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Shamone Alvarez Knocks Out
Alexis Camacho
And Other Results From Star
Boxing
At The Tropicana in Atlantic City
By Tim Donaldson
Shamone Alvarez was able to do what he could not do against
Delvin Rodriquez and Joshua Clottey. Shamone Alvarez was
able to look like a true contender with a future in the
Welterweight division. Maybe the pressure was off. There
were no television cameras for this fight. Or maybe the
pressure was on for Alvarez to prove himself once again in
the ring. No fighter wants to fade into obscurity. Whatever
the reason, Alvarez gave the fans the fight they wanted to
see and the critics the fight that will force them to take
another look.
Alvarez fought Alexis Camacho. Camacho fights in the true
tradition of the great Mexican boxers. He doesn’t back down.
Camacho might not have fought the same caliber of opponents
as Alvarez, but he fights with a ferocity that unfortunately
is not always seen in the sport. And I do not think for one
moment that Alvarez underestimated Camacho. From the
beginning of the fight Alvarez was on the offensive. He
moved in quick in the first round. It looked as though he
wanted to get a quick knockout and get out of there. It
didn’t happen. He was able to stagger Camacho early in that
round. Camacho, for his part, seemed over anxious in that
first round. But once he was able to calm down, he ended the
round strong.
The second round was a back and forth. Alvarez was able to
drive Camacho to the ropes. Camacho looked in trouble, not
being able to get his hands up to defend himself, but he
finally fought his way out. He then moved across the ring,
throwing punches at Alvarez. He was taking control of the
fight. He was pressuring Alvarez to back up. The two were
fighting in the middle of the ring for most of the third
round. Camacho now seemed to be the one looking for a quick
knock out. He was throwing uppercut after uppercut, not
always connecting. Alvarez stopped this with a left to the
chin of Camacho. Camacho staggered back but stayed in the
fight until the end of the round. A pattern was starting to
emerge. Alvarez could almost always land his left on the
chin of Camacho. Camacho had no real defense for the
southpaw Alvarez.
Camacho threw the first punch in the fourth. He seemed to be
on the attack, but he was taking a lot of punishment to land
each of his punches. Alvarez was pressuring Camacho around
the ring. Alvarez was clearly in control of the round. The
fifth round again started with Camacho on the offensive. He
was now backing Alvarez up. And again, Alvarez was able to
stop this with a hard shot to the head of Camacho. Camacho
came back and landed a hard right. Alvarez did not let this
go unanswered. However, Camacho never showed that Alvarez’s
punches were truly hurting him. He went back on the
offensive. Once again, Alvarez stopped this with another
left. By the end of the round, Camacho was looking tired. He
was throwing uppercut after uppercut and failing to land
them.
The sixth round belonged to Alvarez. He was knocking Camacho
back with each blow. Camacho was putting up a good fight,
but he was starting to show the effects of each of Alvarez’s
blows. Camacho was throwing punches but just not landing
enough of them. The seventh round started with Camacho
looking fresher and more determined. He landed a low punch
early in the round, giving Alvarez a short rest. When the
clock starting ticking down again, Camacho seemed to be
clearly in control of the round. He was pressuring Alvarez
around the ring. Blood belonging to Alvarez was flying
across the ring. It looked like Camacho was going to end the
fight, right there and then. But that was when Alvarez
landed a left once again on the chin of Camacho. Camacho
went down and didn’t get up in time to beat the count.
Alvarez won by knockout 1:30 in the seventh round.
Does Alvarez have what it takes to win a title from any of
the current belt holders in the welterweight division? It is
hard to say. Does he deserve another look and possibly
another shot? If he keeps fighting like this, he does.
The co-feature of the evening was a bout between
heavyweights Vinny Maddalone and Dominique Alexander. The
older and more experienced Maddalone had little trouble
defeating Alexander. When Maddalone marched into the ring,
he did it to the theme song of the movie Rocky. It seemed
like an odd choice. Let’s face it, Rocky lost that one. But
the more Maddalone fought, the more the song made sense.
Rocky was a puncher with little style. Maddalone is a
puncher with little style. However, he put on an
entertaining fight for the crowd.
The first round started with Maddalone basically just
stalking Alexander. This must have gone on for close to a
minute. When Maddalone hit Alexander, Alexander was quick to
hold. Alexander’s only strategy seemed to be to run and
hold. And Maddalone just kept stalking Alexander. In the
second round, Alexander started to fight, but he was
fighting in bursts. Most of the time, he threw little more
than his jab. Maddalone was cutting off the ring, using his
weight to keep Alexander corned against the ropes, and
working the body of Alexander.
It looked in the third round that maybe Alexander was just
taking time to figure out Maddalone, that maybe he had some
sort of strategy. He looked as though he were trying to turn
the tide of the fight. However, this was short lived.
Maddalone knocked Alexander down with a wide hook. Alexander
found himself down on the mat twice in the fourth round.
Both times he complained of being hit in the back of the
head. His complaints fell on deaf ears. By the end of the
round, he was caught on the ropes, failing to respond to the
barrage coming from Maddalone. Alexander somehow managed to
survive the round. But he would have no such luck in the
fifth round. From the beginning, Alexander was being knocked
around the ring by Maddalone. He went down and referee Sam
Viruet stopped the fight at 1:90.
Two local favorites were on the card also. The first to
fight, light middleweight Josh Mercado, lost to another
local Ismael Garcia in his pro debut. Both fighters were
willing to mix it up in the ring. Both showed a lot of
boxing ability. But it was obvious from the first round that
Garcia was giving Mercado trouble. Each round looked a lot
like the one before. Garcia would make Mercado pay for every
punch he was able to land, and then some. Mercado would get
caught on the ropes and try to fight his way out, but his
punches were quick punches to the body that lacked the power
needed. He was having trouble fighting in close. Garcia kept
the pressure up throughout the fight. Both fighters might
have been swinging at the final bell; however, the judges
were in agreement that Garcia had won all four rounds.
The second local favorite of the evening was also in a tight
battle, but light heavyweight Chuck Mussachio had more luck
than Mercado, winning the unanimous decision over Richmond
Dalphone. Dalphone did not travel all the way to Atlantic
City from Pensacola, Florida just to be walked over. He
outworked Mussachio in the first round. Even in the second
round, Dalphone seemed to be outworking Mussachio. Even
though, Mussachio seemed to be throwing the harder punches,
Dalphone did not seem to be deterred. Mussachio needed to
put his punches together, land some combinations. He started
to do this in the fourth round. This changed the mind of
Dalphone. He started to keep his distance. But he didn’t
keep it up in the fifth, and Dalphone seemed to be
emboldened and back on the offensive. However, the judges
clearly agreed that Mussachio had done enough to win the
fight, giving Mussachio four of the six rounds.
The first fight of the evening was between heavyweights Joey
Dawejko and Kimani Cunningham. The fight was one sided from
the beginning. Cunningham would come out, throwing the first
punch, but Dawejko would come back quickly, throwing three
and four punch combinations. Cunningham didn’t seem to have
any defense for this. By the second round Cunningham was
already looking tired. But Cunningham looked much better in
the third, chasing Dawejko around the ring. Looking at him
sitting on his stool between rounds, it was obvious that
this took everything he had. Dawejko once again controlled
the round in the fourth. Dawejko won the unanimous decision.
The night saw a few surprises. The majority of the crowd did
not expect Mercado to lose. No one thought Mussachio would
have that much trouble. And Alvarez got the impressive win
he needed.
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