Last Saturday night, Thomas LaManna made a successful voyage into the welterweight division by hammering out an 8-round unanimous decision over Ariel Vasquez at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City.
LaManna used a diverse arsenal of punches as featured body work, jabs and a good straight hand at various points of the fight. LaManna showed grit as Vasquez was game by occasionally sneaking in a straight left that the bigger LaManna was able to walk through. The only blemish for LaManna was that he was deducted a point for low blows in round four but he was able to by scores of 79-72 twice and 78-73.
LaManna, 148 lbs of Millville, NJ is 19-1. Vasquez, 144 lbs of Managua, Nicaragua is 12-12-2.
In the 6-round Heavyweight co-feature, Willis Lockett was able to win a 6-round unanimous decision over John Lennox. Lockett won the bout on the strength of landing a series of flush right hands that looked good but never hurt Lennox. Lennox was more active at times and got in some telling blows but it was not enough as Lockett won by scores of 59-55 twice and 58-56. ockett is now 14-14-4. Lennox is 13-4.
Quian Davis made short work of Santario Holdbrooks in a scheduled four-round Heavyweight bout. Davis was all over Holdbrooks from the opening bell and the fight lasted just 26 seconds. avis is 1-0-1 with 1 knockout. Holdbrooks is 0-3.
Alshamar Johnson and Villi Bello fought to an entertaining 4-round draw in a Middleweight bout. Both guys took turns being the boss in the fight and the rounds were close and featured plenty of toe to toe action. Each fighter took a a card at 39-37. One card read even at 38-38. Bello is 3-1-1. Johnson is 1-1-1.
The opening bout saw debuting Ecuadorian Luis Perozo score a 1st round stoppage over Davonta Steele in a scheduled 4-round Jr. Welterweight bout. Perozo, who now resides in Queens, New York dropped Steele from a body shot and the fight was stopped at 2:11. Perozo was making his pro debut. Steele of Concord, NC is 0-2.
The card was presented in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the The near-sold out Claridge, which featured an In-Arena host and provided giveaways to the crowd throughout the evening.
“The Claridge Hotel was very pleased with the quality of fights and the attendance on Saturday, ” Said Debbie LaManna of Rising Boxing Promotions. “Our mission with the promotion is to have good and competitive fights that will have the crowd excited throughout the night We had some in-house entertainment that had the crowd involved as well. I think we accomplished everything we set out to do and it is a great building block for our February show.”
