KO Night in Tampa

By Lee Bates

Starfight productions returned to the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa on Friday night with a solid 6 bout boxing show. Longtime and well known boxing matchmaker Johnny Bos put together the very fan pleasing and well matched fight card. In featured bouts, cruiserweight Nick Iannuzzi, light welterweight Derrick Samuels and highly regarded heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov all secured knockout victories.

The main event featured Starfight productions’ Nick Iannuzzi who stopped Theodore Kruger in round six of their scheduled for 8 round NBA cruisweight title fight. The bout was action packed from the beginning as both fighters exchanged and connected with several heavy power shots. Iannuzzi however was landing the cleaner and more crisper shots. In round six Iannuzzi hurt Kruger badly with a barrage of power punches that put Kruger down. Kruger remained on his knees and took the full 10 count from the referee. Iannuzzi remains unbeaten with the win and improves to 10-0, 7 KOs, while Kruger drops to 9-8-1.

In the semi-main event NABA U.S. light welterweight Derrick ‘Super’ Samuels (17-4-1, 5 KOs) stopped Roberto Valenzuela in round seven of their scheduled for eight round junior welterweight bout. Valenzuela a veteran of nearly 100 professional bouts came to fight as he weighed in at his lowest weight since 2007. Samuels immediately took the initiative from the beginning by pressing the action with a mixture of well placed body and head shots. Samuels also showed that his KO percentage is deceptive as he rocked and hurt the veteran Valenzuela on multiple ocassions to both the head and body. In round 7 Samuels turned up his aggression as he stunned Valenzuela with a series of punches that prompted the referee to stop the bout as Valenzuela was taking a great deal of punishment. Stopping the normally durable Valenzuela inside the distance may now open the doors for Samuels to challenge other world ranked fighters in the junior welterweight division.

Outstanding Russian heavyweight prospect Magomed Abdusalamov (4-0, 4 KOs) has still yet to see round two as a professional as he completely dominated and stopped Larry Brown (3-5, 2 KOs) in less than a round. White to his credit came to fight and was very agressive but Abduslamov was simply a major cut above White in all areas. In less than three minutes of work Abduslamov showed excellent defense, extremely fast hands, and serious heavyweight power.

Adam Hubinger (13-0, 10 KOs) remained unbeaten as he won a hard earned split decision victory over veteran Jose Medina (14-14, 8 KOs) in a six round light heavyweight bout. Medina gave Hunbinger all he could handle pressing the action from the opening bell but Hubinger made the necessary adjustments and counterpunched the stalking Medina in route to victory. The official scores were 59-55, 58-56 for Hubinger with the other score being 58-56 for Medina.

In the opening bout Tampa’s Charlie Serrano (8-2,2KOs) unanimously decisioned Vineash Rungea in an exciting featherweight bout. The scores were 39-37 twice and 40-36 in favor of Serrano.

Tampa’s Jenna ‘Cowgirl’ Shiver (7-4-1,2KOs) defeated Christina Leadbeater (2-2,1KOs) by unanimous decision in a very entertaining women’s featherweight contest that had the fans on their feet at the end of the bout. All the judges were in a agreement at 40-36 in favor of Shiver.

Though times are tough economically all over it didn’t stop the A La Carte Event Pavilion from being completely full in the classy ballroom. “There is no doubt in my mind boxing will survive these currently hard economic times. Our tickets sales for this function were very good. We charge fair ticket prices, the fight cards are exciting, and the fighters are paid fairly. It’s fair for everybody which is the way it should be,” stated Starfight Productions executive Shea Bailey.