RESULTS: Charlotte Boxing at the EpiCenter on Saturday, July 19, 2014

On Saturday, July 19, 2014, Money Mike Promotions featured seven professional bouts that took place at the EpiCenter 210 Rooftop in Charlotte. A rainy day just cleared and seated spectators were folding their umbrellas when the first bout began at 8:00PM.

On the downside, event organizers did not issue programs with bout listings and an awful PA system was made worse by a Ring Announcer who yelled everything into the microphone at the top of his lungs. The voice distortion made it impossible to understand what he was saying or who he was introducing. If he’d spoken with his normal tone of voice, it may have been a lot clearer.

About 300 fans in attendance didn’t seem to mind, however, as most cheered and yelled throughout the event at what turned out to be a very exciting night of boxing in a setting surrounded by Charlotte’s lit-up Uptown skyline. Spectators could care less, it seemed, what the MC was saying.

The fights kicked off with two out-of-town boxers coming in at 131 pounds. Michael Robinson of Memphis, Tennessee, making his debut as a pro, was matched with Tyshae Ferguson of Virginia coming in with a record of 0-2. Robinson won every round of the 4-round bout by unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 40-36.

In the second bout, Michael Hazzard of South Carolina, in his debut, fought highly favored Stanley "The kid" Wright, who, from the sound of cheers in the crowd, appeared to have the largest contingent of fans in attendance than any other fighter on this night. Also making his debut appearance as a pro, Wright, who trains at Stanley's Pro Boxing Gym in Charlotte and is also a Mecklenburg County Sheriff Deputy, was knocked down in the first round by Hazzard, likely giving the South Carolinian a 10-8 winning round. But Wright bounced back after the referee’s eight-count and scored a high number of blows to the head of Hazzard throughout the remaining three rounds, giving Wright a 4-round unanimous decision win, all three judges scoring it 39-37.

In the next bout, James “The Fighting Fireman” Hammortree (now 5-0) of Florida defeated Sam Promonee of Charleston, South Carolina by 1st round KO. Promonee drops to 1-1.

The next two bouts featured popular North Carolina boxers fighting out of the Dyme Boxing & Fitness Gym in Charlotte, with some of the best coaches in the business in their corner, Coach James Pressley and Coach James Carr. Recent winner of the WBC Latino belt, John "Spidey" Williams, was matched against a fighter out of New York City, Joseph Figueroa, a long-time veteran journeyman entering the ring with a record of 11-53-5. Despite a significant height difference (for a moment it appeared Spidey was going to box a midget), the New Yorker turned out to be very game; a tough little bulldog that went toe-to-toe with the Dyme fighter and gave about as much as he took, occasionally landing heavy blows to the head of Williams. The fight went the six-round distance with Spidey Williams getting a unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 60-54.

Following a 15-minute intermission, Dyme fighter Jared “The Warrior” Robinson was matched against cross-town contender, Andre Baker, fighting out of Lumberton, North Carolina. Following three knockdowns of Baker in the 2nd round, mostly from vicious body punches that Robinson delivered to Baker’s left side, referee Bill Clancy called a halt to the bout. Jared Robinson’s record improves to 15-1, while Baker drops to 10-41-2.

In a heavyweight matchup, undefeated heavyweight Nat Heaven of Florida entered the ring with a record of 9-0 and wearing super-shiny blue robe and boxers (with the nickname “Heaven Sent” on the back of the robe). He faced a big heavyweight from Louisiana, Stacy Frazier, who had the same amount of wins and losses on his record (15-15). In the scheduled 6-round bout, it took just one devastating blow at 29 seconds into the first round to the head of Heaven to end the fight quickly. Heaven went down and got up on wobbly legs, forcing the referee to stop the bout. Heaven suffers his first defeat and Frazier's record improves to 16-15.

In the final fight of the evening Marselle "Cochise" Walker made his professional debut. Marselle Walker also fights out of the Stanley's Pro Boxing Gym in Charlotte. Walker faced Coy Lanbert of South Carolina (now 2-13). In the first round, Walker bloodied his opponent’s face with a series of jabs and punches landing accurately. Further combinations and continuous blows to the head in the 2nd round resulted in the referee calling a stop to the bout. Marcelle Walker, now 1-0, won by TKO.

Several in attendance were introduced by the Ring Announcer during intermission that included former North Carolina IBF Bantamweight World Champion Kelvin Seabrooks and Winston-Salem Women’s Heavyweight contender, Carlette "The Truth" Ewell. Carlette will be fighting for the vacant IBO Heavyweight title on August 2 in the Caribbean.

Other notables in attendance were boxing promoter Krishna Wainright, who was accompanied by amateur women boxer Lynn L. Holmes of Charlotte. Lynn recently won the 178-LBS 2014 National Women’s Golden Gloves Championship that took place in Florida. Charlotte boxing promoter Jonathan Kearse Nazeer came out to support the event. Nazeer, who runs JKN Boxing Promotions, will have the next boxing event taking place in Charlotte on August 16th that will include world-class contender Hector "Machito" Camacho Jr. in the Main Event. Coach Mike Kane of Mid-South Boxing and Fitness was also at the EpiCenter Rooftop, mainly to see friends from Dyme, Jared Robinson and Spidey Williams, in their respective bouts.

Paco Rivera, GAR1680 Boxing Talk Radio & Blog
Twitter: @GAR1680

Videos of some of the bouts can be seen on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/GAR1680BoxingTalk/videos

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