Tyrone Brunson – Ismael Garcia Battle to a Draw

By Jeffrey “Italian Medallion” Cellini (At Ringside)

In the main event at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA on Friday night, junior middleweights Tyrone Brunson, 23-6-2, 22 KO’s and Ismael Garcia, 10-0-2, 4 KO’s battled to an eight-round split-decision draw. Brunson scored repeatedly with his right hand throughout the fight, and displayed enough side-to-side movement to keep Garcia off balance for most of the bout. The 29-year old Garcia, who had a cut on his right eye at the end of the contest, was never able to get into a rhythm; but to his credit, despite absorbing tremendous hard body shots, kept pressing the action. Hometown favorite Brunson appeared the faster and stronger throughout the fight; however, he gave away some of the early rounds before turning on the heat in the final stages of the fight. The judges’ scorecards read 78-74 Garcia, 78-74 Brunson, and 76-76.

In the co-main event, super featherweight Tevin “American Idol” Farmer, 23-4-1, 5 KO’s easily dispatched Orlando Rizo,19-8, 11 KO’s in winning a lopsided eight-round unanimous decision. The 26-year old Farmer, who displayed tremendous speed and quickness, but still showed a lack of punching power, was clearly the best fighter of the night. Rizo was totally outclassed from the opening bell, but was never in any danger of being stopped. Despite losing two points for low blows during the fight, the judges’ scorecards (77-73, 78-72 twice) still read how thoroughly Farmer dominated this contest.

Baltimore-native prospect Mike Reed, 20-0, 12 KO’s lived up to the hype, and stopped Aaron Herrera, 21-6-1,12 KO’s with a tremendous body shot at the end of sixth round of their scheduled eight-round junior welterweight contest. The southpaw Reed, utilizing his speed and accuracy, made Herrera pay for his aggressiveness with a solid right jab and straight left throughout the early rounds. Reed sent his opponent down in the closing seconds of the sixth, prompting Herrera’s corner to throw in the towel to end the fight at the 3:00 mark.

Lightweight Victor Vasquez, 20-11-1, 9 KO’s won a non-impressive six-round unanimous decision over Osnel Charles, 1-16-1, 1 KO. The judges’ scorecards (59-55, 58-56 twice) gave the more aggressive fighter the nod, but the contest was much closer than the scores.
Lightweight prospect Anthony “Bad Boy” Burgin, 10-2, 2 KO’S won an easy six-round unanimous decision (58-56, 60-54 twice) over Gerald Smith, 3-3.

Welterweight prospect Hasan Young, 6-1-1, 2 KO’s won a four-round decision (39-37, 40-36 twice) over Kevin Womack.

Lightweight prospect Steven Ortiz, 5-0, 1 KO scored his first win by knockout by stopping Daniel Tan, 4-6-1, 1KO in the second-round of a scheduled six-round bout.

Junior middleweight prospect Isaiah Wise, 3-0, 2 KO’s defeated James Robinson,4-5-4, 1KO by four-round unanimous decision (40-35,39-36,38-37).

Middleweight prospect Fred Jenkins JR, 10-3, 3 KO’s defeated Ibrihim Shabazz, 2-4-1 by four-round unanimous decision (40-36,39-37 twice).

[si-contact-form form=’2′]