MMA was followed by boxing Saturday night at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in an event promoted by Ring of Dreams. The five bouts of boxing was preceded by a moment-of-silence and sounding of the bell in memory of Hector “Macho” Camacho. Approximately 550 fans attended the event. The crowd was made up of fans predominantly in their 40’s, who, for the most part, appeared to enjoy the event, but also seemed displeased by excessive clinching of fighters not broken up by passive referees.
Boxing began with Joseph “Spiderman” Benjamin of Miami, Florida entering the ring wearing a Spider-Man cape to take on Douglas Otieno Okola from Africa. The super-hero cape had apparently not provided the strength Benjamin needed against his opponent as Okala improved his record to 24-8 with a 6-round unanimous decision. Benjamin had displayed a very odd fighting style with very jerky movements from a flat footed stance.
That bout was followed by Greg “Lime Lite” Newby, fighting out of Washington D.C./Maryland, who TKO’d Donnie Moore in the 1st round. Newby is now 3-0. Greg Newby, who fights out of the Lime Lite Gym in D.C., came in looking very professional (new crisp shorts, robe, and black shoes with a neon-lime-green trim). The crowd seemed a bit in awe as he made short work of his opponent.
In other bouts, Boxing-360 fighter Keandre Leatherwood of Birmingham, Alabama defeated the North Carolina journeyman boxer, Marcos Primera, who has been fighting since 1996, including a loss to current junior-middleweight champion Austin Trout in 2009. Primera originates from Venezuela and resides in Asheboro. This was Leatherwood’s second straight match at the Benton Convention Center venue. The three judges scored the bout 59-53. He is now 12-1 with 8 KO’s.
Another journeyman fighter, 34-year-old William Gill of New Jersey, took on North Carolina’s own Anthony (Tony) “The Tyger” Hanshaw in a scheduled 8-round light-heavyweight bout in the main event. Hanshaw won every round on the judges’ scorecards. He is known for once having gone a full 12-rounds with Roy Jones Jr. for the vacant IBC light-heavyweight title, losing to Jones by unanimous decision. Hanshaw entered the ring on Saturday night with an impressive and flamboyant-looking silver sequined shorts and robe. He landed lots of heavy looping hooks and uppercuts, but Gill was tough and never gave up. Gill wasn’t able to mount any significant damage or combinations against Hanshaw, who seemed a little tired in the 3rd and 4th rounds, but came back strong in the 5th through 8th. Hanshaw was always the aggressor and even did some unusual taunting. After the bell sounded in one of the later rounds, he made a stalking move, kind of cat-like, at Gill. The crowd mobbed Hanshaw for pictures after the fight. His record is now 23-2.
Derek “The Black Lion” Edwards, of Winston-Salem, improved his record to 26-2 with a 6-round unanimous decision win over John Michael Terry, who falls to 4 wins and 24 losses following their super-middleweight bout. Terry displayed an odd stance and never seemed to be looking at his opponent. He was largely ineffective as Edwards, showing good technical skills, appeared to have his way with Terry, a seemingly tough veteran. Terry appeared frustrated as the fight went on and even spat at Edwards as he turned to go to his corner at the end of a round. This angered Edwards’ fans, who were some of the more vocal of the night. Edwards won easily on points.
Undefeated heavyweight Joshua “Too Tuff” Tufte (10-0) of Kernersville, North Carolina was also scheduled to fight on Saturday, but had to pull out because of injury
P. Rivera, GAR1680 Boxing Talk
Twitter: @GAR1680
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