Friday night at The Paramount in Huntington, New York, a sold out crowd was treated to a sensational night of professional boxing highlighted by career best victories from 2008 Olympian Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade and Long Island fan favorite Cletus “The Hebrew Hammer” Seldin.
With the eyes of the boxing world watching across the country on ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME®, Andrade displayed a full arsenal of world class skills from the opening bell, scoring at will with a piston like jab and multiple count combinations throughout the ten round bout.
Under the guidance of new trainer Virgil Hunter, Andrade’s dominating performance, highlighted by a sixth round knockdown over the gusty Hernandez was the best of his career and solidified his reputation as one of the best junior middleweights in the sport. Scores at the end of the clash were 100-89 on all three judges scorecards.
With the win, the Providence, Rhode Island native improved his undefeated record to 19-0 with thirteen knockouts. Fighting out of Mexico City, Mexico, Hernandez moved to 30-4-0 (20KO’s).
In the co-main event, popular Puerto Rican junior welterweight Ray “Tito” Serrano of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was upset by Baltimore’s Emmanuel “The Tranzforma” Taylor.
After winning the first two rounds with an aggressive attack, Serrano was out boxed and outgunned by Taylor who used excellent defense and short crisp power punches on the inside to win the next three stanzas.
Taylor badly hurt Serrano against the ropes in the sixth with a barrage of unanswered power shots causing referee Steve Willis to call a halt to the action at the 1:42 mark.
With his first start in front of the cameras, Taylor improved to 16-1-0 (11KO’s), while Serrano fell to 18-2-0 (8KO’s).
Highlighting the off-TV portion of the sensational card, Cletus “The Hebrew” Hammer Seldin swung big, early and often, stopping Luis Rodriguez in the third round of a terrific, action filled welterweight contest. Seldin hits double digits running his perfect record to 10-0-0 (7KO’s), while Rodriguez falls to 6-7-1(1KO).
In an outstanding middleweight four round tilt, Glen Cove’s Raul Nuncio 2-1-2 (1KO) and pro debuting Marcus Beckford of Hempstead, New York had The Paramount crowd roaring with approval as they battled to the final bell of their clash which was declared a draw.
Popular Huntington lightweight Alan Gotay continued to impress local fans, improving to 3-0-0 (2KO’s) with a devastating first round knockout of Cincinnati, Ohio’s Shane Reynolds, 1-2-0 (1KO).
Rounding out the undercard Catskill, New York based heavyweight Constantin Bejenaru, 2-1-1 (2KO’s), knocked out pro debuting Rocky Mullooly in the first round.
Star Boxing will make a quick return to The Paramount on Saturday, February 23rd with The Fighting Pride of Huntington, New York, Chris Algieri battling Jersey City’s Jose Peralta in a junior welterweight battle broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
Said Joe DeGuardia, President of Star Boxing®, “This was our fifth straight sell out at The Paramount and I’m thrilled at the constant support our events continue to receive from the fans and media on Long Island.”