The commonwealth of Massachusetts held its first pro boxing card of the year Friday night at Memorial Hall in Plymouth.
Jason Pires (22-3, 9 KO’s), a police officer in nearby New Bedford and 1996 Olympic alternate, continued his comeback by fighting and winning his second bout in 6 months since 2003, with a unanimous decision over journeyman Louie Leija (21-10-1, 15 KO’s) in an 8 round welterweight fight.
Official scores were stunning wide with the official scorers seeing the bout 80-72 (twice) and one judge inexplicably scoring the bout 80-71, despite the fact that the two combatants were very competitive with one another throughout and there were no knockdowns. 8countnews.com scored the fight for Pires 78-74.
After a close and competitive first 2 rounds, Pires began to open up with combinations in the 3rd. After a good 4th round, both fighters traded punches in the 5th, with Pires getting the better of the exchanges and hurting his opponent while Leija was cornered.
Leija had some good moments in the 6th landing flush while counter punching. However, was backed up against the ropes and hurt by Pires in a spirited 7th frame. In the 8th, Pires had a big round, landing right hands at ease on the noticeably swollen face of Leija.
Leija has fought and lost against the best including Floyd Mayweather Jr., Jesus Chavez, Ben Tackie and Emanuel Augustus.
In a 4 round female junior middleweight special attraction, Providence’s Kali Reiss (2-0, 1 KO) earned a 4 round unanimous decision over the pro debuting Alexandra Lopes (0-1). Official scores were 39-37 (three times). 8countnews.com also scored the fight in favor of Reiss 39-37.
In the 1st, Reiss put constant pressure on the backpedaling Lopes and clubbed her opponent with right hooks to the body and left jabs. In the 2nd, Reiss began landing overhand rights regularly. In the 3rd, Lopes finally began to throw and land punches, doing good work to the body and landing a few occasional headshots. In the 4th, Reiss was far more active than Lopes, but there was good two way action throughout.
Marshfield’s Manny Lopes (5-0-1, 1 KO), step son of Alexandra Lopes, stayed unbeaten with a unanimous decision over the winless Eric Clinton of Tallahassee, Florida (0-5-1). Official scores were 40-35 (twice) and 38-37, all for Lopes. 8countnews.com scored the fight for Lopes 39-36.
Lopes landed a right hand that caused Clinton to fall to a knee in the 1st round. In the 2nd, Lopes landed the better punches against his constantly clinching opponent. In the 3rd, Clinton landed a few good shots, however continued to clinch often. In the 4th, Clinton hurt Lopes with a left hook with about 30 seconds remaining in the fight. Lopes survived and went on to win the decision.
Crowd favorite Andrey Nevsky (6-0, 3 KO’s), a native of Russia who now makes his home in Massachusetts, scored 2 knockdowns over Nebraska’s William Deets (2-10, 1 KO), en route to a unanimous decision victory in a 4 round super middleweight bout. Official scores were 40-34 from all 3 official judges.
Nevsky had a good opening round landing clean shots to Deets head. In the 2nd, Nevsky stunned Deets with a looping right hand and scored a knockdown with a follow up flurry. In the 3rd, Nevsky scored another knockdown with a huge right hook.
Deets managed to stay on his feet in the final round, but Nevsky was far too effective. 8countnews.com scored the fight 40-34 for Nevsky.
In a 6 round welterweight affair, Atlanta’s Paul Delgado (20-8-1, 4 KO’s) won a majority decision over Montreal, Canada’s Sebastian Hamel (10-17-1, 1 KO). Official scores were 58-56 and a ridiculous 60-54 for Delgado, while the third judge scored the fight even at 57-57.
After a close and competitive first 2 rounds, Hamel appeared to have outboxed Delgado the rest of the way. 8countnews.com had the fight for Hamel 59-54.
However, the ringside judges saw it differently and Delgado earned his 20th career victory.
Mical Weisberg (2-0, 1 KO), a resident of nearby Stoughton, won a 4 round majority decision over South Carolina’s Pete Guthy (1-6-0) in a light heavyweight fight. Official scores were 39-37 (twice) for Weisberg, while the other judge had it even at 38-38.
Weisberg pressed the action in round 1, though Guthy counter punched effectively at times. Midway through the round, Guthy fell between the ropes after being hit with what appeared to be a rabbit punch. The official ruled it a slip.
In the 2nd frame, Weisberg continued to press the action. However, Guthy began to open up in the 3rd and landed numerous clean shots to the Stoughton native’s head, noticeably stunning Weisberg at one point and flurrying for the first time in the bout. Weisberg’s mouthpiece would fall out at the end of the round.
Weisberg would lose his mouthpiece twice in the final round. However, appeared to land more clean punches than his opponent to earn the majority decision. 8countnews.com scored the fight in favor of Weisberg 39-37.
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