De Alba Returns To Win Column In Bethlehem

By Jason Pribila – Ringside in Bethlehem: The Sands Resort and Casino in Bethlehem, USA again played host to the Premier Boxing Champions “Tuesday Night – Toe to Toe”. Before the action went live on Fox Sports 1, Kings Promotions put on a four fight undercard that got fight fans juices flowing.

The last time local favorite Frank De Alba was in the ring at the Sands Events Center, he was the B-side of the evening’s main event. De Alba came up just short in his bid to drop Omar Douglas from the unbeaten ranks.

On this evening, De Alba (18-2-2, 7 KO) had an opponent in Daniel Perales (6-5-1, 3 KO) who was limited offensively. De Alba had the opportunity to slowly sharpen his skills while breaking down his opponent. Despite his local fans encouraging him to attack, De Alba fought at a measured pace and taking what was in front of him.

By the end of round four Perales had the look of a beaten fighter. He did continue, but when De Alba pinned him against the ropes in his own corner, it was clear to Team Perales that their fighter had taken enough punishment.

The fight was waved off at 2:55 of Round 5.

Nicholas Hernandez (4-1, 1 KO) had his arm raised after out-pointing Jamil Gadsen (0-7) over four rounds in a junior middleweight contest. The awkward and sometimes sloppy action featured Hernandez landing the much cleaner blows. Gadsen was unable to get much offense going until the final minutes of the final round. However, it was too little, too late for it to matter on the scorecards.

Junior welterweight Kent Cruz (10-0, 6KO) opened up the evening by outpointing Jerome Rodriguez (7-4-3). Cruz got off to a fast start and was able to hold off Rodriguez’s late rally en route to winning a unanimous decision.

Jason Pribila is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He could be reached for questions or comments at pribs2000@gmail.com, or followed on twitter.com @PribsBoxing.