|
 Lundy Unanimously Defeats Lopez
Ringside Report by Scott Ploof
Photography By Emily Harney
“Hammering” Hank Lundy (20-1-1, 10 KOs) won not only a unanimous decision over his opponent Patrick Lopez (20-4, 12 KOs) in front of a packed crowd at the Fox Theatre and live on the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights telecast, but he also captured the vacant NABF lightweight title with the victory. The event called “Coming Attractions” featured some of the top talent from New England as well as from around the entire Northeast. The seven bout card was presented by promoter Jimmy Burchfield of Classic Entertainment and Sports.
This bout came down to one thing, simple boxing fundamentals. Whichever fighter during the contest, whether it was Lundy or Lopez, when either of them landed with their jab, they were able to parlay that into powerful combinations.
Lundy went after Lopez early throwing many shots with Lopez backed against the ropes. Lopez fought back well with good body work on Lundy. Lundy caught Lopez with his gloves down by landing a solid right hook that sent Lopez to the canvas in round two. Lopez was up at the count of eight right at the end of the round.
As the fight progressed over time, Lundy’s offense became less and less while Lopez continued to win some of the middle to late rounds of the fight at a good pace and almost had Lundy out towards the end of the fight.
 “Man Patrick Lopez can be a top fighter, I am going to give him the respect that he deserves,” said Lundy. “I hung in there. He hit me with some clean shots, but I hung in there and I stuck to the game plan. That is what you will see “Hammering” Hank doing. My corner stuck to the game plan and that is why we were victorious.”
A last round spark from both fighters made the judge’s decision a tough one. In the end with the crowd chanting for Lopez, the scorecards read 99-91, 97-92, and 95-94 for Lundy who captured the vacant NABF title with the victory.
Although the decision was an unpopular one amongst the crowd, everyone agreed that it was a terrific main event for the capacity crowd at the Fox Theatre. Many journalists in press row had the fight much closer than the scores indicated, with many agreeing with the judge that scored the fight 95-94 for Lundy.
When asked by the media if he now felt like he was back in the top of the lightweight division following his loss of his NABO belt to John Molina (July 2010), Lundy said, “I feel that I did tonight, I showed you all that “Hammering” Hank fights no bums. He only fights in tough fights. Patrick Lopez is a strong son of a gun and I hung in there and I won. That goes to show you that “Hammering” Hank only fights the best, and every time that I fight the best, you get the best out of “Hammering” Hank Lundy.”
When asked if he thought that the fight was closer than the 99-91 scorecard one judge gave to Lundy, Lundy responded by saying, “No man, I was controlling that fight baby. I was controlling that fight hands down. I was fighting at my pace. When I wanted to fight, I fought. Anything I wanted to do in there I did. I controlled the pace of the entire fight. I don’t want to take anything away from Patrick Lopez. He is strong. If he is fighting at 135, he should move up to welterweight, because he hits that strong.”
“I am a true champ. I am a throwback fighter. Anybody that you put me in there with, “Hammering” Hank is going to bring his ‘A’ game, and do what it takes to get the ‘W’.” said Lundy.
Biosse Stops Connors
 Super middleweight “Mr. Providence” Vladine Biosse (11-0, 6 KOs) remained undefeated with a fifth round stoppage of Tim Connors (10-3, 7 KOs).
It did not take long for Biosse to make his mark in the fight.
Biosse dropped Connors early in the second round with a big left hook. Connors was up almost immediately and displayed a good chin throughout the fight.
Connors probably wished he had stayed down in the second as his opponent continued to batter him throughout the fight.
Early in the fifth round, the fighters stood toe-to-toe exchanging bombs. Suddenly Biosse connected with a huge right hand that sent Connors to the canvas for the final time.
Connors was up at the count of eight but referee Eddie Claudio called a halt to the bout at 37 seconds of round five, giving Biosse the TKO victory and the sixth stoppage of his young career.
“I expected him to come to fight and to come in shape, which he did," said Biosse. "Today my game plan was to be patient. I tried to be patient. In the first and second round, my coaches tried to give me instructions in which I tried to understand a little bit but we were not on the same page in the beginning, but after that we clicked by the fourth and fifth rounds and that’s when you saw the drops and everything, said Biosse.”
“Well the strategy going into this fight was to be smart. Be smart and learn how to pick your battles. Be smart but also be patient because as you saw early in the rounds I caught him with some good shots which the crowd went crazy and he looked hurt.
“In my other fights I used to go in there and throw punches like crazy which can be a bad thing because after a while you can wear yourself out very quickly,” said Biosse. “That is when you put yourself in a position where you could be on the ground.”
Biosse continued by saying, “So you have to be smart and be patient and that’s what I was able to do tonight. I was patient. I picked my shots. My time to go in, and my time to go out.”
When asked when he would be back in the ring, Biosse said, “We are back here on May 6th. I would like to thank my promoter Jimmy Burchfield as well as my manager and my trainer for keeping me busy because that is what I like to do. I do not like to take any time off, two months off or three months off or four like some guys do. I would like to be right in the middle of the action and fight six or maybe seven times a year, I would love to. The goal is to move up the rankings to get bigger and better fights, and the goal is to get to the top. Then look to fight for something later on. I would like that sooner rather than later.”
Ayala Dominates Gardner
Former world middleweight title challenger, Elvin Ayala (22-5-1, 10 KOs) of New Haven, CT continued his adaptation to the ranks of the super middleweight division by stopping a game challenge from Rhode Island’s Joe Gardner (7-2-1, 1 KO).
Ayala had the strength advantage as he landed the stronger punches throughout the entire fight. Gardner kept away with his jab and displayed good speed and footwork in doing so in the early rounds.
Lawton Decisions McCoy
After a slow first round, Tafari Lawton (2-1-1) landed an uppercut and two right handed hooks to his opponent Greg McCoy, (2-3-1, 1 KO) which knocked him down in round two. Lawton caught McCoy with an uppercut and right hand that sent him to the canvas.
McCoy was up at the count of eight. The gallant effort of McCoy allowed him to get up off the canvas. His effort in his attempt to get back into the fight was not enough as Lawton ended up walking away with the four round unanimous decision by scores of 40-35, 39-36, and 38-37.
Dawson Remains Undefeated
Rick Dawson (3-0, 1 KO) - the brother of former light heavyweight champion “Bad” Chad Dawson - kept his perfect record intact as he won a convincing four round unanimous decision over J.C. Peterson (1-10). Dawson’s hand speed, reach advantage, and ring generalship won him the decision by scores of 40-36 on all the cards.
Lao KOs Desjardin in One
Christian Lao (1-0, 1 KO) of New Haven, CT landed two powerful right hand body shots to his opponent, Theo Desjardin (0-1) sending him to the canvas for the count of ten. The time of the knockout victory for Lao was 1:21 of the first round.
Abraham Stops Desanto in One
In the final bout of the evening, a solid right hook from Bryan Abraham (3-5-2, 2 KOs) knocked Dominic Desanto (5-1-1, 6 KOs) to the canvas. Desanto got to his feet but was wobbly and unable to continue the bout. Time of the first round stoppage was 2:21.
E-mail the Author. |
