Pinchuk & Ettore Win NABF Titles In Pittsburgh

Lyubomyr Pinchuk vs Nick Kisner
NABF Bridgerweight title

Pittsburgh’s Lyubomyr Pinchuk toyed with Baltimore’s Nick Kisner in the first round and battered him into submission in the second. A left dropped Kisner along the ropes and a non-stop barrage forced referee Tim Shipley to jump in and save Kisner from any more punishment. The end came via TKO at 1:09 of the second round. Pinchuk becomes the NABF Bridgerweight champion and improves to 17-4-2, 11 KOs. Kisner slides to 23-9-1, 7 KOs.

Johnny Spell vs Dante Ettore
Junior NABF Lightweight Title

This fight for the Junior NABF started out with both lanky fighters grappling awkwardly for much of the first round. Ettore got on track, working behind the jab in round two. Blood from Spell’s nose sprayed in and out of the ring in round three. Ettore continued to pursue a retreating Spell behind a stiff jab and right cross. Ettore began loading up near the end of the fourth, to both body and head with good success. Between Ettore’s excellent offense, Spell’s badly bleeding nose and an ill-fitting mouthpiece, things weren’t going well for Spell. Ettore had Spell reeling slightly at the end of the sixth, under heavy fire. Spell did get some shots home as Ettore sported a red and swollen right cheek bone as the fight wore on. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a counter right dropped Ettore hard in the seventh with less than 30 seconds in the round. Ettore struggled to beat the count, but did and survived the round. The eighth and final round was high drama. As buoyed on as he should’ve been by his success in the previous round and the cheering hometown crowd, Spell was battered himself and couldn’t muster the finishing touch. Ettore sufficiently recovered to take the last round and gut out the win by scores of 76-75 and 78-73 twice, to earn the Junior NABF Lightweight title and improve to 12-3-2, 7 KOs. Spell drops to 11-3, 4 KOs.

Featherweights Daniel Bodish and Dominique Griffin were fast and furious in their scheduled eight rounder. Despite both men having an identical 33% of their wins by KO, Bodish seemed to rattle Griffin with several right hands in the second. Bodish mixed his shots to the head and body very well in the third, while Griffin did his best to answer back, though with far fewer shots in return. Round four saw both men land hard upstairs and down, Griffin having his best round. Rounds five and six remained heated with loads of exchanges, Griffin’s head getting snapped back at the bell ending the sixth, returning to his corner with a bloody nose. The fight ended in a phone both as both men warred toe-to-toe in center ring for the last thirty seconds to the final bell, the crowd screaming their approval at the action. The final scores were as follows: 79-73, 78-74, 80-72 all for Bodish, now 7-0, 2 KOs. Griffin drops to 6-12-2, 2 KOs.

Heavyweights Brian Mowry and Antonio Torres took turns trying to turn each other’s lights out in a scheduled six rounder. The taller Mowry switch hit between orthodox and southpaw, keeping Torres at bay with his jab, regardless of stance. Mowry had a very good fourth, landing several rights to the head of Torres in the neutral corner. Torres proved durable and Mowry boxed neatly for the remaineder of the bout, with niether man ever in danger of going down. The scores were as follows: 59-55, 60-54 twice for Mowry. He moves to 4-0, 2 KOs, while Torres evens out at 4-4, 4 KOs.

Kiante Irving and Christian Juresic opened the Integrity Sports Management show in Pittsburgh’s Priory Grand Hall Saturday night. The light heavyweight bout was scheduled for six rounds. Irving was looking to fire his left jab followed by a powerful right, all night. One of those rights caused a cut on the left eyebrow of Juresic at the end of round two. A right hand by Irving dropped Juresic early in the fourth. Under fire, Juresic took a knee a minute later, for a second knockdown. Another right dropped Juresic to his knees in the fifth. Referee Tim Shipley reached the full count at 1:21 of the fifth. Irving improves to 12-1-1, 12 KOs. Juresic evens out at 3-3, 1 KO.