On Saturday night, history was made as the first ever professional boxing event in any of the five boroughs that make up New York City inside a casino as the Resorts World Casino hosted the event promoted by New Legend Boxing, Old World Boxing and W.O.N Promotions in front of near sold out crowd.
In the main event, Light Heavyweight knockout artist, Joe Smith Jr. kept his 100% win/knockout ratio as he dropped Yasin Rashid four times en route to a third round stoppage.
Smith of Long Island, Island knocked Rashid down in round two and three times in round three which thrilled his throngs of fans who made the trek from Long Island. Smith is now 11-1 with all wins coming via knockout. Rashid of Brooklyn is now 7-3.
In the memorable co-feature, it was a battle of two undefeated fighters that displayed 7-0 records as Frank Galarza fought Alantez Fox for New York State Jr. Middleweight title. . It was a war from the opening bell as Galarza and Fox put on a show that was fit for a time capsule as they waged battle for the who twenty-four minutes that they shared the ring.
Galarza came out drilling Fox with right hands that drew large cheers from the pro-Galarza crowd. Fox withstood that early onslaught to give as good as he got and used his 6’3”frame and started using the jab to temporarily ward off Galarza. Galarza continued to throw right hands but late in the fight, it was Fox’s left hooks that scored him many points and the left side of Galarza’s face swelled up to the size of a baseball. The fight drew standing ovations after each round. The two battled and gave every ounce and left it all in the ring the fight and the fight was scored 77-75 for each man while a third tally read 76-76.
Immediately in the ring, each man was open to a rematch that would be welcomed by any boxing fan who witnessed the fight.
Good looking Super Bantamweight prospect Juan Dominguez dropped Jesus Bayron twice en route to a six round unanimous decision. Dominguez of Brooklyn won by 59-52 scores on all cards and is now 11-0. Bayron of Puerto Rico is 5-6.
In the upset of the night, Jhovany Collado hurt previously undefeated Rafael Vazquez in round one and sent him to the canvas in round two and held on for a six round split decision.
Each fighter took a card 57-56 while a third card read 58-55. Collado of Queens is now 4-6-2. Vazquez is 8-1.
Popular Boyd Melson scored a six round unanimous decision over Yolexcy Leiva in a Jr. Middleweight bout.
Melson scored a knockdown in the first round and boxed and moved throughout. Leiva continued to pressure Melson and even scored some good shots late by Melson won by scores of 59-54, 59-54 and 58-55 and moves to 10-1. Leiva is 5-6.
In a scheduled six round Super Featherweight bout, WBC Caribbean champion Elton Dharry landed some hard right hands and opened up a cut over the left eye of Gabriel Diaz and the fight had to be stopped and Dharry was awarded the bout via second round stoppage.
Dharry is now 10-5-1 with five knockouts. Cruz is now 4-5-1.
In four round bouts, Angel Garcia (3-1) scored a unanimous decision over Pedro Andres (0-2) in a Jr. Lightweight bout; Micah Branch (1-2) scored a four round unanimous decision over Allan Phelen (0-2) in a Featherweight bout. The show opened as Daniel Gonzalez (1-0, 1 KO) scored a second round stoppage over Anthony Smith in a fight that featured pro debuting Jr. Middleweights.
