In HBO’s Boxing After Dark, fight fans were treated to a couple good fights that boasted young talent in a number of divisions. The fight card was held in New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom, and boasted a handful of fighters who were fighting in their own backyard. Paulie Malignaggi (21W-1L, 5KO’s) defeated Edner Cherry (21W-4L-2Dr, 10KO’s) in a unanimous decision if a fight that was very ‘vanilla’. Not much action throughout the fight as Malignaggi completely outclassed Cherry until the 10th round where Cherry was desperate to do something that could possibly culminate in a stoppage. Paulie was a fan favorite and is still considered a good contender in the junior welterweight division despite his last outing where he was dominated by rising Puerto Rican sensation Miguel Cotto. Final scores tallied by the judges were 98-92, 98-92, and 100-90. In one of the undercard bouts, junior middleweights Sechew Powell (21W-2L, 12KO’s) defeated Ishe Smith (18W-2L, 8KO’s) in a fight that at times displayed great power punches by both candidates, but in the end was simply a match where the crafy Powell was simply too much for the fomer “Contender” series challenger Ishe Smith. Although Smith spent the whole fight behind on the score cards, he did manage to score a 4th round knockdown of his opponent as well as turn up the heat down the stretch, catching Powell with many powershots but unfortunately it was all in vain as he would drop the decision 97-92 on all three score cards. The only other televised bout on the undercard featured the very intriguing welterweight ‘boxer/puncher’ Andre Berto (17W-0L, 15KO’s) who remained undefeated by completely annihilating his opponent, Norberto Bravo (23W-13L-3Dr, 13KO’s) , in the first round by sending him to the canvas three times. He only needed 2:28 to improve his record and earn the respect of many boxing fans who had not heard of the ‘up and comer’ coming into the fight. In a division that already boast perhaps the greatest depth of any, it’ll be interesting to see this young prospect as he rises to the top with a rare combination of power and skills. Most fighters simply have one or the other, but this guy is a total package like we haven’t really seen in boxing since a very young “Iron” Mike Tyson.
Fight Night Results: Malignaggi, Powell, Berto All Victorious!!!!
Posted by Tim Starks on Feb 18, 2007 15:54
