Manfredo Makes Short Work of Johnson
by Stephen Tobey (April 26, 2003)
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BROCKTON, Mass., April 26 – After six months of inactivity, Peter Manfredo, Jr. wasn’t even active for six minutes.
The former International Boxing Union junior middleweight title holder disposed of Ronnie Johnson at 1 minute and 37 seconds of the second round in a scheduled 10-round middleweight bout Saturday at the brand new Shaw’s Convention Center.
After one and one-half rounds of holding and wrestling, Manfredo caught Johnson with he right to the temple when he was lunging in at him. Johnson dropped to his knees, but got up and motioned to his right ear, while complaining to referee Bob Benoit that he could not hear. Benoit stopped the fight and Manfredo improved to 17-0 with eight knockouts.
“He just wanted to hit me with quick shots and grab,” said Manfredo, who lives in Pawtuckett, R.I. “I had to get off with some fast combinations but I knew I’d get him eventually.”
Johnson, who lives in Fayetteville, Ark. dropped to 19-17 with 11 knockouts. It was his seventh loss in his last nine fights and the fourth straight time he was stopped.
Manfredo’s last fight was on Oct. 2 when he won the IBU title with a seventh-round knockout of Frankie Randall at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. He has since been stripped of the title. His next fight will be on June 27 at the Dunkin Donuts Center.
Brockton’s Ian Gardner stopped Michael McFail of Baltimore in the sixth round of a scheduled eight-round middleweight bout. Gardner, a southpaw, landed several combinations against the game McFail, who also landed more than his share of solid shots. Referee Mark Marvelle stopped the fight at 1:53 of the sixth round after Gardner rocked McFail with a right hook.
A native of Canada, Gardner improved to 11-1 with six KOs. His only loss was a split decision against Manfredo in November of 2001. McFail dropped to 11-15-1 (3 KOs).
In a heavyweight rematch, Billy Mofford of Randolph, Mass. won a six-round unanimous decision against Harold Rodriguez of Taunton, Mass. The scores were 59-54, 60-53 and 58-56. Rodriguez had a point deducted in the fourth round for holding and hitting. Mofford, who won a four-round decision against Rodriguez in March of 2002, improved to 5-1-2 (1 KO); Rodriguez dropped to 3-3 (1 KO).
William Gibbs of Brockton knocked out Benjamin Marquez of Denver at one minute of the second round, middleweights. Gibbs improved to 13-0 (11 KOs); Marquez slipped to 28-28-3 (12 KOs).
Light heavyweight Eric Pinaretta of New Bedford, Mass. won a four-round unanimous decision against Richard Zola of Brimfield, Mass. The scores were 40-37, 40-36 and 39-37. Pinaretta climbed to 1-1; Zola dropped to 2-23-2 (1 KO).
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