Boxing from Massachusetts

Francis Hogan won the vacant NABF middleweight title with an eight—round unanimous decision against Antonio Todd at the Encore Boston Harbor.

All three judges scored it 80-71 for Hogan of Weymouth, Massachusetts, who improved to 21-0 with 17 knockouts. Todd, of Atlanta, dropped to 17-14 (9).

Toward the end of the seventh round, Hogan tagged Todd with a short left hand, sending him to the canvas for the fight’s only knockdown. Todd was shaky and bleeding from the nose when he got up, but the round ended seconds later. Hogan kept the pressure on in the eighth, but Todd withstood it and finished the fight.

They fought at close range for most of the fight, with Higan usually finishing each round with a flush shot.

“I knew when I saw him go back at the end of each round I had to hit him as hard as I could the next two rounds,” Hogan said.

Jonathan De Pina of Boston outpointed Elijah Peixto of Providence over six rounds at lightweight. De Pina dropped Peixto twice, once in the first and once in the third., The scores were 56-54, 55-53, and 60-52. De Pina is 15-2,(7). Peixto is 4-1-1 (2).

Junior middleweight Eric Goff of Raynham, Massachusetts won a six-round unanimous decision against Derrick Whitley, Jr. of Holyoke, Massachusetts. The scores were 58-56 (twice) and 59-56. Goff is 9-0 (6). Whitley dropped to 9-6-2 (2).

Jaydell Pazmino of Londonderry, New Hampshire, knocked out Daniel Sostre of San Juan, Puerto Rico in a scheduled six-round junior welterweight bout. Pazmino dropped Sostre with a left hook to the body in the second round. Referee Scotty LaPointe counted Sostre out at 2:14. Pazmino is 9-0 (8); Sostre dropped to 13-31-3 (5).

Jenn Perella of Milton, Massachusetts, won a four-round decision against Brittany Dukes of Kansas City, Missouri at junior lightweight. The scores were 40-36 (twice) and 39-37. Perella is 4-1 (1); Dukes is 2-8-2 (2).

WBC-USA light heavyweight belt holder James Perkknscof, Lynn, Massachusetts, outpointed Ryan Clark of Berwick, Maine, in a six-round bout. The scores were 60-54 on all three cards. Perkins improved to 15-3-1 (9); Clark dropped to 5-8-1 (2).

At 57, light heavyweight Charlie LoGrosso of Boston is the oldest orbiter in New England history. His opponent, Juan Celin Zapata of New York, is 45, making this possibility the highest combined age of boxers in a professional fight, a combined 102 years.

LoGrosso, who made his pro debut in 1996 and did not fight again until earlier this year, knocked out Zapata in the second round of a scheduled three. 

He dropped Zapata with a short right hand. Referee Melissa Kelly reached the count of 10 at 2:29.

LoGrosso improved to 3-0 (3) and hedged on his earlier decision to retire after the fight. Zapata dropped to 7-27-2 (5).

In the first round, Zapata swung and missed with a wild left hook, and LoGrosso countered with a hook of his own, dropping Zapata. 

Bantamweight Christian Moira of Nashua, New Hampshire, stopped Michael Thornton of Sturgis, Michigan, in the first round of a scheduled four. Moira (2-0, 2 KOs) dropped Thornton twice before Scotty LaPointe stopped the fight at 1:55. Thornton dropped to 0-2.