Weekend Results, Rodriguez, Culmer, Mack

Yusaf Mack (24-2-2) returned in style to defeat a game Mexican Opponent Ernesto Zamora (15-13) at The Odeum, Villa Park, Illinois, United States on Friday night. Yusaf showed a little bit of ring rust but made a decent opponent look slow as he picked him off with a number of decent power shots. Zamora was hurt badly in the opening round but came to fight and battled on. The stoppage came in the 2nd round after Zamora touched down and the referee deemed him unfit to continue. Yusaf Mack is looking to be a real force in the Light Heavyweight division.

Credit: John Tandy www.ultimateboxingresults.com

UNDEFEATED PRO, TWO-TIME NATIONAL AMATEUR CHAMPION EDWIN RODRIGUEZ BOOSTS RECORD TO 4-0 WITH VICTORY IN BOSTON SATURDAY

Undefeated professional and two-time national amateur champion Edwin Rodriguez of Worcester, Mass., improved his record to 4-0 with a fourth-round technical knockout of veteran Jeffrey Osborne Jr. of Davenport, Iowa, in a super middleweight bout scheduled for four rounds in Boston Saturday night.

It was Rodriguez’s second fight with trainer Peter Manfredo Sr.

Rodriguez, who now has a record of 4-0 with three knockouts, ended it at 2:55 of the fourth round. Rodriguez dominated the bout from the start and won every round. Osborne Jr. now has a mark of 4-10-2 with one knockout.

“I felt the best I have yet,” said Rodriguez, who weighed in at 163, one and one-half pounds less than for his bout two weeks ago and two pounds less than Osborne Jr. “I applied the things I’ve been learning in the gym and it all worked out. But, I know I have a lot of work to do and a long way to go.”

“This was a good experience for Edwin, because Jeffrey was durable and just kept on coming,” said Manfredo Sr. “He didn’t run; he wanted to make a fight of it. He’s better than his 4-10 record.”

“There were plenty of good things to take from this win,” said Larry Army Jr., Rodriguez’s manager. “Edwin controlled the fight from the start, kept busy throughout and eventually finished him (Osborne Jr.). It accelerated the learning curve.”

This was Rodriguez’s fourth fight in just 11 weeks. The 6-foot Rodriguez took a four-round unanimous decision over James North March 28 in Salamanca, N.Y.; stopped Fitzgerald Johnson in the fourth round Feb. 8 in Boston; and halted Samuel Ortiz Gomez in the first round Jan. 26 in Mansfield, Mass.

Rodriguez won the USA Boxing national championship for 2005 and the Golden Gloves national championship for 2006, both at 165 pounds.

Rodriguez, who has lived in Worcester since arriving in the United States from his native Dominican Republic during 1998, considered competing for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, but the premature birth of twins, Edwin Jr. and Serena Lynn, changed his priorities. Stephanie Rapa, Edwin’s fiancee and mother of the twins, is a graduate of Holy Cross with a degree in political science and has been accepted by the Western New England School of Law.

Results From Boston, Massachusetts: “Ethnic Invasion”

April 12, 2008
Featherweights
Dat Nguyen (12-1, 6 KO’s) MD 8 Robert DaLuz (10-11-2, 9 KO’s)
(76-76, 78-74, 78-74)
Middleweights
Donald Orr (12-0, 5 KO’s) UD 8 Clarence Taylor (12-15-2, 6 KO’s)
(79-73, 80-72, 80-72)
Junior Welterweights
Simeon Dunwell (6-0, 2 KO’s) UD 6 Damon Antoine (7-23-1, 3 KO’s)
(59-56, 58-57, 58-56)
Middleweights
Edwin Rodriguez (4-0, 3 KO’s) TKO 4 Jeffrey Osborne (4-11-2, 1 KO)
Time of stoppage – 2:55
Venue: The Roxy
Promoter: Cappiello Promotions

GEE CULMER EMERGES VICTORIOUS AFTER CLOSE CALL

Philadelphian warlord Gee Culmer won through to claim his fourteenth victory after an epic battle with the Indianapolis hard man Mustafah Johnson at The Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia on Friday 11th April.

However The James Shuler Memorial Gym fighter didn’t have everything all his own way this time, as Johnson took the fight to him round after round, but by the end of the battle royale Gee emerged the popular victor, albeit by a very close decision, with one judge – Rose Vargus – scoring it a 57-57 draw whilst Richard Hopkins and Al Dorsey both saw it as a 58-56 bout.

Gee’s co-trainer, former IBF Light Middleweight World Champion Robert Hines, said of the fight “Gee was lucky to get the decision, we will get him back in the gym, work him harder, get him right, maybe move him up a class”

On hand to cheer on Gee to victory were a large contingent of his fellow James Shuler Memorial Gym fighters including current IBF Cruiserweight World Champion ‘USS’ Steve Cunningham, Middleweights Jamaal Davis and Willie ‘The Gladiator’ Gibbs, English Featherweight Marianne ‘Gunner’ Marston, Heavyweights ‘Fast’ Eddie Chambers and Chazz ‘The Gentleman’ Witherspoon etc.