pressure in the fourth round and Aguilar was on the defensive and had his mouth shut tightly. Aguilar spit out a large amount of blood from his mouth after a body shot from Sosa and later turned his back to his opponent and told the referee he could not continue.
The referee stopped the bout to give Jason Sosa the TKO victory at 1:54 of the fourth round.
