By Larry Tornambe


 


Hall of Fame promoter J. Russell Peltz went back to his old stomping grounds at the Legendary Blue Horizon with hot undefeated welterweight prospect Mike Jones headlining a seven-bout card on Friday night. Jones once again proved himself worthy of top billing, tearing through late replacement Dairo Esales en route to a second round knockout.


 


Peltz Boxing and Joe Hand Promotions received unexpected news last weekend when Jones’ original opponent, Larry Mosley was injured in training and forced to withdraw from the NABA welterweight title fight. Mosley was a worthy challenger for Jones’ first defense, but that dynamic changed dramatically when he was replaced by Esales.



The change in opponents was a major step backwards for Jones, whose career has impressively progressed with each fight. What was left to see was how the young Philly phenom would handle what now had the potential to become a trap fight.  



Such concerns were alleviated from jump. Esales was badly hurt in the opening round, and Jones never let up.  



“I knew I hurt him,” Jones said of the opening round burst.  “Natural instincts came up; when I see blood there is no stopping me.” 



Jones spoke figuratively about the blood because Esalas was one of few fighters who did NOT bleed this night.  He was, however, the only fighter of the night to suffer a knockout loss, paying the heavy price of facing the best fighter on the show, and one of the best prospects in the game today. 



A dominant opening round was followed up by a thorough attack – and finish – in the second round. A searing right sent Esales to the ground for the first of three knockdowns.  The Colombian journeyman righted himself and fought back, even putting Jones off-balance with a right hand. Jones remained cool under fire, confident of his ability to ride out the storm.



“He may have hit me on the way in” said Jones, “but I wasn’t hurt.”



The claim was backed up by his dropping Esales for the second time following a barrage of punches. Jones’ lone objective at that point was to close the show. He did so in emphatic fashion. A Philly-style left hook to the body was followed by another left hook upstairs. Esalas went down for the third time, prompting referee Gary Rosato to wave off the action at 1:56 of the second round.  



Jones improves to 17-0 (15KO) with the win. Next on his agenda is “going back to the gym” and awaiting further instructions from his trusted promoter.



Esales continues to slide in the other direction. He drops his sixth straight, falling to 31-16 (25KO).


 


Much like Jones, Teon Kennedy is another rising Philly prospect who also had an opponent change.    Paulino Villalobos failed his physical two weeks ago and was replaced by Andre Wilson. 



The southpaw Wilson came from St. Joseph, Missouri with a soft two-fight docket from 2008.  Meanwhile, Kennedy battled four men in 2008 and looked to his 12th fight, which will make him eligible to be ranked by the USBA.   


 


These super bantamweights, scheduled for eight rounds, were close after two rounds with Kennedy leading slightly with constant aggression and a large overhand right representing the most telling punch after six minutes of boxing.   But he was also forced to deal with a gusher of a cut along the outside of his right eye from the third round to fight’s close.



Just after the cut occurred, Kennedy (121 lbs) stunned Wilson and went on the attack, but paid the price for forced aggression when he was staggered and dropped by a jab.



 This would be the only round won by the southpaw Wilson (118.5 lbs) on BoxingScene’s scorecard; however the official scorecards covered the crowd with a tense blanket as the bout turned out to be a split decision. The first two judges scored 76-75, one for each boxer.  The deciding judge tallied a total of 79-73, giving Wilson only a 10-9 round even with a knockdown to his credit, for Kennedy.  



The win advances Kennedy to 12-0 (5KO), and is now eligible for alphabet rankings. He proved his ability to deal with adversity, but failed to give himself room to punch. While landing far more, most of his punches were thrown head-on rather than coming from angles, prompting Wilson to bend at the waist and force a clinch.



Wilson used the lefty stance to his advantage but came on the short end of the split decision and falls to 11-2-1 (9KO). 


 


Other results:


Jamal Davis captured a unanimous decision over Clarence “Sonny Bono” Taylor in their six-round junior middleweight scrap.  Davis (9-4) was the aggressor throughout, quicker and far more accurate as Taylor (13-21-4) slowed in the final two rounds. Scores were 60-54 (twice) and 59-53.


 


Derrick Bivins and Luis Esquilin fought to a draw in a four-round junior lightweight tilt. Scores were all over the place – 40-36 Esquilin, 39-37 Bivins, with the final tally of 38-38 to produce the stalemate.


 


Kensington (PA)-based super middleweight Dennis Hasson made it rain throughout his six-round super middleweight bout with Philly’s own Garrett Wilson, yet it was the house fighter who was forced to contend with a bloody nose. He still dominated but failed to muster the power for a knockout win, forced to settle for a virtual shutout (60-54 twice and 59-53) in improving to 7-0 (2KO). Wilson drops his second straight as he dips to 3-2 (1KO).


 


Rod Salka outpunched and was much quicker than Victor Vasquez over six lightweight rounds. In a bloodfest, Vasquez could not give the vocal crowd what they shouted for and dropped a unanimous 60-54 (from all three judges) decision to Bunola, Pennsylvania’s Salka.



Tommy Yankello, Salka’s trainer, tells me that Bunola is near the Century 3 Mall and Elizabeth, PA, near Pittsburgh. Hmmm; you learn something new every day.


 


Kaseem Wilson goes to 11-1-1 with a unanimous ‘no surprise here’ eight-round welterweight win over Martinus Clay, who is now 13-19-4.


 


Down The Road:


Peltz Boxing and Hand Promotions team up for another show on May 1 with the scheduled topper to be Rogers Mtagwa vs. Ricardo Medina at the Legendary Blue Horizon.



Mtagwa is never in a dull fight and Medina has been quite the spoiler over the past couple of years.  It is certainly on my ‘things to do’ list.


 


Philadelphia boxing is red hot despite a long, cold winter.  Watch out for the Friday the 13th Xtreme Promotions card at the Arena (formerly the New Alhambra). The Legendary Blue Horizon Boxing Promotions card pits Ran Nakash and Dave Brunelli on top on April 3rd. That battle is followed by newcomer, Bionic Bull Promotions on April 4th at South Philadelphia High School. 



Four cards are on the calendar for May in Philadelphia; at the Blue on May 1 and 15th, at the Arena on the 8th and South Philly H.S. on the 9th.