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Undercard Results From
The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ:
A Night For The Local Favorites
By Tim Donaldson
It was a packed undercard for the Zab Judah and Lucas
Matthysse fight, and maybe the card was stacked slightly in
favor of the local fighters. But since boxing is a spectator
sport, those who put on the fights are going to want to
please their audience. Those who came early Saturday night
were treated to fight after fight of the locals winning.
Mike Perez, Tyrone Luckey, Mike Brooks, Angel Concepcion,
and Sadam Ali (all from the greater New York City area) had
little trouble defeating their opponents. These wins helped
energize the crowd before the two main events.
Every so often a fighter comes along who looks like he has
what it takes to bring excitement back to what at times
appears to be a sport in decline. Sadam Ali appears to be
one of these fighters. Ali hails originally from Yemen but
now fights out of Brooklyn, and he goes by the name “The
World Kid.” With speed and technique, Ali has had little
trouble winning his past ten fights. In his fight against
Gary Bergeron Saturday night, Ali again proved that he is
well on his way to the top of the welterweight division.
Bergeron didn’t seem to have a chance. As soon as the bell
rang, Ali was on the attack. All Bergeron could do was to
cover up to keep from receiving Ali’s blows, and even
Bergeron’s covering up could not keep out all of Ali’s
punches. Ali staggered Bergeron with a shot to the chin
before dropping him with another punch to the chin in the
first round. Bergeron survived the round, barely.
Bergeron was only able to survive one full round. Sadam Ali
has amazing speed. He will throw multiple jabs, sometimes as
many as five in a row, then throw a right in the amount of
time most fighters will throw a simple left jab and straight
right combination. Ali was able to catch Bergeron on the
ropes early in the round. He was slipping his punches
through Bergeron’s defenses. Bergeron went down and survived
the count, only to have referee Randy Neumann stop the fight
at 2:18 in the round. It was obvious from the beginning that
Ali was going to win the fight. Bergeron could do little
more than to try to protect himself from the barrage of
punches coming from Ali. Unless Sadam Ali gets extremely
lazy or loses that fire, he is well on his way to the top of
the division.
Lightweight Mike Perez was the first local to fight and also
easily won his fight against Hevinson Herrera of Miami,
Florida. Perez was dominating from the beginning and knocked
down Herrera in the first minute of the fight. Herrera got
up, but the fight was stopped by the referee. Junior
Lightweight Tyrone Luckey also won by TKO against Alex
Montes of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Although Luckey went down
in the first round, he was able to regain his composure and
win the fight. Luckey dominated the second round, dropping
Montes twice. In the third, Montes looked as though he might
have a chance, but Luckey quickly took control of the
action. Montes went down. The fight was stopped at 2:55 in
the third, giving Luckey his second win by TKO.
Junior welterweight Mike Brooks defeated Kywayne Hill by
unanimous decision, winning all four rounds on the
scorecards of all three judges. Brooks controlled most of
the first round. Hill started the round looking anxious but
eventually calmed down. The second round was much like the
first. Brooks was landing hard shots to the body of Hill.
When Hill attempted to throw a punch, Brooks was able to
counter. Hill picked up his attack in the third, but Brooks
was still landing hard shots to the body. By the fourth
round, Brooks was in complete control of the round, making
an easy fight for the judges to score. Light heavyweight
Angel Concepcion also had little trouble defeating his
opponent Maurice Amaro. Although Amaro proved he has heart,
he did little to make Angel Concepcion think twice about
coming at him. Concepcion dominated all four rounds, winning
by unanimous decision on the scorecards.
The night started with Junior middleweight Bastie Samir of
Las Vegas knocking out Damion Reed of North Carolina. Reed
went down four times in the first round. Junior lightweight
Adrien Broner of Cincinnati, Ohio had a first round TKO
victory over Ilido Julio of Miami Florida. Broner was on the
attack from the beginning of the fight. After knocking Julio
down, Broner unleashed his fury. The fight was stopped at
1:34 of the round. Welterweight Mikael Zewski of
Trois-Rivieres, Canada won by unanimous decision over
Ardrick Butler of Philadelphia. Butler gave a good fight in
the first round, but Zewski turned up the pressure in the
second. Butler spent the rest of the fight backing up.
It might not have been a night of surprises, but the crowd
was not disappointed. Not only did they get to see their
local favorites win but also they were treated to some up
and coming fighters that are sure to make their mark on the
boxing scene.
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