By Stephen Tobey (April 5, 2008)
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The 2004 US Olympic super heavyweight won a 10-round unanimous decision over Lance Whitaker Friday at the Twin River Events Center.

Glenn Feldman scored the fight 97-93 and Ed Scunzio and Stephen Schultz scored it 98-92.

Estrada 12-1 (2 knockouts) worked his way inside against the taller Whitaker over and over, shoeshining the body and landing uppercuts to the head, causing swelling around the 6-foot, 8-inch Whitaker’s eyes.

Whitaker (32-5-1, 27 KOs) kept pushing Estrada away to the end of his jab, but before he could get off anything, Estrada worked his way back in and resumed the attack.

“I had to be all the way in or all the way out,” Estrada said. “I didn’t want to be on the end of his jab. I wanted to roll with everything. I’ve been working on defense since I was 6 years old.”

Whitaker landed found a comfortable distance to work in the seventh round and landed some right hands to the top of Estrada’s head. Estrada regained control of the fight in the next round, however.

“He could take a shot and he came to fight,” Estrada said. “Every time he hit me with a grazing shot, I let him know it was nothing.”

Both Estrada and Whitaker weighed 239 pounds.

Nine-time national amateur champion Aaron Williams of Las Vegas stopped Andre Purlette of Miami in the second round of a scheduled eight-round cruiserweight co-feature. Both fighters landed good body shots early in the second round. Williams put Purlette on the canvas with right right hands to the chin following a jab. After another left hook to the head, referee Richard Flaherty stopped the fight at 2:50. Williams is 17-0-1 (12 K Os); Purlette is 40-3 (35 KO s).

“I’m a boxer-puncher,” Williams said. “I wanted to make him miss and make him pay. It was a step up for me. I did everything right and the hard work paid off. I’m not sure what it was that I hit him with, but I doubled up on it, like my idol, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.”

Joey Spina of Providence won a six-round split decision over David Whittom of Quebec at light heavyweight.

Steve Epstein and Glenn Feldman scored it 58-56 and 57-56 for Spina (22-1-1, 15 KO s); Ed Scunzio scored it 57-56 for Whittom (10-6-1, 6 K Os).

Whittom was beating Spina to the punch for most of the second round, landing the uppercut and forcing Spina to hold until Spina landed a big left hook at the end of the round. In the fourth, Spina dropped Whittom with a right uppercut, followed by a left hook.

Whittom regained momentum in the fifth round, staggering Spina with two uppercuts. They continued to trade punches and clinches in the sixth.

Flyweight Isander Beauchamp of Lynn, Mass. stopped debuting Rob Bell of Flint, Mich. At 2:14 of the second round. Beauchamp ((5-0, 2 K Os) dropped Bell twice in the second round before referee Richard Flaherty stopped the fight.

Andrey Nevsky of Clinton, Mass. out-pointed Fitzgerald Johnson of Ashboro, N.C. over four rounds at middleweight. All three judges scored it 40-35. Nevsky is 5-0 (3 KO s); Johnson is 1-4 (1 KO).

Light heavyweight Henry Mayes of Baltimore won a six-round unanimous decision over Joe McCreedy of Lowell, Mass. The scores were 58-56 (twice) and 57-56. Mayes, who dropped McCreedy in the sixth round, improved to 7-5-1 (4 K Os); McCreedy dropped to 7-2 (5 K Os).