Massey Defeats Bailey

By Ron: Valderrama

Photo: Dolores Valenzuela/ Ronatringside

Undefeated lightweight, Stevie Massey (5-1, 5 KOs) defeated Marko Bailey (5-1, 3 KOs) for the vacant North Carolina lightweight title this past Thursday at the Armory in Durham, North Carolina. The featured main event bout was presented by Raging Babe Events.

The scheduled 6-round bout wouldn’t last long, but for a short time, it was toe-to-toe action as the bout started. Massey quickly went to work, applying pressure from the sound of the bell in the opening round. The referee stopped the action for a moment giving a warning to those at ringside to turn off the flash on their cameras. As the action continued, both fighters were busy, Massey landing the more effective punches on Bailey who was clearly the crowd favorite. As Bailey was throwing a punch, he slipped, many thought it was a knockdown, but it clearly was not. Moments later, Massey began throwing a barrage of punches on Bailey. A vicious hard right was the key for Massey, it stunned Bailey as he received the onslaught of combination punches that followed and dropping him to the canvas. Bailey could not beat the count as a shocked crowd watched with anticipation. The official time of the stoppage was 1:10 of round 1.

The Undercard:

Wellington Romero (13-0-1, 7KOs) won by knockout, defeating Mike Fowler (6-11, 2 KOs) in round 1 of a scheduled 6-round bout. Fowler was no match for the heavy-handed Romero who simply pelted Fowler with crushing blows. The official time of the super lightweight bout was 1:54 of round 1.

Darmani Rock (9-0, 5 KOs) kept his unbeaten record intact by defeating Juan Goode (8-7, 6 KOs), in an entertaining 6 round heavyweight slugfest. Rock wasted no time landing some very hard precision punches on Goode. But Goode simply would not go away, countering well against Rock who was constantly moving forward. The action continued the entire fight, each fighter refusing to cave. In the end, all the judges score the bout 60-53 in favor of Darmani Rock.

Blake Mansfield (5-1-1, 3 KOs), won by TKO over Courtney McCleave (2-8, 1 KO) in a scheduled 6-round super middleweight bout. Mansfield landed punches to the body of McCleave before dropping him for the third time and final time in the fight. Official time was 1:56 of round 2.

In a 6-round super welterweight match, Donnie Marshall (6-0, 4 KOs) faced veteran Marcos Primera (20-36, 13 KOs) in some solid boxing action.The two fighters made it clear they have no love for each other as heated words were exchanged at the weigh-in. The energy transferred to the ring as the two foes were clearly ready to settle the score. The fight didn’t disappoint, both fighters showing pure skill and stamina. The punches thrown by Marshall were taking its toll on the aging Primera, but give him credit for making a good fight. The judges award the unanimous decision win in favor of Donnie Marshall with a score of 60-54.

Carlos Olmeda (3-0, 2 KOs), put on a show and defeated Vinnie Deniero (2-3, 1 KO) in one of the best bouts of the evening. Olmeda was busy from the first bell, attacking Deniero on the inside. Deniero had the advantage on the reach and constantly threw punches. Unfortunately, Deniro’s punches had little to no effect on Olmeda as the judges score the super featherweight win in favor of Carlos Olmeda with scores of 39-37 X 2 and 40-36.

The fight that started out slow, but ended with an exciting knockout win for super welterweight Joe Jackson (9-0, 7 KOs), as he defeated Monreco Goldston with a hard punch at 3:00 of round 2.

Clearly, a disappoint on this night was a scheduled heavyweight dual between Hasim Rahman Jr. (3-0, 2 KOs) and Joe Coats. The fight would not happen and ended in disqualification for Coats. Before the bout started and as both fighters had already entered the ring, Coats complained the tape was too tight and asked to have his gloves done over. It seemed odd and Coats went back to the dressing room to make the adjustments. The bout was pushed back to a couple of bouts before the main event. Again, Rahman entered the ring ready and willing to fight. As Coats was called to the ring, a long lag of time elapsed and the boxing commission began to question the intention of Coats. The commission was then told that Coats did not want to fight, leaving a stunned Rahman in the ring. The crowd was also disappointed, many wanted to see Rahman Jr. fight, hoping to watch the son of the legendary Hasim Rahman continue the family business.