By Francisco Salazar

Former featherweight contender Toka Kahn Clary picked up another win Thursday night, defeating Irvin Gonzalez by unanimous decision at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

Clary, who is originally from Liberia and now resides in nearby Providence, Rhode Island, improves to 27-2, 18 knockouts and will likely earn a ranking from the WBA.

The southpaw Clary was the more-effective fighter during the first half of the fight, working behind a jab and straight left hands to the head of Gonzalez. By the midway point of the fight, Gonzalez aggressively closed the distance between the two, producing solid exchanges over the next couple of rounds.

Gonzalez did find some success, but Clary created openings to counter with straight lefts or crosses to the head. By round eight, Gonzalez’s nose produced blood from the number of punches he received.

Although he was game for most of the fight, Gonzalez looked tired during the last two rounds, thanks in part by the amount of punches Clary delivered to the body. Gonzalez would throw one punch at a time and found a way to make it to the final bell.

Scores were 99-91, 99-91, and 98-92 for Clary, who has won his last two bouts since his loss to unbeaten Kid Galahad on Oct. 20.

Gonzalez, who resides in Worcester, Massachusetts, falls to 12-2, 9 KOs.

Alicia Napoleon successfully defended her WBA super middleweight title by stopping previously-unbeaten Schemelle Baldwin at 1:30 of the fourth round.

Napoleon broke down Baldwin from the opening bell, mixing her attack to the head and body of Baldwin, who was taking vicious amount of punishment with each passing round. A barrage of punches in round four that connected onto Baldwin forced referee Al LoBianco to step in and stop the bout at 1:30.

The 33-year-old Napoleon (12-1, 7 KOs), who resides in Lindenhurst, New York, has now won her last seven bouts since losing by unanimous decision to Tori Nelson in December of 2010.

Baldwin of Newark, Delaware drops to 3-1-1, 2 KOs.

Junior middleweight prospect Hurshidbek Normatov of Uzbekistan defeated 38-year-old Walter Wright (17-7, 8 KOs) of ‘The Contender’ fame by unanimous decision over eight rounds. Scores were 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73 for Normatov, who improves to 9-0, 3 KOs.

Heavyweight Stephan Shaw of Saint Louis improved to 12-0, 9 KOs by dropping Indianapolis’ Willie Jake, Jr. (8-3-1, 2 KOs) twice en route to a knockout win at 56 seconds of the fourth round.

Welterweight Kali Reis defeated Denver’s Patricia Juarez (4-2) by unanimous decision over six rounds. All three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Reis, who improves to 16-7-1, 5 KOs. Reis has won her last three bouts since losing by decision to Cecilia Braekhus by unanimous decision on May 5 of last year, a fight in which Reis scored a knockdown of Braekhus.

Bantamweight contender Helen Joseph (17-3-2, 10 KOs), who is originally from Nigeria and now resides in New Haven, Connecticut, notched a one-sided decision over Hungary’s Martina Horgasz (5-4, 4 KOs). All three judges scored the bout 60-53 in favor of Joseph.

Lou DiBella promoted the card.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing