Report And Photos By Bob Ryder
Detroit boxing fans were treated to an exciting and entertaining contest Friday night between locals Dwane Taylor and Sam Rizzo in the headline bout of the latest installment of promoter Carlos Llinas’ Night of Knockouts series. The junior lightweights had the Motor City Casino Soundboard crowd totally engaged as their scheduled eight round match evolved into a back and forth display of skill and guts. The contrasting styles of the combatants added to the drama as Rizzo employed a move, slip in and attack mode, while Taylor stalked Rizzo, looking to cut off the ring and land. Taylor was able to score effectively in the first round with hard jabs and was continuing the same in the second until right at the bell Rizzo nailed him with a solid punch that seemed to stun Taylor slightly. Dwane came back to drop Sam in the third with a crisp left hook knockdown. Rizzo not appearing hurt, rose and went back to work and assumed control for the next several rounds. Rizzo had an excellent fifth round raising a mouse under Taylor’s left eye in the process. Near the end of the seventh round, Sam had Dwane along the ropes and landed some of his best power shots of the night. Entering the final round Rizzo looked to be heading for the win. Taylor was not having it and got Rizzo to exchange at the start of the round, dropping Rizzo with a monster shot. Summoning massive courage, Rizzo managed to beat the count and after referee Steve Daher gave him a long look, he was able to continue. Taylor went right after a still wobbling Rizzo and after scoring with some heavy blows, ref Daher raced in to rescue Rizzo from further assault. The TKO win for Taylor at :58 of the final round raised his record to (10-1, 9 KOs). Rizzo falls to (10-2, 6 KOs). One of the best fights between hometown boxers seen here for years.
In a eight round super welterweight match Justin Lacey-Pierce continues to show progress under trainer Ronnie Shields’ guidance as he took the decision over Puerto Rico’s Luis Caraballo Ramos with all three judges seeing it 80-72. Lacey-Pierce (15-0-1, 8 KOs) was too fast and used that speed to move and score effectively although Ramos (8-10, 8 KOs) made it interesting, landing several hard shots on Lacey-Pierce near the end of the seventh round.
A junior middleweight scheduled eight round bout saw Philadelphia’s Richard Johnson (10-0, 6 KOs) notch an easy first round KO at 1:06 with a body shot over Juan Silva (4-6 0 KOs).
The only scheduled six rounder on the show saw Detroit’s Bryant Brown ( 5-0, 4 KOs) blast Jrue Luis King (6-1, 4 KOs) to the canvas in the second round. King somehow managed to get up and beat the count, but referee Floyd Porter could see he was in no condition to go on and waved it off giving Brown the TKO win at 2:06. Super middleweights.
Eight four round contests comprised the rest of this busy fight night. Light heavyweight Ali Hamka made his long awaited pro debut by dispatching Shawn Moore (0-2) with a body blow at just :21 of the opening round. Hamka also serves as a Dearborn cop.
Junior Middleweight Brandon Wilcox (4-0, 4 KOs) scored one knockdown over Murodjon Eshnazarov (1-1, 1 KO), then landed a solid left hook to score another for the one punch KO at 2:59 of the first round.
Thomas Covington (3-0, 3 KOs) also scored a knockdown over Derik LaMont Smith (0-4) before scoring another in which Smith failed to beat the count. Featherweight Covington gets the win at 1:06 of the first.
In a couple of heavyweight fights, Marcus Solis (3-0, 1 KO) got the decision over Marcus Maulding (3-10, 3 KOs) judges scoring it 39-36 and 40-35 x 2. Maulding took a standing eight count in the final round. David McPherson ( 4-0, 4 KOs) scored knockdowns in the second and fourth rounds over KeShawn Jackson (1-11-1, 0 KOs), before landing the finisher at 1:38 of the last round for the KO win.
Welterweight Jeremiah Phifer (4-0, 3 KOs) landed a knockdown shot against Duvai Gibbs (3-4 0 KOs) in the first then carried on to take the decision over super tough Gibbs by judges scores of 39-36 and 40-35 x 2.
Joshua Owen (2-0, 2 KOs) scored a knockdown in the first, then three more in the second for the automatic TKO at 2:56 over Kerry Lattimer. Lattimer making his pro debut. Super featherweights.
Charles Cross (2-0, 2 KOs) scored two knockdowns in the first round over Dartagnan Ware (0-5) with Ware indicating to referee Daher on the second one that his night was done. Cross gets the TKO at 2:04.
This night promoter Carlos Llinas was presented an award in in the ring in recognition of his 20 years of promoting here in the Detroit area. Boxing does not survive without these non TV events and Llinas has done it here far longer and more often than any other promoter in the Detroit and Michigan area has for many years. In the boxing world of today it is no easy task to throw shows of 10-12 bouts on a regular basis. Llinas has given the good, the bad, and the ugly a chance to perform here where they might have no other opportunity and he deserves congratulations for his efforts.
