"Lights Out" sends everyone home early in KEA Boxing headliner.

By Mike Indri

Retired Boxers Foundation

 

Whippany, NJ - Extremely popular and highly touted super middleweight, Wayne "Lights Out" Johnsen, surprised even his most ardent followers with his one punch, first round knockout of formerly undefeated opponent, Josh Hammock.

Fighting as the main event on promoter Andre Kut’s KEA Boxing show, Johnsen, a resident of nearby Lyndhurst, needed only that one punch; a picture perfect right hand which landed flush on the jaw, to render Hammock unconscious.  Referee Harvey Dock proved his proficiency by quickly abandoning his count and calling for the ring physician at the 33 second mark of the scheduled eight round bout.

Johnsen, who improved to 14-1, (9 KO’s), along with his handlers Mike Skowronski, Sal Alessi and renowned cut man Danny Milano, were exuberant following the impressive showing. 

So were the legion of loyal "Wayniacs" that faithfully support the talented and likeable Johnsen.  While this KEA Boxing event unfortunately didn’t seem to draw the type of crowd that Andre Kut had expected, most present were still there to see Wayne Johnsen.

Now for the bad news.

Even though Johnsen did what he was supposed to do, and in grand fashion, his Fort Smith, Arkansas native opponent Josh Hammock, in reality, leaves little to be excited about.

Looking past Hammock’s current 7-1 record, which includes 5 knockout wins and a no contest, one finds that in his previous eight fights all his opponents were winless, and six of those fighters were making their pro debuts!  Even more disturbing was the fact that Hammock is a natural welterweight and his two recorded weights for prior fights in 2006 were 143 pounds (2/4/06) and 148 pounds (4/22/06) while Johnsen, who has fought at cruiserweight, is a bona fide super middleweight. 

Either way, it provided the dramatics for a resounding and quick fight!

In the co-feature bout, welterweight prospect Henry Crawford continued on his winning ways and remained undefeated, with his dominating six round unanimous decision victory over veteran Christopher Henry, who fell to 21-15 (16 KO’s).

Crawford used his superior speed and power to control the bout from it’s onset and continually hammered away at his surprisingly resilient foe.  Henry, a native of Barbados, somehow made it to the final bell on his feet; despite getting staggered often and dropped to the canvas in the last stanza.

For his efforts, Crawford, who improved to 13-0-1 (5 KO’s), will get to fight  in Atlantic City (as will Wayne Johnsen) on the under card of the highly anticipated Dec. 2nd fight card featuring world champions Miquel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, fighting in separate bouts.  

Along with proving he is a highly talented fighter, Crawford also showed he is a sincere, class person - evidenced by his wearing a patch in support of the Retired Boxers Foundation on his boxing trunks.

On the KEA Boxing under card:

Bantamweights J.V. Tuazon and Anolan Rigal opened the show with non-stop action and excitement.  Tuazon, fighting out of Jersey City, NJ, started quickly and jumped all over his opponent, bruising the left side of Rigal’s face before the rugged NY fighter weathered the storm and began pelting the fan favorite Tuazon, with too many uppercuts and clean power shots, to end round one.  Rigal provided more of the same as he dominated the three minutes of round two, the only question being how Tuazon even survived?

That question was answered 1:20 into round three of the scheduled four rounder.  With Tuazon literally out on his feet and absorbing tremendous punishment, referee Dave Franciosi smartly jumped in and ended the brutal fight.  Rigal picked up his first pro win (1-0-1), while Tuazon suffered his first pro loss (0-1-1).

Next up, one-time light weight prospect and Duva protégé, Antonio Espinosa ended his eighteen month layoff with a four round unanimous decision win against 37-year-old Felisiberto Fernandes, now 4-6 and loser of his last four.

Espinosa, fighting out of West New York, NJ remained undefeated, improving to 6-0 (4 KO’s).

Brooklyn’s Nick "Lil Nicky" DeMarco followed, and didn’t disappoint.  Proving to be a light weight with heavy hands, DeMarco overwhelmed his opponent Alex Matos, now 0-3.  DeMarco’s hurtful attack actually forced his Richmond, Va. opponent to quit after getting to his feet following a second round knockdown. The fight was waved off at 2:08 of round two.  The popular DeMarco (2-0) has registered knockouts in both of his pro victories.

The six round heavyweight bout between aspiring contender Kevin Johnson and Philadelphia’s Michael Rhodes did little more than provide Johnson with a win to pad onto his now 12-0-1 record and left NJ boxing with an embarrassing black eye!

The 6’5", 239 pound Johnson picked up the unanimous decision victory against Rhodes, who was announced as a former national gold glove champion, and could only be noted by the NJSACB as 350 pounds, because their state certified scale pegged at the 350 limit! 

The 6 foot, 30-year-old Rhodes came in wearing boxing shoes that could not be laced up past his "chankles" and a white t-shirt.  Unfortunately he was made to take the shirt off, to the humor of all those watching.

Boxing is always crying about how the sport doesn’t get the respect and exposure as do other sports, and believe me boxing does truly deserve more respect and much more exposure, but boxing is also it’s worst enemy.  This fiasco serves as proof.

Aside from this joke of a match, the KEA Boxing show was a good time for the fans and a good night of boxing. 

For some reason the crowd wasn’t as big as promoter Andre Kut had hoped and expected.  Kut has worked hard to try to present quality shows at finer venues.  A veteran in the boxing business, Kut appears committed in his quest to bring quality boxing to northern New Jersey, and deserves more support for his efforts.

For future KEA Boxing events go to www.brickcityboxing.com