On Thursday night before a packed house of partisan fans, DiBella Entertainment (DBE) put on an exciting 10-bout card at the Roseland Ballroom, as a special-edition of Broadway Boxing.
In the main event bout of the evening, Queens-native, Will “Power” Rosinsky took on Otis “Triple-G” Griffin, in a ten-round light heavyweight bout for the vacant NYS light heavyweight title. Rosinsky, who was coming off a spirited effort against former middleweight kingpin Kelly Pavlik in July, came out using a vicious body attack against the bigger Griffin. A head-butt in the first round cause a cut over Rosinsky’s left eye, but Rosinsky battled through it, pressing the action all night.
Rosinsky used superior boxing and combination punching to outwork Griffin throughout, but Griffin was able to counter and land some big shots from the outside.
In the end Rosinsky was awarded a well-deserved unanimous decision, winning by scores of 97-93, 96-94 twice, to pick up the vacant New York State light heavyweight crown.
Popular Puerto Rican Brooklynite junior welterweight Gabriel “Tito” Bracero, 21-1, 4 KOs, excited the crowd by quickly dropping Johnnie Edwards, 15-6-1, 8 KOs, twice in round one. Bracero continued to pressure Edwards and land pinpoint lead rights and counters, which were slowly closing his foe’s right eye. In round four, Edwards, with both eyes now almost completely swollen shut, went down to a knee and when he complained to the referee about the injury, the third man in the ring ended matters by way of TKO at 2:48 of the frame.
DBE’s red-hot lightweight prospect Ivan Redkach made it to a perfect 4-0 in 2012 with an exciting and action-packed eight-round unanimous decision over the tough-as-nails Edward Valdez.
Redkach stalked Valdez throughout, landing vicious combinations to both the body and head, but to his credit, Valdez hung tough, and returned fire of his own.
By the eighth and final round, Valdez’ face was a bloody mess from the accumulation of punches he had taken throughout the hellacious contest. In the end, Redkach, who was extended the distance for the first time in 2012, won by scores of 79-73, and 78-74 twice. Expect a breakout year for the Ukrainian-native Redkach in 2013.
Fighting in his first bout under the DBE promotional banner, former welterweight world-title challenger Ionut “Jo Jo” Dan Ion shook off a year’s worth of ring rust to score a vicious fifth-round KO over Franklin Gonzalez. Dan, needed a couple of rounds to find his groove, but by the third, he was continuously battering Gonzalez.
In the fifth round, Ion landed a picture perfect left to the body from his southpaw stance, dropping Gonzalez to all fours. Gonzalez attempted to get up, but he was counted out. With the win, Ion improved to 30-2, 16KO’s. Look for Dan to be in a major fight sometime in early 2013.
One of the bright young stars on the DBE roster, Brooklyn’s own light heavyweight prospect “The Notorious” Travis Peterkin upped his record to 6-0, 3KO’s, with a four-round unanimous decision over Edward Tigs.
Peterkin stalked his opponent throughout and dropped Tigs with a big left hand in the third en route to pitching a four-round shutout decision, 40-35 across the board.
OTHER RESULTS
In an absolute war, welterweights Mikkel LesPierre 1-0-1, 1KO, and pro-debuting Cornelius Whitlock battled to a four-round unanimous draw. LesPierre controlled the action through the first two rounds, but in the third, Whitlock dropped LesPierre hard twice. LesPierre was in stalking mode, when Whitlock unleashed a short counter right hand, dropping LesPierre to a knee. LesPierre came back strong though, and had Whitlock in trouble against the ropes, when Whitlock unleashed a monstrous overhand right that LesPierre walked straight into. LesPierre hit the canvas with a thud, but somehow made it to his feet and was able to finish the round. The fourth round was close, though Whitlock slightly edged it.
Brooklyn’s own undefeated heavyweight prospect Jarrell Miller was simply too big and too strong for his opponent Tyron Gibson, stopping him at 1:25 of the second round, improving his record to a perfect 4-0, 4KO’s. It was the first time that Gibson had been stopped in five fights.
In a battle of junior middleweight females, Akima Stocks kept her unbeaten record intact scoring a four-round shut-out over Marva Dash. Stocks improved her record to a perfect 5-0, 3KO’s, while Dash dropped to 0-2.
In an upset, Daniel Calzada won a six-round unanimous decision over Allan Benitez. Calzada used constant aggression to mostly outwork Benitez, winning by scores of 60-54, 59-55 twice. With the victory, Calzada improved to 5-6-2, 1KO, while Benitez dropped to 7-2, 1KO.
In the opening bout of the night, junior welterweight Maurice Hooker improved his record to a perfect 7-0-1, 5KO’s, with a dominant four-round unanimous decision over Cameron Kreal (2-4-2). Hooker dropped Kreal twice, en route to winning by scores of 40-34 twice, and 39-35.
The card was sponsored by Manfredi Auto Group, Newlio.com and Everlast, and promoted in association with the American Red Cross. The card was held as a benefit for Hurricane Sandy victims, with proceeds from the show, which included a silent auction including a number of items from DBE’s President Lou DiBella’s own personal sports memorabilia collection, being donated to the American Red Cross.
