NBC Sports Inaugural Card a Wild Success

Posted on | January 26, 2012 | No Comments

Philadelphia Boxing Results from The Asylum – January 21, 2012

By: Tony Penecale (Ringside)

Fight News Unlimited Correspondent Tony "The Tornado" Penecale (left) and Famed Boxing Trainer Freddie Roach hang out at Ringside.

Whoever said “You Can’t Go Home Again” was obviously not in attendance as Prime-time boxing was making its long-awaited return to network TV, and there was no better place to host the inaugural NBC Sports card than the Asylum in South Philadelphia this past Saturday Night.

A loud and enthusiastic contingent of fans packed the first-floor ballroom, and they were rewarded for braving the cold and wintry weather with a pair of scintillating co-feature attractions put together by Hall-of-Fame promoter J. Russell Peltz.

 The main event–compiled only days in advance when an injury forced a cancellation of the highly-anticipated Eddie Chambers-Sergei Liakhovich  bout–featured a pair of unbeaten heavyweights with Philadelphia connections, as Maurice “Freight Train” Byarm and Bryant “Bye Bye” Jennings were all too happy to grab the national spotlight.

Byarm, 244 lbs, Washington DC, was fighting in the city he was born and raised for the first time as a professional.  His father battled the legendary Evander Holyfield in the former champion’s professional debut and Byarm once mentioned in an interview with Fight News Unlimited that he would like to avenge his father’s loss, preferably in the final fight of Holyfield’s Hall-of-Fame career.

Jennings, 220, Philadelphia, has been steadily progressing his young career in quieter fashion, improving with bouts in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas, including a quality victory on the undercard of Amir Khan-Zab Judah in Las Vegas.  The nationally televised main event against Byarm was the perfect opportunity to make his name known.

The southpaw Byarm lived up to his “Freight Train” nickname at the opening bell as he barreled straight ahead towards Jennings with power punches.  Jennings opted to counter with movement and quicker, flurry-style punches.  Byarm kept swarming with strictly power punches in the 2^nd round, and while he controlled most of the action, Jennings was able to land a hard right hand counter punch.

The action and intensity picked up in the 3^rd round when Jennings started to counter Byarm’s heavy thudding punches with sharp and snapping punches, which routinely caused sweat to fly off the larger man’s head.  In an effort to take the snap out of Jennings’s punches, Byarm started to focus his attention to the body in the 5^th round, but Jennings was able to counter with a stinging combination at the bell.

With Byarm seemingly ahead 3-2 after five rounds, Jennings started to increase the pace in the 6^th round and became more aggressive, controlling the action.  Byarm appeared to be tired, and in the 7^th round he was the one backing up and showing more movement.

Jennings’ superior work rate and crisper punches carried the action from rounds 6-8 as he pulled ahead.  Byarm mounted a comeback in the 9^th round as Jennings took most of the round off to conserve his energy.  The 10^th and final round was action-packed and dramatic as both warriors fought in close quarters with Jennings landing the better punches as the final seconds wound down.

The decision was unanimous as Joseph Pasquale scored it 97-93 and both Alan Rubenstein and Steve Weisfeld both scored it 96-94 (as did Fight News Unlimited) for Jennings.  With the victory, Jennings improves to 12-0 (5 KOs), while Byarm suffers his first defeat and now sits at 13-1-1 (9 KOs).

The co-feature bout of the evening pitting Philadelphia’s “King” Gabriel Rosado and Mexico’s Jesus Soto-Karass looked on paper to be a guaranteed nuclear-charged slugfest.  Rosado, a power-punching bomber, came in into the bout riding a four-fight win streak.  In Soto-Karass, he was facing a durable opponent, who most recently took IBF top-ranked welterweight Mike Jones the distance in two very tough and competitive bouts.

Rosado, 153 lbs, entered the ring to a thunderous ovation from his hometown crowd, sporting a steely focus in his eyes.  Soto-Karass, 154, was moving up from 147, and even though he was the heavier fighter on the scales, he appeared much smaller than Rosado.

It didn’t take long for Rosado to establish dominance as he attacked Soto-Karass and battered him with right hands and uppercuts in the opening round.  Soto-Karass fought back after being stung, but his only punches of consequence landing below the belt line.

Rosado continued his excellent offensive output in the 2^nd round, landing a number of hard right hands that thundered through the arena.  Soto-Karass could only offer a cast-iron chin that was Lamotta-esque. Rosado could have fallen into the same trap as Jones, who, in his first encounter with Soto-Karass, seemed to tire himself teeing off with power punches. Instead, Rosado never let up on his opponent.   

With blood leaking from Soto-Karass’s left eye in the 3^rd round, he attempted to work Rosado’s body, but was met with uppercuts that could have crumbled the Rock of Gibraltar.  Rosado kept the bombs-away attack going in the 4^th round and finally started to crack his adversary’s granite chin. The crowd enthusiastically cheered with every landed punch.

Soto-Karass’ corner tried a futile effort to revive their fighter and, at the same time, buy him some extra time before the 5^th round started, dousing him with ice water.  The precious few seconds it took for the corner to clean up the excess water could not save their battered warrior.  Rosado immediately continued his assault as soon as the action resumed.  Rosado backed Soto-Karass into his own corner and unleashed another series of power punches forcing referee Steve Smoger to intervene and halt the contest at 2:06 of the 5^th round.

Rosado raises his record to 19-5 (11 KOs) while Soto-Karass suffers his first stoppage defeat and falls to 24-7-3 (16 KOs).  Even in defeat, Soto-Karass was gracious, waving to the fans before exiting the ring.  The respect was returned as the crowd applauded his courageous effort.

In other bouts:

In a televised undercard bout, Sullivan Barerra, a standout Cuban with over 300 amateur fights, scored a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Damar Singleton.

Barerra, 174, Miami, was escorted to the ring by fellow Cuban and world-titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa, sporting an undefeated record, against another undefeated fighter in Singleton, 176, Toledo.

Barerra was the aggressor, firing single right hands, while Singleton was content to avoid confrontation and throw single counter punches before initiating clinches.  The crowd became restless as early as the 2^nd round as Barerra carried the action and landed the better shots in every round.

Barerra was awarded an easy decision victory by scores of 60-54 (twice) and 59-55 and stays undefeated at 9-0 (6 KOs) while Singleton loses his first bout and is now 7-1 (3 KOs).

Promising southpaw “New” Ray Robinson won a hard-fought unanimous decision over tough-but-limited Doel Carrasquillo.

Robinson, 148, Philadelphia, opened using his height advantages and speed to move around the ring and throw straight punches against his advancing opponent.  Carrasquillo, 149, Lancaster PA, is an opponent who is better than his sub .500 record, and scored stoppage wins over prospects Denis “Mama’s Boy” Douglin and Shamone Alvarez.

Robinson kept playing matador, landing a variety of punches, against the bull-like southpaw Carrasquillo, who kept his straight forward advance, neglecting the use of any kind of jab. As he increasingly fell behind, Carrasquillo loaded up on right hands, landing a few hard ones but not at the volume that Robinson continued to land, fighting from a distance.

Robinson landed several hard uppercuts in the 7^th round while Carrasquillo failed to make any adjustments.  The only scary moment came in the 8^th and final round when Carrasquillo finally broke through with two hard left hands.  By then, it was too little too late as Robinson coasted until the final bell.

The scores all favored Robinson, winning 79-73 (once) and 78-74 (twice), improving his record to 13-2 (5 KOs) while Carrasquillo falls to 16-19-1 (14 KOs).

Jose Peralta Alejo, may reside in Jersey City, but his fighting style and intensity resembled the recently-deceased Philadelphia Native “Smokin'” Joe Frazier as he attacked and battered the taller Lenwood Dozier over six rounds, capturing a unanimous decision.

Alejo, 145, applied pressure early, grunting loudly as he fired hard left hooks to the body and head and forced Dozier, 146, Glen Burnie MD, to fight in close.  Alejo kept the pressure intense in the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds, while Dozier tried to counter but was forced into retreat mode.

Dozier was able to survive against his opponent’s high-volume work rate, rolling his shoulder to avoid solid shots to the head. He was ultimately unable to fend off the hard body shots that thudded against his ribcage until the final bell.

All three judges agreed and awarded Alejo the victory, scoring the bout 60-54.  Alejo is now 7-1 (4 KOs) while Dozier falls to 7-4-1 (3 KOs).

The card’s opening bout saw Naim Nelson kept his undefeated record intact, defeating pro-debuting Pedro Andres, via unanimous decision.

Nelson, 137, Philadelphia seemed to have more than a 2” height advantage and was the aggressor. Andres, 136, of Bridgeton, NJ, was content to back up.  Nelson had more success in the 2^nd round as his punches were crisper and a solid combination stunned Andres, who was reduced to throwing single, wild punches in return.

Andres was certainly outgunned, as Nelson landed at will over the final two rounds, but was tough and courageous enough to last the distance, even as he was being worked over in the corner at the final bell. 

All three judges scored the bout 40-36 for Nelson who remains undefeated at 4-0 while Andres loses his first professional contest and is now 0-1.

The return of prime-time boxing on NBC Sports Network was a riveting success.  Fans hung around after the show, posing with world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach who was there doing commentary

The show proved one thing:  You Can Home Again!  And here’s to hoping that boxing cards on network TV will stay around for a long time.  The next televised card will be on March 24 with location and bouts still TBD.

PHOTO SLIDESHOW:

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