Jaron “Boots” Ennis Wins Tenth Straight in Eleven Months Friday in Philly!
By: Ken Hissner
Welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 10-0 (8), the hottest prospect out of Philadelphia since the 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Meldrick Taylor in the main event at the 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia Friday, defeated James “Shotgun” Winchester, 20-13 (8), Reidsveille, NC, over six rounds on all cards 60-53 by judges Rose Vargas, James Kinney and Bernard Bruni as did this writer on the Victory Boxing Promotions show.
In the first round Ennis dominated with a body attack over the veteran Winchester through half the third round. Frustrated Winchester picked Ennis up and body slammed him and punched him before referee Shawn Clark pulled him off. This was the start of Winchester’s dirty tactics the remainder of the fight trying to get DQ’d to prevent further punishment Ennis was dishing out. In the fifth Ennis cut Winchester over the right eye. The entire last three rounds referee Clark continuously pulled Winchester off of Ennis especially when he would get him on the ropes.
Ennis went from southpaw to orthodox and it was like the bull against the matador as Ennis gave Winchester a vicious body beating but somehow stayed on his feet. In the sixth and final round Ennis pummeled Winchester with head shots having him beat to a pulp but got tied up immediately whenever Winchester was close enough to grab him. The referee could have stopped the fight at any time from the third round on but to the delight of the fans Ennis gave him a beating. “I want to thank all my fans for coming out tonight and my corner (his father and trainer Bozy),” said Ennis.
In the co-feature super bantamweight Manny “Major Pain” Folly, 10-0 (8), of Philly, continued his unbeaten streak stopping veteran Luis “Barcello” Hinijosa, 30-11 (17), of Santo Domingo, DR, after scoring a pair of knockdowns at 2:10 of the second round.
Referee Eric Dali counted him out on one knee. Folly is a Philly policeman with trainer Buddy Osborn in the corner. Folly is a top prospect who trains out of Osborn’s Rock Ministry Gym in the Kensington section of Philly.
“I worked hard in the gym and thank my opponent for taking the fight on short notice and the fight itself was easy,” said Folly.
Super middleweight Darren “Venom” Goodall, 5-0 (4), of New Milford, NJ, scored a technical stoppage at 1:51 of the second round over Juan Zapata, 4-11-2 (2), of the Bronx, NY.
Goodall scored knockdowns in the first and second rounds with combinations to the head of Zapata on both knockdowns. He brought plenty of fans from NJ who cheered him on. Goodall was very impressive in this win. “I went in the box him but when the openings came I put the punches together dropping him,” said Goodall. Top Cut-man Joey Eye was in his corner. It was the ninth time in Zapata’s eleven losses he was stopped.
17 year-old welterweight Brandun Lee, 2-0 (2), of Pasadena, CA, defeated overmatched Seth Basler, 0-1 (0), out of Marion, IL, at 2:12 of the first round. Basler was on the defense the entire round getting dropped once before referee Dali wisely stopped the onslaught.
When both fighters were announced with one a National Amateur champion and the other a debuting MMA fighter it was obvious what the outcome was going to be before the first bell sounded.
In the opening bout Joshua, “Hands of Stone” Jones, 4-0-1 (3), out of Philly, had an easy night defeating the muscular Dustin Arnold, 1-1 (0), of Coral Springs, FL, by scores of judges Vargas and Kinney of 40-36 as did this writer and 39-37 by judge Bruni.
Jones used angles on Arnold who occasionally landed an overhand right to the head of Jones. Otherwise he was completely outclassed. “It felt good getting back into the ring (3 postponed fights) and winning before my fans tonight,” said Jones.
The half-filled arena fans were very disappointed expecting at least an eight bout card that by fight time was reduced to five bouts by the promoter/matchmaker Chris Middendorf. Box Rec had twelve bouts scheduled during the week with only the top two bouts opponents listed. When people like this writer sat in $75 ringside seats (barred from press row) that’s $15 per fight. The fans deserve more than this.
Philly’s Keenan Smith, Elijah Vines and Angel Pizarro were scheduled up until the week of the fight only to find out at the Thursday weigh-in none of their opponents showed and had to return sold tickets. This is back to back lopsided fights by Victory Boxing Promotions with their shows especially lacking the Spanish boxers that Philly fans fill the arenas. How the Boxing Director continues to allow these mismatches is a mystery. Middendorf is a veteran boxing man who previously worked for TKO Boxing and Mike Tyson’s promotion with both ending up out of the business.
Discombobulating Jones was the ring announcer doing his usual fine job.
