ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Made the trek from Northern N.J. to glorious Atlantic City, home of Nucky Thompson, for The New Generation, ShoBox, from Bally’s Casino. That meant plenty of trophy girls at ringside.
One of the better prospects in the sport, super bantamweight Rico Ramos, took another step forward, defeating Alejandro Valdez over 10 rounds. Much to my dismay, Valdez (23-5-3, 17 KOs) didn’t enter to Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro.” Too bad.
Ramos, who displayed excellent speed and quickness, started off slow, but took the first few rounds, setting the pace and dictating the action.
In round 4, Ramos stepped it up and Valdez responded, as the action really picked up. The faster pace seemed to favor Valdez, who took it to Ramos, clearly winning rounds 4 and 5. Spirited exchanges abound on the inside.
Round 6 was more of the same, as Valdez and Ramos continued to exchange in a battle of ebb-and-flow. Neither fight could sustain dominance over the other.
Hilarity ensued during round 8 as the production team at ringside repeatedly tried to “Cut the Music” as the great “Ravishing” Rick Rude used to say, but to no avail, as Flo-rida’s “Spin Me Round” continued to play throughout the ballroom.
Close fight going into the 10th and final round, and both fighters acted as such, letting their hands go and both landing several hard shots. After Ramos got the worse end of a clash of heads and took a short break to gain his senses, he stunned Valdez badly and it appeared that Valdez would go down, but he weathered the storm.
Scores were 97-93 twice and 98-92 for “Suavecito” Ramos. Press row thought the fight was much closer than scored.
Ramos looked great in spurts, at other times was lackadaisical. I suspect he won’t amount to anything great, but who knows.
“Valdez was tough and there was a lot of holding and head butts,” said Ramos, now 19-0, 10 KOs. “Valdez was tough, but I was tougher.”
In a battle of “Da’s,” Don “Da Bomb” George (21-1-1, 18 KOs) demolished previously undefeated super middleweight Cornelius “Da Beast” White (16-1, 15 KOs) in one round, dropping him with a vicious right, and then following that up with a barrage of punches which ultimately finished the Houston, Texas native.
George, of Chicaco, Illinois, put him down a second time, and then let his hands go, forcing ref Randy Neumann to save White, as George ran and screamed in delight. It would appear that White isn’t part of that new generation Showtime speaks of. 0-1 for Goosen Tutor so far. Extra points for George for coming out to “I’m the Bomb” by Lil’ Wayne. Or maybe negative points. I’m not really sure.
“Some people will be pretty upset because I was pegged to lose,” said George. “I went in there and I tagged him. And there’s no way I was going to stop throwing punches. Yesterday at the weigh-in he looked mad, but not no more.”
Well said, Don, well said.
In a rematch, heavyweight “Fast” Eddie Chambers (36-2, 18 KOs) again beat Derric Rossy (25-3, 14 KOs),this time by decision. Chambers dropped Rossy with a huge overhand right in the 6th, and raised his hand in victory, thinking the fight was over, as did everyone else. But Rossy barely beat the count and continued, fighting bravely and making it out of the round.
It was a very entertaining scrap, one of the better heavyweight fights I’ve seen in a while (not that that is saying much). Rossy’s face was a bloody mess from about the 4th round on, with his nose almost surely broken and both eyes bleeding profusely. Several times the ShoBox crew seating in front of me had to wipe themselves off with a white towel, ridding themselves of Rossy’s sweat and blood. But Rossy had his moments to be sure, landing to the body and bringing the fight to Chambers.
Rossy was game, but couldn’t do enough in the end, losing by scores of 115-112, 117-110 and 120-107 to Chambers. Scores all across the board here. Giving Rossy five rounds is absurd – from press row, he won three rounds at the very most.
For Chamber’s win, he got to take pictures with the great Corona girls, a treat to be sure.
“I have all the respect for Derric Rossy, there’s no way that he should have been boxing in there and I allowed it,” said Chambers, 27. “Even though I won by landslide, I’m disappointed. I wanted to knock him out. Throughout the whole night, I wanted to get him out of there… yes I have a lot of work to do but I’m ready to put it in.”
Junior middleweight Ricardo Williams continued his comeback and made easy work of John Brown, dropping him twice in the 6th round, finishing him off with a single shot – a left cross.
Williams dropped him with a right hook that put him to the ropes, then followed that up with a straight left down the pipe that put him back to the ropes, forcing Earl Morton to call a halt to the action. Time of stoppage was 1:37 of round 6.
Williams, the former silver medal winner, was taunting a bit towards the end, puzzling considering who was in front of him.
