On Wednesday night, DiBella Entertainment hosted an action-packed Broadway Boxing card at NYC’s B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, headlined by Bryant “Peewee” Cruz, of Port Chester, NY. While Martin Cardona, 129.4 lbs., of Tucson, AZ, attempted to box and move, Cruz, 131 lbs., effortlessly cut the ring off, often countering his adversary’s jab with quick overhand rights.
Cruz took advantage whenever he had Cardona trapped against the ropes, digging shots to the midsection. The powerful left hook of Cruz was on display as well and it was clear that Cardona was breaking down. Feeling that their charge was sustaining too much punishment, Cardona’s corner elected not to send him out for the fifth frame, resulting in a TKO victory for Cruz. With the impressive victory, Cruz improved to 15-0 (8 KOs), while Cardona fell to 19-6 (14 KOs).
For as long as the bout lasted, Brooklyn southpaw Shawn “Killa” Cameron, 153.4 lbs., stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Francisco Reza, 153.6 lbs., of Torreon, Mexico, banging away in combination. In round one, Reza landed a short right hook to drop an off-balance Cameron for a flash knockdown. Cameron, however, was not hurt and quickly arose to rock Reza in the red corner with a right hook. The Brooklynite continued to press forward as the bout progressed, remaining very accurate with a large volume of power punches. A barrage of shots in round five felled Reza in a heap, prompting referee Harvey Dock to stop the action at the 1:55 mark. Cameron’s record improved to 10-0 (5 KOs), while Reza has now hit .500 with a record of 14-14 (11 KOs).
Junior middleweight prospect Patrick Day, 153.6 lbs., of Freeport, NY, dominated the sturdy Lenwood Dozier, 151 lbs., of Washington, D.C., over eight exciting rounds. Day’s jab was on point allowing for straight-right followup shots. He soon closed the distance and began to slow Dozier down with a focused attack to the body over the course of the action. As the bout progressed, Dozier’s punch output dwindled, with the exception of round six when he fought in a more spirited manner. Day continued to overpower Dozier with an impressive offensive arsenal in the closing frames to earn three scorecards of 80-72 for a unanimous decision victory, upping his record to 11-1-1 (6 KOs). Dozier’s record is now 9-8-1 (4 KOs).
Alicia “The Empress” Napoleon, 155 lbs., of Lindenhurst, NY, burst out of her corner at the opening bell throwing bombs, repeatedly landing compact straight rights to the chin of Natalie King, 157.2 lbs., of Tampa, FL, until her foe was forced into a shell unable to return fire, forcing a stoppage just 19 seconds into the bout. Napoleon is now 3-0 (3 KOs), while King remains winless at 0-4.
Brooklyn southpaw brawler Mikkel LesPierre, 142.8 lbs., pinned Detroit’s Larry Ventus, 139.6 lbs., against the ropes for much of the opening round, peppering him with flurries. Ventus was dropped to the seat of his pants in round two from a combination. In the third round, Ventus elected to box and create distance, but LesPierre quickly caught up to him, knocking him down another two times to end the bout by TKO at the 1:13 mark. LesPierre is now 9-0-1 (4 KOs), while Ventus fell to 6-9-1 (3 KOs).
Sergiy Lipinetc, 141.8 lbs., a former amateur prodigy from Moscow and now a blue-chip prospect living in Los Angeles, expertly avoided Kendal Mena’s offensive attempts, as he easily countered with stiff jabs to set up combinations. One sweeping overhand right felled Mena, 141.6 lbs., of Miami, FL, hard as the second frame concluded. An even more compact overhand right put Mena on the canvas once again resulting in referee Eric Dali halting the bout at 1:40 of round three. With the TKO victory, Lipinetc improved to 7-0 (6 KOs). Mena’s record is now 20-2 (11 KOs).
Bronx’s Peter Dobson, 147.8 lbs., blasted William Walters, 147.6 lbs., of Sacramento, CA, with powershots from the outset, causing him to stumble into the ropes following an overhand right to end round one. Bobbing and weaving his way inside, Dobson repeatedly connected with short straight rights to Walters’ chin. Another powerful left hook from Dobson rocked Walters’ into the ropes yet again prompting referee Harvey Dock to end the contest at 1:33 of the third stanza. Dobson’s record upped to 5-0 (4 KOs), while Walters saw his ledger drop to 2-8 (1 KO).
The English/Irish Steed Woodall, now living and training in Miami, FL, pressed the action and gradually overcame the slick switch-hitting style of the awkward Devaun Lee over the six-round distance. He was particularly accurate with his overhand right. Lee did his best to keep his foe at bay with a steady jab, but Woodall fought his way inside, landing hooks in combination. The competitive fight ended with a thrilling sixth frame as both combatants threw bombs, though Woodall remained dominant. Scorecards read 57-57, and 58-56 twice in favor of Woodall via majority decision, improving his record to 8-0-1 (5 KOs), while Lee dropped to 4-2 (2 KOs). As an amateur, Woodall was a five-time English National champion and a two-time British champion, having accrued a 41-5 record along the way. He then relocated to the US in 2014 and turned pro in March of that year.
Dispensing with his jab, Dauren Yeleussinov, 162.6 lbs., mercilessly pounded on Henry Beckford, 163 lbs., of Roosevelt, NY, throughout their six-round affair, primarily throwing hooks upstairs and down. By round three, Beckford appeared to tire from the onslaught to his midsection, thought he proved game to endure punishment for the remainder of the contest. All three judges tallied 60-54 for Yeleussinov by way of unanimous decision to bring his record to 3-0 (2 KOs). Beckford’s record fell to 2-3 (1 KO). Yeleussinov had an extensive amateur career that saw him compile a 397-23 record, with more than 100 knockouts. He is a four-time National champion for Kazakhstan and won gold twice at the Universiade Championships as well as at the National Junior Championships.
In a wild slugfest, Maxito “The Anvil” Sainvil, 145.4 lbs., Spring Valley, NY, was full of energy at the start of the contest hoping that the slower Danny Rosenberger, 145.4 lbs., of Youngstown, OH, would fold under the pressure. However, wildly throwing punches windmill style resulted in Sainvil growing fatigued and he was nearly dropped by his sturdy foe in round three. Though Rosenberger’s short counters continued to give Sainvil problems over the second half, he continued to trade shot for shot as best he could. One judge scored the bout 39-37 for Sainvil, but was overruled by two tallies of 38-38, resulting in a majority draw. With the draw, both boxers remain unbeaten, as Sainvil’s record was brought to 2-0-1 (1 KO) and Rosenberger’s to 0-0-2.
A determined Ivan “Beast” Baranchyk, 142.2 lbs., was aggressive, winging power shots and landing enough times to make it difficult for the taller Alfred Hall, of Jackson, MI. In the third, Hall, 144 lbs., collapsed under a volley of punches, hitting the deck for a full 10-count, at the 0:41 mark. The incredibly active Baranchyk, now living and training in Brooklyn, improved to 8-0 (7 KOs), while Hall dropped to 4-11-2 (2 KOs). As an amateur, the Belarus-native Baranchyk won gold at the 2010 Class A Vilnuse tournament, 2011 and 2013 Match Event tournament, 2011 Kostukovichi International tournament, 2011 and 2012 Soligorsk Open International tournament, 2012 Class A Liventsev tournament, 2013 Active Military tournament, 2013 Republic of Belarus Open Cup, 2014 Vitebsk University tournament in Belarus, and was an amateur champion of Belarus from 2009-2014.
