Spring Fever Results – Clark Defeats Pires!

Spring Fever infected the large crowd that amassed on Friday night at the Twin River Event Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island. CES proprietor Jimmy Burchfield made out well with his play-on-words title for the show, actually delivering two bouts that could justly duke it out for “fight of the night” honors.

The main event featured a strangely apportioned nine-round contest between Jason “School Boy” Pires (22-4-1, 9 KO) of New Bedford, Massachusetts and Michael “Cold Blood” Clark (40-5-1, 18 KO) of Columbus, Ohio.
The fight established a reasonably predictable tempo from the opening bell, with Clark finding a home for his jab early on. Pires seemed unable to match the output of Clark, and resigned himself in the early rounds to catching most of Clark’s combinations on his gloves.
In rounds 1 through 3, Clark was constantly overtaking Pires in the exchanges. In round 2, Clark opened up more and began an effective body assault. By round 4, Clark was evidently comfortable with his lead, taunting Pires with a Calzaghe-like winding uppercut.
Round 5 showcased Pires’ greatest moment, when his right hand was able to connect on Clark. One of these rights staggered Clark momentarily, but it wouldn’t be enough. With round 6 fairly even, Clark resurged in the final three, reestablishing his jab and luring Pires into his trap. The fight concluded with a unanimous decision for Clark, with two scores of 90-80, and one of 89-81.


The sole heavyweight bout of the evening featured locally touted Golden Gloves Champion, Jesse Barboza (3-1, 3 KO) of Barnstable, Massachusetts against the undefeated Winston Thorpe (3-0, 2 KO) of Columbia, South Carolina.
The short, but not-so-sweet four-round affair demonstrated mostly sluggish and uninspired action. In round 2, Barboza made use of a scant, but effective left hand. Both fighters somehow managed to momentarily stun each other in the round.
Round 3 continued the lethargic pace, but Thorpe made the gesture of throwing more often. Round 4 saw Barboza punching a bit more and experimenting with a quasi-rolling technique. Thorpe answered by countering the punches. Neither fighter’s shots were delivering any stings toward the end. The final result was a split decision victory for Winston Thorpe, with the support of two judges (scored 39-37 and 39-38, respectively). The third judge saw the bout 39-37 for Barboza.


Middleweights David Bauza (5-0, 3 KO) of Hartford, Connecticut and Richard Grant (4-4, 2 KO) of Palm Bay, Florida, saw the conclusion of their fight at odds with its beginning. Bauza enjoyed estimable support from the Puerto Rican contingent in the audience. Their chanting assisted him in overcoming a 1st round knockdown. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, both fighters were swinging for the rafters. Bauza was edging the combat by landing the more significant shots, and backing Grant onto the ropes.
Round 4 saw the action more even, with both men trading back and forth and landing power shots. Bauza was awarded a split decision victory, with a score of 40-37 and another of 38-37. Grant was given one score of 38-37.

Best fight of the night honors belonged to super middleweights, Keith Kozlin (5-1, 3 KO) of Warwick, Rhode Island and Greg McCoy (1-1-1) of New Haven, Connecticut. McCoy began round 1 by establishing his jab and throwing punishing hooks to Kozlin’s body. Kozlin resented this, and gestured to his side as if to say: stop hitting me there. McCoy shook the suggestion off. In the 2nd round, Kozlin went down, but the action was mostly punctuated by even trades.
Rounds 3 and 4 were dynamic. The former appeared to be dominated by Kozlin, who looked like he had managed to put McCoy out on his feet. In the latter, it was McCoy who appeared the more effective. The round ended bizarrely, with McCoy momentarily resting on the corner and allowing Kozlin to pepper him with hollow left-right combinations. Greg McCoy won a majority decision, with scores of 39-36 and 39-35, negating the tied score of 38-38.


Super middleweights Rick Dawson (1-0, 1 KO) of New Haven, Connecticut and Damion Reed (0-1) of Reidsville, North Carolina shared the ring for their professional debuts. Rick is the brother of Chad Dawson, who was on hand for support. The fight lasted two rounds.
In the 1st, Dawson hit the canvas on a flash knockdown. He was able to get back up and remain aggressive for the rest of the round. In the 2nd, it was Reed who was stunned by a left and then went down on a combination. Referee Joey Lupino waved off the action at the 1:54 mark. Reed had stood up and nodded to Lupino, but neglected to put his hands up to fight. He was disappointed with the stoppage. Dawson was awarded a TKO victory. In another super middleweight bout, Vladine Biosse (6-0, 4 KO) of Providence, Rhode Island took on previously unbeaten Joe Gardner (4-1-1, 1 KO) of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. In round 1, Biosse was the more physically aggressive, landing a good right to the body and launching a good combination that featured a threatening uppercut. Rounds 2 and 3 saw Biosse continuing his aggressive assault. Gardner, for his part, became busier in these rounds, once tagging Biosse with a potent right to the body. Overall, it was Biosse who controlled the greater part of the action in the fight. This was reflected by a unanimous decision in his favor, with three scores of 40-36.

Also in contention for the evening’s crowning battle was the junior welterweight row between Edwin Soto (4-0, 2 KO) of New Haven, Connecticut and Carlos Hernandez (0-1) of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Though the scores gave a favorable margin to Soto, the fight was endlessly entertaining to watch. In the 1st round, Hernandez went down, but he remained competitive through the rest of the round. The same happened in round 2, but Hernandez seemed to remain strong and motivated.
The 3rd round featured rousing action with Hernandez becoming rougher and more confident. The 4th was an exciting and fairly even round, probably edged slightly by Soto for his snapping right hand.
Both fighters performed well, with Hernandez proving to be a durable and spirited prospect. Soto won a unanimous decision, with two scores of 39-35 and one of 40-34.