411Boxing Report: CES "Fright Night at Mohegan Sun"
Posted by Joe Roche on 11.01.2009
411Boxing's Joe Roche ringside at Mohegan Sun for Joey Spina v. Lou Del Valle.
Photo: Joe Roche/411mania.com
On Halloween night Lou "Honey Boy" Del Valle (36-6-2, 22 KO's) played the role of Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees as by all accounts he should've been put down for good by Joey "KO Kid" Spina (25-1-2, 17 KO's) but he kept coming back, and in the end Spina was fortunate to survive "Fright Night" with a majority draw.
Del Valle, the 41 year old former world champion lost 60 pounds in five weeks (and still missed weight) to prepare for his comeback fight after being out of the ring for over a year. "I wasn't planning on fighting. I trained Tony Grano for his last fight (win vs. Travis Kaufman). When they asked me if I'd take this fight at 181 I said let's go." Del Valle looked old, and soft in the ring on Saturday night but the crafty lefty fought a slick fight, and he kept Spina off balance throughout the ten rounds. "I just couldn't get off like I wanted. He's a slick fighter. He was very frustrating. I thought I hit him with the better punches, but I couldn't get close enough. I'd hit him, he'd grab and the ref wouldn't let us fight. He's a tough, experienced guy" said Spina after the fight.
Two of the three ringside judge's scored the fight 95-95 while the third judge gave the fight to Del Valle 97-93. Del Valle's corner was very hot after the scores were announced accusing anyone within earshot of the ruling being a robbery. I happened to agree with the ruling, as my own scorecard had the fight even 95-95, but many of the rounds were incredibly close as evidenced by the writer next to me scoring the fight 96-94 Spina. "I thought it was a nice win," Del Valle said after the fight. "I lost 60 pounds in five weeks. Give me six weeks and I would have knocked him out. I was sluggish, not rusty. I hut my right and my left was numb the whole fight. If he's rated 12, I should be 10. I want a rematch with Spina and then we'll go from there. I'll do it at 175 but give me two months."
While Del Valle hopes for a rematch I'm not necessarily sure it's a fight that Jimmy Burchfield's Classic Entertainment & Sports Inc. would be willing to put on. Spina was obviously very confused by the left handed Del Valle, and the fight was often times sluggish, and very eratic. Other then in the fourth round when Spina landed a big right hook there was never a time when either fighter looked in jeapordy of being stopped, and there were more rounds where the crowd boo'd the fight then cheered.
In the co-feature bout of the evening UBC light welterweight champion "Hammerin'" Hank Lundy (16-0-1, 10 KO's) made quick work of Aldo "El Pato" Valtierra (25-12, 13 KO's) as he blitzed the game Mexican fighter with a vicious left hook at 2:41 of the first round. Coming into the fight Valtierra was seen as a big step up in competition for Lundy, as "El Pato" had only been stopped once (in the 11th round), and Lundy was moving to lightweight for the fight. After the fight Lundy was his usual jovial self proclaiming that "When you're in there with Hammerin' Hank - my speed and power - once they get hit it's a wreck and the fight is over." Lundy is a supremely confident fighter and he let that confident shine after the fight when he said "I'm ready for any and everybody out there from 135 to 140. I want Timothy Bradley, give me any one of the Peterson brothers, Randall Bailey, whoever in my way - I gotta put you out. Anyone in the world at 135 to 140 you think you man enough - you think you tough enough, call the Hammer up - lets go." While Lundy won't be stepping into the ring with any of the top fighters at 135 or 140 in his next fight he seemed comfortable enough to say that he'd like to fight on Jimmy Burchfield's next card (Nov. 20th in Lincoln, RI) so I expect to see Lundy back in action soon.
Hank Lundy with Vinny Paz and Pat Sullivan (Photo: Joe Roche/411mania.com)
Also on the card 2008 U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali (4-0, 2 KO's) shook off a bit of ring rust to score a unanimous decision over Osvaldo Rivera (2-2-1, 1 KO). Ali, who had not been in the ring since April had a great first round - but looked to struggle with the size advantage that Rivera had. "I don't think I had ring rust, it was more his height and him moving and not staying in there with me. I know I can do better. He knew how to use his defense after he got hit."
The night's two loudest knockout victories (other then Lundy) came when unbeaten Hartford middleweight David Bauza (3-0, 3 KO's) throttled Vaughn Anderson (0-2) from the opening bell trapping Anderson in his corner and causing the official to jump in and stop the fight at 1:09 of the first round. Jimmy Smith Jr. (1-0, 1 KO) made his professional debut one to remember when he knocked David Brown down and out of the ring (literally) at 2:35 of the first round. After the fight Brown walked past press row and he could be seen telling his manager "that guy hits f**king hard." Finally, undefeated Quincy, MA lightweight Ryan "The Polish Prince" Kielczewski (6-0, 2 KO's) who oozes confidence had difficulty with Israel Suarez (2-3) but picked up a unanimous decision - much to the chagrin of the pro-Suarez crowd in attendence, and Hartford super lightweight Edwin Soto improved to 2-0 with a majority decision over Deroy Beaton (1-1) in the opening round of a fight that could have gone either way.
While the main event was a disappointment, the show will air in December on NESN with CES Boxing's Pat Sullivan handling blow by blow, and 5 time world champion Vinny Paz working as the color commentator.
