411Boxing Report: CES "ShamRock'd"
Posted by Joe Roche on 03.20.2010
Our own Joe Roche is ringside to see Danny O'Connor remain unbeaten, and bear witness to the best fight and the best three minutes that you could ever ask for at a local show.
St. Patrick's Day was this past Wednesday but on Friday night at the Twin River Event Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island Irish eyes were smiling. In the main event Danny O'Connor (11-0, 3 KO) the 2008 U.S. Olympic team alternate used lightning quick hand speed and sharp body shots to dominate Dominican Franklin Gonzalez (13-4, 9 KO) over eight rounds by all three judge's scorecards 80-72. A raucous crowd of Irish O'Connor fans from his hometown of Framingham, MA waited a long time to see their fighter step into the ring as the main event didn't begin until after 11:00 PM. However, once the bell rang O'Connor did not disappoint – dazzling Gonzalez in O'Connor's first main event (and first eight round bout).
O'Connor came into the fight with Gonzalez after having spent time in Florida at the world famous Fight Factory sparring and training with Juan Urango as "Twin Irons" prepared for his bout with Devon Alexander. It was during the ramp up to the Urango-Alexander fight that Urango's trainer Pete Fernandez called O'Connor a "special talent" and on this night he would easily handle an over-matched Gonzalez. O'Connor is trained by Paul Andrade and his style is very similar to that of Demetrius "Boo Boo" Andrade as Danny has a habit of allowing his feet to get too far apart, leaving him with a very wide base and not much power. When you watch O'Connor you notice that his punches are thrown almost exclusively from his shoulder area with the power being generated in the arm (as opposed to the hips/legs like some more powerful fighters). O'Connor still has a nice sharp jab, and he was ripping body shots throughout the eight rounds and looked to hurt Gonzalez with body work in the third round. At times it appeared as if O'Connor would be capable of stopping Gonzalez, but he doesn't lack that killer instinct at this point in his career as he'd clip Gonzalez but then take his foot off the accelerator and let his opponent back into the fight. O'Connor clearly handled things from bell to bell though and continues to impress with each successive outing.
In the co-feature Jamie "The Hurricane" Clampitt (21-4-1, 7 KO) continued her comeback (from having a baby) with a very impressive majority decision victory over former IBFA titlist Jill Emery (9-3, 3KO). Clampitt used constant pressure to keep the taller Emery off balance, and while one judge apparently saw the fight 57-57 there wasn't another person in the sold out crowd that thought Clampitt lost the fight. Emery simply didn't appear to want to engage with Clampitt who struggled a bit being the smaller fighter as Emery stayed on her heels and backed away from "The Hurricane" all night. I saw Clampitt much later in the evening she echoed that sentiment, that she was surprised how little Emery appeared to want to engage during the bout.
After spending the last two weeks talking about "Irish" Joey McCreedy (11-4-2, 6 KO) and the new team in his corner there still wasn't enough luck o' the Irish to overcome the fact that McCreedy was fighting former light heavyweight Dhafir "No Fear" Smith (22-19-7, 4 KO) who had significant height, weight and reach advantages over McCreedy who I continue to maintain is far to small to be fighting at super middleweight. After six rounds of back and forth action the officials scored the bout a draw 59-56 McCreedy, 59-55 Smith and 57-57.
The first bout after the intermission saw New Bedford police office and former USBA super bantamweight champion Jason "School Boy" Pires (22-3-1, 9KO) in an absolute war with John Revish (10-1-1, 8KO) in a fight that will almost certainly win Local Fight of the Year for 2010. The two fighters spent the entire fight exchanging clean, hard punches with Revish looking much quicker then Pires, but Jason having enough power to keep things honest. In the second round the two engaged in the best three minutes of boxing that I've ever seen as Revish sent Pires to the canvas twice – the first time with a left/right combo to the head, and the second time with a right hook. Pires though jumped up after each knockdown and came back to wobble Revish who at one point looked absolutely cooked in the corner after a right hook buckled his knees – though he somehow stayed on his feet. After the three minutes of round two the crowd rose to their feet and gave the fighters a long standing ovation, a second ovation would come after the final round as both fighters left it all in the ring. The judge's scorecards read 56-55 Revish, 56-56 and 56-56 for a majority draw, a justified result as both fighters fought valiantly and neither really deserved to lose. This was the type of fight that makes you feel fortunate to have been in attendance at a CES Boxing show as both fighters put their hearts on the line and fought with everything they had. I'm not sure if there is video tape of the fight but if you ever have the opportunity to watch Pires-Revish from "ShamRock'd" please do yourself a favor and do it.
In a rematch for the EBA New England Super Lightweight Title Sean Eklund (7-4, 1 KO) redeemed a loss at the hands of Eddie Soto (12-1, 4KO) with a six round unanimous decision to pick up the trinket title. Eklund, who is trained by his uncle "Irish" Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund started slowly, telling me that he was training for eight and ten round fights in the gym so he's been getting used to ramping up in a fight and that played against him in the first two rounds tonight. In the third round Eklund began to get into a groove, throwing far more punches then the previous two rounds and backing Soto up as "The Puerto Rican Sensation" fought most of the round on his heels just trying not to be punched. In the fifth round Eklund caught Soto with a left to the body, a punch that he learned from his uncle Micky Ward saying "I remember being in the gym with Micky and sparring when I was younger, and he used to switch it up and go southpaw." Eklund landed the left to the body and Soto went down. The sixth and final round was again dominated by Eklund and it was enough to score the unanimous decision with scores of 59-55, 58-55, 58-55.
In explosive undercard action Keith Kozlin (5-0, 3KO) and Jessie Barboza (3-0, 3KO) gave the fans what they paid for with spectacular early knockouts. Kozlin opened the show with a first round TKO (1:59) over Roberto Burgess (4-3, 2KO), while Barboza scored the Knockout of the Night over Richard Mason (0-1) with a second round KO (1:45).
