Jaron Ennis wins thriller in AC

“Big Time” boxing returned to Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Convention Hall on 7/8/23 when TGB Prom’ns and Marshall Kauffman’s Kings Prom’ns presented a stellar main event before a sellout crowd of approximately 2500 in the smaller upstairs arena.

Showtime televised the show, but you had to be there. The undercard consisted of four record builders in which the opponents stood up and made the heroes gain valuable experience and not just a W on their records. Two tens, finely matched on paper, did not produce to full expectation, but the stellar main event made the card an overall gem. Miguel Flores and Jimmy Lennon Jr did the ring announcing and Ray Ryan and Alice Grady were

timekeepers.

The main event was a sterling contest between an outstanding local favorite and a grimly determined underdog, as Jaron “Pooh” Ennis, 145 ½, Phila., went to 31-0 (28), against Roiman Villa, 146 ½, Rosario, Venezuela, 26-2 (24), in a scheduled 12. Ennis keeps foes off balance and makes it hard to get set against him by constant shifting between southpaw and orthodox stances. This contest was fought mostly from lefty, making it harder for the hard-punching Villa to get set. After a feelout opener at ortho, Ennis came out for the second at lefty, let both hands go full tilt, and brought up the overwhelmingly pro-Ennis sellout crowd. With style and flow constantly shifting, the third-round action went inside and the underdog got in some good short shots in a close session. Jaron shifted the action to the outside in the fourth, as Villa had trouble trying to corral him. Just before the bell, Ennis brought up his fans with a slick display of slipping and ducking as Roiman unsuccessfully tried to corner him.

Round five was a near classic as the flat-footed Roiman applied max pressure to try to mix at close range but Ennis skilfully slipped and countered in a close session. The sixth started as a breather after the rugged fifth, but Ennis cannot be taken for granted. He boxed from orthodox stance and then suddenly switched southpaw and let it all go with a big right rocking Villa to close the round. The seventh marked a turning point. The underdog had remained resolutely in the contest to this point, looking for a payoff punch. But a short inside left thrown from southpaw stunned Villa early and then Jaron slickly picked him apart for the rest of the round while increasing the punishment by settling down more in the eighth. In the ninth, the weary Venezuelan mostly leaned on Ennis, and lost his mouthpiece in exhaustion. The tenth was the climax, as Roiman gamely mixed in free-swinging trading but Jaron set his feet and brought up a right at close quarters that sent the exhausted and bleeding underdog, game to the last, to the canvas for a KO at 1:15. Villa proved a worthy opponent but Ennis was splendid. At the end, Jaron was ahead on all cards, Lynne Carter 88-83, Mark Consentino and John McKaie both 89-82. David Fields refereed.

The only win out of the “visitor’s” corner came when Marquis Taylor, 158, Galena Park, TX, 15-1-2 (1), was awarded a mild upset by unanimous decision over a possibly over-confident Yoelvis Gomez, 159, Las Vegas, 7-1 (5), 10. The fight was a wild melee from the start, fought earnestly but with little skill or strategy on display. The boxers hurtled into each other with mauling and punching in roughly equal proportion. Gomez twice threw Taylor to the canvas in the first and was rebuked by ref Harvey Dock. Gomez opened a wild second by carelessly walking into a right counter for a flash knockdown. Unchastened, the rest of the round was a wild melee. The two continued vigorous mauling with wild punches when they could get hands free, keeping it a crowd pleaser.

The pattern continued, with Taylor doing a better job of getting hands loose and scoring, never mind how awkward. The sixth saw Yoelvis gaining a foothold but possibly dropping the round when he was nailed by two clean left hook counters just before the bell. The vigorous physical action seemed to begin telling on Taylor in the seventh, with the wrestling a bigger factor than the punching. Yoelvis seemed to be coming on as he resolutely marched in and fired on the seemingly tiring Marquis. A big left down the pike hurt Taylor in the ninth as the contest, as hard fought as it was sloppy, went to the cards. Paul Wallace and Ron McNair scored 96-93 while Robin Taylor had an amazing 99-90.

What looked like a live match on paper turned out to be one-sided monotony as Edwin De Los Santos, 133, Santo Domingo, DR, 16-1 (15), sleepwalked his way to a near shutout over Joseph Adorno, 135, Allentown, 17-3-2 (14), in 10. De Los Santos began to score with one-twos from a lefty stance in the second. Action picked up a bit in the third with Adorno repeatedly walking into long jabs and one-twos. In the fifth, a clean left off a southpaw one-two made Joseph skip a step, but it was scant action in the monotonous contest. The sixth was a little better, but Joseph still just trudging into long punches and unable to close the gap by a critical step that might put him in punching range. The doctor looked at Adorno following the seventh and after two more monotonous rounds, the unusually tolerant crowd finally began to boo when the boxers stopped altogether and just looked at each other in the tenth. It was a signature finish to a dull contest. Edwin won by 99-91 from McNair and two shutout scores from Wallace and Taylor. Charlie Fitch refereed.   

What started as the best action bout so far on the card ended abruptly when the favorite, Euri Cedeno, 159, La Romana, DR, 5-0 (5), stopped William Townsel, 157 ½, Virginia Beach, 5-1 (4), in 1:41 of the first of eight. Both southpaws, they settled right down to sharp trading in the trenches when a right hook-straight left combo dropped Townsel. He bounced up and willingly went right back to heated trading only to fall victim to the same combo, which sent him reeling but still on his feet as ref Eric Dali stopped it.

Steven Torres, 239, Reading, 6-0-1 (6), stopped James Evans, 225 ½, Toledo, 6-1-1 (6), at 1:08 of the third of a scheduled six. In a rematch of a draw, Steven left no doubt this time. The much bigger Torres came purposefully forward behind a range-finder jab while Evans circled away and looked for the home run with big rights intended to finish with one shot. Action was more tense than explosive, with fans expecting it to break wide open at any second. That didn’t happen, but in the third, Steven settled into straight-arm lefts followed by clobber rights that landed solidly time and again until Dali stopped it without protest.

Dwyke Flemmings, 156 ½, Paterson, 4-0 (4), TKO’d Henry Rivera, 156 ½, Las Vegas, 2-1 (1), in 1:57 of the third of four. Southpaw Rivera used an extremely crude, mauling attack, head buried in shoulders and looping punches over the top. Solid inside action was punishing, but nearly all the punishment was to Rivera. Flemmings fought out of a squared stance and dug punches underneath, body and head. The underdog took a bad beating in the first, but by late in the second his muscular mauling at least had Flemmings moving away and fighting from outside instead of the trench warfare of round one. In the third, Dwyke was still in control and Henry bleeding from the nose when Fitch took him to the doctor, who ruled Rivera unfit to continue.

In a tame scheduled four that opened the show, Ismail Muhammad, 143, Phila., 2-0 (2), stopped Parker Bruno, 141, Clear Lake, TX, 0-2, in 1:45 of the third. Bruno came forward and tried to make a fight of it but the slick and rangy southpaw favorite kept him at bay. A quick right hook scored a flash knockdown of Bruno to open the second and a combo scored a solid knockdown later in the round. Bruno was still trying but just couldn’t find an effective range and was bleeding from the nose when Dali stopped it over his protest.