Pound for Pound Promotions Results: Tapia and Sanchez Score Quick Victories

By William Holmes

First bout of the night was between Toka Khan Clary (1-0) and James Winfield (0-1) in the Super Featherweight division. Clary was quick to excite the crowd, and connected with several pin point shots and knocked Winfield down early in the first round. Winfield took an eight count and was allowed to continue, but Clary quickly ended the fight with a loud thudding left hand. The referee wisely stopped the fight at 1:16 of the first round.

The second bout was between Tyrell Wright (0-0) and Dennis Benson (1-0) in the heavyweight division. Wright is the reigning New Jersey Golden Gloves Champion and his amateur experience was evident in this bout. Benson was a solid tough first opponent for Wright, but Wright landed the cleaner punches and stronger combinations. Benson’s best round was the last round, but it was too little too late because he clearly needed the knockout. Tyrell Wright won bout with scores of 40-36, 39-37, and 39-37.

The next bout of the night was between Tyrone McKenna (0-0) and Anthony Morrison (0-0) in the welterweight division. McKenna came out in Irish Green and had a good amount of supporters in the crowd. Morrison is an MMA fighter who is trying his hand in boxing, and is a former WEC veteran. McKenna though was clearly the better boxer. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Tyrone McKenna as he simply out threw and out landed the much smaller Morrison.

Thomas “Cornflake” Lamanna (8-0) was featured in the next bout against Yolexcy Leiva (5-3) in the middleweight division. Lamanna came out to live music and what seems to be customary, had a large contingent of fans in the audience. Lamanna has been a steadily improving fighter, and was throwing from all angles and made it difficult for Leiva to guess where the punches were coming from. Lamanna scored a knockdown in the second round with several hard straight right hands and it brought the crowd to its feet. Leiva connected with a few punches in the fourth round but Lamanna was not badly fazed. Lamanna began to tire in the fifth round and was getting tagged by Leiva with more frequency, but none of Leiva’s punches had any power behind them. Lamanna scored the decision victory with scores of 57-56 for Lamanna, 57-56 for Leiva, and 58-55 for Lamanna.

A quick four round bout between Anthony Gagemi (0-0) and Jimmy Ellis (1-1) in the junior middleweight division. Anthony Gagemi is another former Golden Gloves champion who fought on tonight’s card, and he slowly wore Ellis down with vicious body blows. Gagemi trapped Ellis in the corner in the third round and landed more brutal body shows and scored the TKO at 2:26 of the sixth round.

The next bout was between two undefeated fighters in the heavyweight division, Joey Dewejko (7-0) and Dorsett Barnwell (6-0). Even though both fighters had undefeated records, neither made the fight terribly exciting and seemed content on throwing one punch at a time. It was an uninteresting affair that ended in a split decision with scores of 59-55 for Dewejko, 58-56 for Barnwell, and 58-56 for Barnwell.

The final heavyweight bout on the card was between Pat “Paddy Boy” Farrell (7-1) and Wayne Hampton (5-3). Hampton was a fighter who hasn’t fought since 2009, but he landed an early straight right hand that sent Farrell crashing to the ground in the corner in the first round, but he looked gassed immediately afterwards. The referee had to take a point away from Hampton in third round, but Hampton ignored the warnings of the referee and immediately began to blatantly hold again. The referee asked the fighter was ok and Hampton indicated he did not want to continue. The referee stopped the fight at 1:29 of the third round

Prospect Glen Tapia (14-0) and Franklin Gonzalez (15-10) were the next to fight in the middleweight division in one of the evening’s most anticipated bouts. Tapia quickly blitzed Gonazlez with combinations and knocked him down. Gonzalez was able to get back to his feet, but was knocked down again by Tapia from a four punch combination and the referee waived off the fight.

Glen Tapia continues to show that he’s a prospect that has the potential to break out in the national scene. He scored the knockout victory in 2:05 of round 1.

The main event of the night was between Joel Diaz Jr.(10-0) and Guillermo Sanchez (13-6-1) in the super featherweight division. Sanchez came out in a southpaw stance and surprised Diaz with an early straight left hand in the first round, but Diaz figured Sanchez out by the second round and had him staggered at the end of the round with a hard combination. Sanchez quit on the stool before the third round began and the fight was called off.

Joel Diaz Jr. remained undefeated with a 2nd round TKO over Guillermo Sanchez.