By Larry Tornambe

Philadelphia, PA - J. Russell Peltz, in conjunction with Joe Hand Boxing, brought in Israel Cardona to face undefeated Mike Jones in the 8-Round main event for Friday’s fight card and the New Alhambra in south Philadelphia.

Cardona is the former USBA and NABF lightweight champ and challenged Paul Spadafora for the vacant IBF lightweight belt in 1999.  Jones is the leader in the Peltz Boxing stable and accepted the challenge of the more experienced foe with a solid game plan.  The plan was to jab and move and Jones worked it well.  While Cardona stalked forward, Jones jabbed quickly, was fleet afoot and gave himself angles to catch Cardona. Jones launched a hard right hand in the 3rd round and it turned out to be the beginning of the end for the fight.  Jones showed power and his finishing instinct as he unloaded on a stunned Cardona (36-8; 147lbs) for close to a minute before earning the TKO stoppage.

Ref, Gary Rosato halted the bout at 1:44 of the 3rd round.  Jones, now 12-0 with 12 KO wins, took a large step forward in becoming a ranked fighter and a top-notch attraction.

The heavyweight co-main event between John Poore and Dan Whetsel went all 8 rounds with the crowd expecting more fireworks.  Poore is 19-2 with all but one of those bouts ending in a KO.  Whetsel was determined not to be the next KO victim despite his 9-11 record. The bout opened slowly with Poore doing enough to win both of the first two rounds.  A large cut on Poore’s left eyebrow figured to be the spark to the thudding punches, but as Poore would punch, Whetsel (210 lbs) would press forward. 

Whetsel felt Poore’s power in the 5th heat, but Poore let him get away. He even allowed himself to be backed up while only offering one or two punches in return.  Spurred by the urging of the hometown crowd, Poore let his hands go in the 8th and final round and with Whetsel answering right back the crowd was treated to a brief heavyweight slugfest.  The Unanimous decision went the way of John Poore, who improves to 20-2.

Latif Mundy and Maurice Williams were involved in a 6-round Junior Middleweight rematch of a June bout. 

Mundy won the June bout with a majority decision and came in undefeated at 6-0.  Williams has only won once in five pro outings.  Williams was a bloody mess and down on the BoxingScene.com scorecard at the beginning of the 3rd round.  Mundy is a good boxer with excellent strength but lousy killer instinct. Williams showed plenty of guts and did what he could against the busy, aggressive Mundy (155 lbs).  It wasn’t enough for Williams who falls to 1-5 as the unanimous decision goes to Mundy (7-0; 2 KO’s).

Travis Thompson was too aggressive for Jonathon Ocasio while earning a 4th round TKO, at 2:52 in the Junior Lightweight opening bout.

Felix Arroyo won a unanimous decision over 4, also in the Junior Lightweight division, over Tommy Garcia.

Victor Vasquez and Freudis Rojas engaged in an entertaining 6-round Lightweight fight.  Vasquez won the unanimous decision.

Mustafa Johnson stayed composed against the wild swinging Joe Christy in their 6-round middleweight bout.  Johnson shutout Christy on the official scorecards.