Chazz Witherspoon Returns with Knockout in Bristol Saturday!
By: Ken Hissner
At the Grundy Arena, in Bristol, PA, D&D Promotions and Silver Spoon Promotions returned for their second show with 8 bouts with a much better attendance than their first show in the same Arena.
Main Event heavyweight Chazz “The Gentleman” Witherspoon, 35-3 (21), of Paulsboro, NJ, scored 3 knockdowns and stopped Mike Marrone, 21-6 (15), Vero Beach, FL, @ 1: 31 of the third round in a scheduled 6 changed from an 8 by Boxing Director Greg Sirb.
In the opening round Witherspoon dropped Marrone with a right to the temple. Before the round was over Witherspoon dropped Marrone a second time. In the second round a right cross dropped Marrone who never recovered from the first knockdown. His corner threw in the towel for referee Hurley McCall to stop the fight.
Witherspoon will be back in action on October 1st at the Sun Center in Trenton, NJ. Prior to the professional show will be amateurs from NJ vs NY which should be interesting. Witherspoon has now won 9 of his last 10 fights with all his wins by knockout. His next fight will be for 10 rounds which should not be a problem with the NJ commission.
Emmanuel “Tranzformer” Taylor, 20-4 (14), Edgewood Arsenal, MD, knocked out southpaw Carlos “Zurdo” Aguillera, 10-18 (4), NIC/MEX, at 2:07 of the third round of a scheduled 8.
In the first two rounds the fighters each won a round. There was little difference though Taylor was a heavy favorite. In the third round Taylor dropped Aguillera with a combination to the mid-section as he took the ten-count on his knees from referee Blair Talmadge.
Super lightweight Liberian Samuel “Sunami” Teah, 8-1-1 (2), Philadelphia, won an easy decision over defense minded Sammy “Lion’s Den” Amoako, 21-13 (15), Accra, GH, Silver Springs, MD, over 4 rounds.
Teah had his way in the first round. In the second round Teah used an effective jab followed by straight rights to the head. In the third round Amoako was only throwing jabs. Like a lot of Ghana boxers they get stiff after stiff in their homeland. He showed little offense mostly holding his gloves up in front of his face. The bottom rope came out just prior to the fourth and last fight. It took about 15 minutes to repair by Johnny Rivera. In the fourth and final round Teah was doing whatever he wanted with the defensive minded Amoako who seemingly was satisfied to go the distance up until the last 10 seconds when he started throwing punches. Former 3 time PA GG champ Rashiem Jefferson who is one of the top upcoming trainers worked the corner of Teah. Teah had in the front of his trunks on the belt line Isaiah 40:3 says “make straight in the desert a highway for God”. On the back I asked him if “that was the day you were born again?” He said “yes!”
All 3 judges had it 40-36 as did this writer. Referee was Blair Talmadge.
Cruiserweight Mike Hilton, 3-0 (3), Trenton, NJ, stopped Cortez Reed, 1-3 (1), Atlanta, GA, at 1:57 of the fourth and final round.
In a sloppy first round Hilton had the edge. In round two Hilton hurt Reed and had him holding on until the bell sounded. In the fourth round the wrestling continued until Hilton had Reed out on his feet causing referee McCall to call a halt in the fourth and final round.
LeShawn Rodriguez, 4-0 (3), of Shirley, NY, scored 3 knockdowns stopping Jason “Warrior” Wahr, 4-13-4 (1), Virginia Beach, VA, at 1:55 of the first round.
In the opening round Rodriguez dropped Wahr with a right to the body. Shortly after this Rodriguez landed a right to the head and a left hook to the body which dropped Wahr a second timeThen came the third knockdown knocking Wahr across the ring as referee McCall saw enough and waved it off. Wahr showed nothing and the commission should think before allowing him to come back to Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia junior middleweight Elijah Vines, 3-0 (3), stopped Julian Valerio, 3-3 (2), of Brooklyn, NY, @ 2:30 of the third round in a fight they exchanged knockdowns in a scheduled 4. It was the “fight of the night!” “He was tough,” said Vines.
It was a close opening round. In the second round all hell broke loose. First Vines slipped to the canvas and Valerio complained saying it was a knockdown to referee McCall. Afterwards his trainer talked to Boxing Director Sirb who said “the referee made a mistake and should have called a knockdown. Vines came over and dropped Valerio with a lead right to the chin. In the last minute of the round it was Valerio’s turn dropping Vines with a left hook to the chin. In the third round Vines has Valerio in trouble and referee McCall halted the fight. Valerio was upset with the stoppage as well as his trainer. It was a war from the opening bell with these two.
Philadelphia’s Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 5-0 (5) stopped Matthew Murphy, 1-3 (1), of E. St. Louis, MO., at 2:52 of the second round. Ennis is the best looking prospect out of Philadelphia since Meldrick Taylor the 1984 Olympic Gold medalist and later a professional world champion. He takes control of a fight and looks so relaxed in there.
It was all Ennis in the first round coming out fighting orthodox and switched to southpaw after about 20 seconds. In the second round Ennis dropped Murphy with a body shot. Shortly later in the round Ennis dropped the oncoming Murphy with a left to the chin. Referee Talmadge had seen enough and called a halt. It was quite a showing on the part of Ennis who has fought once a month for the past five months. Murphy was a tough customer. He’s the third son to turn professional. Farah Ennis was a NABF super middleweight champion and Derek “Pooh” Ennis a USBA super welterweight champion.
When asked about the change from amateur to professional Ennis said “It’s better for me without the head gear. He just beat his last opponent who was 3-0.” Ennis was a 2016 Olympic alternate. His father “Bozy” who is possibly the best trainer in Philadelphia said “He has to get more rounds but this kid was tough.”
In the opening bout Super featherweight Luis Perozo, 2-1 (1), New York, NY, scored a knockdown which was the difference as all 3 judges had it 39-36 over southpaw Alberto Martinez, 0-2 (0), Tilton, GA, over 4 rounds.
In the second round Perozo dropped Martinez with a left hook body shot. Martinez got up after referee Talmadge counted to 8 and went after Perozo. Martinez later in the round pushed Perozo to the canvas really hard as if it were a MMA match. In the fourth and final round Perozo had Martinez holding at the halfway mark. Both were out of gas by the end of the fight.