NEW YORK CITY — Steve Zemach is ringside in Madison Square Garden, covering the off-TV undercard for Saturday’s HBO show headlined by Orlando Salido vs. Miguel Angel Garcia. Results for that fight plus Gennady Golovkin vs. Gabriel Rosado and Roman Martinez vs. Juan Carlos Burgos will come in a subsequent post. Read here for what happened in the fights featuring Felix Verdejo, Glen Tapia, Sean Monaghan and others…
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A four round bout between super middleweights Steven Tyner (3-10-2, 2 KOs) and Ronald Ellis (7-0, 5 KOs) opened the night at the theater in Madison Square Garden.
The 1st round started slow and nether men landed any punches of note. To start the 2nd Ellis landed an onslaught of punches that backed Tyner off. It appeared Ellis was thriving towards his 6th career stoppage before suddenly backing off and letting the 2nd round come to an end.
A left hook rocked Tyner to open the 3rd, but with roughly a minute remaining in the round Tyner gave Ellis a wakeup call, landing his first meaningful punches of the fight. The 4th round saw back and forth action from both men, but as final 15 seconds ticked away, Tyner had Ellis against the ropes and landed a hard straight-right left-hook combo that rocked Ellis. Tyner unloaded on a wounded Ellis, but it was not enough. All three judges had it 40-36 for Ronald Ellis.
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Next on tap was a six round welterweight bout between undefeated junior middleweight Mikael Zewski (18-0, 14 KOs) and Brandon Hoskins (16-4-1, 8 KOs).
The 1st round started slow, and it was clear Zewski was trying to find his distance. Zewski opened the 2nd with a hard straight-right that backed Hoskins up, visibly hurting him. Zewski followed up his barrage of punches to the head with a vicious left hook to the body. In the 3rd, Hoskins fought his way back into the fight, landing a few counter bodyshots, but Zewski was undoubtedly in control. Zewski landed a right hook roughly a minute into the 4th round that dropped Hoskins; Hoskins got to his feet but Zewski came right in landing a devastating right hook/left hook combo that dropped Hoskins again. Zewski would finish the show with a barrage of punches putting Hoskins down for a third time. The fight was waved off at 1:42 of the 4th round.
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Cruiserweights Isa Akberbayev (10-1, 7 KOs) and Anthony Ferrante (13-4, 7 KOs) both exchanged knockdowns in the 1st round. A right hook dropped Akberbayev, but immediately after climbing off the canvas, Akberbayev came forward landing a left hook that dropped Ferrante with a few seconds remaining in the round. Ferrante was clearly hurt but made it out of the round.
The 2nd saw Akberbayev dominate Ferrante and land his right hand at will. Akberbayev landed a series of straight right hands in the corner, but Ferrante hung on to hear the bell sound and end the 2nd. As Ferrante walked back to his corner he was noticeably hurt and Akberbayev looked as though he was in control.
But the middle rounds belonged to Ferrante, who was beginning to assert himself after a sluggish start. Then in the 6th, a right hook opened a large gash over the left eye of Akberbayev, without delay blood started streaming down his face. The sight of the blood had seem to zap Akberbayev’s aggression and Ferrante did not letup in the 7th, 8th and 9th rounds, keeping his strong left jab in Akberbayev’s face and continuing to work the cut. As the 10th round started it looked as though Akberbayev was merely trying to survive. Ferrante had Akberbayev pinned in the corner and was unloading, as they made their way to the center of the ring Ferrante landed a perfectly thrown, vicious short right-hook that crippled Akberbayev, knocking him cold before he even hit the canvas. The fight was waved off at 1:19 of the 10th round.
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Junior middleweight Glen Tapia (17-0, 10 KOs) made quick work of Ayi Bruce (14-9, 8 KOs), knocking him down in the 2nd round with a right hook to the chin. As Bruce made it to his feet, Tapia kept his composure and focused his attack on the body, with wide right/left hook combinations. Bruce never recovered and the fight was waved off at 2:33 of the 2nd round.
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In his second career pro bout, lightweight Felix Verdejo (2-0, 1 KOs) scored his first career knockout victory stopping Tomi Archambault (1-4-0-1, 1 KOs) in rapid fashion. As the opening bell rang, Verdejo made his way to the center of the ring, threw a left hook to the body then quickly followed that up with a left hook upstairs dropping Archambault. Archambault made it to his feet, but the fight was waved off at 0:21 of the 1st round.
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The final untelevised fight featured Long Beach, New York’s light heavyweight Sean Monaghan (17-0, 10 KOs) against Roger Cantrell (15-3, 8 KOs).
The 1st round didn’t offer much; the only meaningful punches came on an exchange of left hooks. To start the 2nd, Monaghan walked down Cantrell and poured on a series of hooks while finding the distance for his overhand right.
A punch caused a cut over the left eye of Monaghan in the 3rd round, but he stayed in control, keeping Cantrell at distance, adding his uppercut to the assault. A beautiful right uppercut rocked Cantrell in the 6th, followed up by a series of right-left hook combos, which left Cantrell’s face a mess as he walked back to his corner. Cantrell showed no quit in the final two rounds, even though he was clearly overmatched in his first fight in almost three years. All three judges scored a UD for Monaghan, 77-75, 78-74, 79-73.
