By: Matthew N. Becher
Live from the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, New York, Top Rank Promotions presented two of its undefeated fringe contenders. Presented by TruTV, one of the last platforms not locked up by Al Haymon and his Premier Boxing Champions, the monthly scheduled Metro PCS Friday Fight Night gave opportunites for two undefeated, ranked fighters to show off what they have to a mass audience and possibly land big fights with world champions in the future.
The first fight was in the Welterweight division between undefeated Brad Solomon (25-0 9KO) and Raymond Serrano (21-2 9KO). Solomon is 32 years old and comes from a highly touted amateur background, where he won 3 national golden gloves and defeated the likes of Danny Garcia. Serrano will be Solomon’s toughest opponent to date, a 26 year old from Philadelphia who is trained by the great Buddy McGirt and has only 2 losses to very established boxers, Emmanuel Taylor and Karim Mayfield.
The Main event pits two brawlers into the ring. Sean Monaghan (25-0 16KO) is a Long Island native that carries a huge NY following whenever he fights. He has recently been ranked on all of the major sanctioning bodies top 10 lists at the light heavyweight division and looks to add an established name to his resume. His opponent, Donovan George (25-4-2 22KO) is a tough nose fighter who is coming off of a suspension and major hand surgery. George has been a super middleweight contender and will be moving up for the first time to 175lb. He has a resume with names such as Edwin Rodriguez, Caleb Truax and Adonis Stevenson. He will be Monahan’s biggest name to date.
Brad Solomon (25-0 9KO) v. Raymond Serrano (21-2 9KO): Welterweight
Neither one of these fighters are known for having exceptional knockout power, but you never know when you bring in guys and put them on a national network on a Friday night what you might get. In this case, neither showed anything exceptional.
Solomon controlled most of the rounds just by pot shotting and staying away from anything dangerous.
The early rounds had moments where Serrano seemed game, kept his hands moving, but was never able to land a dominant power shot or combination. Neither boxer was ever actually able to put any good combinations together for the entire ten round match. And towards the mid-way point of the fight, clinches and head butts seemed to be the dominant happenings.
Solomon tried to duplicate the style that made Roy Jones Jr. so good. Hands down, luring your opponent in, only to demolish them with a quick overhand right or 2-3 power combination. Solomon did this very well, except for the quickness or power that the great RJJ possessed.
In the end, Solomon didn’t show anything that may have helped him land a big fight in the future, especially in a division that is very stacked with talent.
Solomon UD10 100-90, 98-92, 97-93
Sean Monaghan (25-0 16KO) v. Donovan George (25-4-2 22KO): Light Heavyweight
In a fight that matched up two guys that only no one way of fighting, going forward and throwing bombs, this one did not disappoint. Nobody thought this fight would go the distance, but both men showed their grit and determination to challenge the others chin.
Monaghan was the busier fighter, landing a good deal of his shots, and able to show he could take punishment in return. George, the naturally smaller fighter, did what he came to do and that was fight. George is coming off an 18 month layoff, due to a suspension and hand surgery. Both of these guys exchanged at a rapid rate, at least equally for the first 3 rounds, and then another story took over for the rest of the fight.
During some point of the third round, Donovan George, broke his reconstructively repaired right hand. In the fourth round it was apparent that the hand was no good. Every time he threw it he winced in pain, and then immediately shook it. Between the 4th and 5th rounds, the ref brought over the ringside physician to make a decision on if George could continue. George pleaded with the doctor, eventually yelling “My heart is fine, let me go out on my shield!”
George would win the debate and continue to fight on with one hand. He would throw his right hand furiously, cringing in pain every time it landed, but he would not stop throwing it, never letting the ref have a chance to stop the fight.
Monaghan continued to do his thing, landed head shots and trying to knockout a man who was only fighting with one hand. But he couldn’t put down the hard chinned George.
Monaghan clearly won his round, and made an argument for his eventual title shot. He made very few mistakes, kept to his game plan and racked up the rounds he needed to stay undefeated.
But the story of the night was definitely the toughness of Donovan George. In an interview he told us that a broken hand would never stop him from continuing a fight, and he definitely backed up those words with one of the toughest performances we’ve seen from a fighter in a long time.
Monaghan UD10 100-90, 100-90, 99-91