Sunday, June 24, 2007

Vinson Wins but Leaves Belt on Scales!

DC bantamweight Clarence "Untouchable" Vinson won a 10-round unanimous decision over a game Robert "Don't Lose" DaLuz of Jacksonville, FL in the main event of the Babie Girl Promotions card at Howard University's Burr Gymnasium.

However, because Vinson came in over the 118-pound bantamweight limit, he did not walk out of the ring with the WBC USNBC Bantamweight title. The title remains vacant.

Vinson had to overcome adversity in the ring as well. Vinson was knocked down in the second round by a looping DaLuz right hand. But by the fourth round, Vinson was in control showing tremendous Pernell Whitaker-style defense at times, crouching low to get away from DaLuz's punches and then landing with sharp combinations to the body and head.

Judges scorecards were 95-94, 97-92 and 96-93.

Vinson's record is now 16-2, seven KO's. DaLuz falls to 10-7-2, nine KO's.

The co-feature bout will be remembered at the end of 2007 as one of the best bouts along the Beltway this year. Undefeated DC light heavyweight Reginald Taylor survived a mostly phone-booth style contest to win a six-round unanimous decision over Philadelphia veteran Jameel "Black Gold" Wilson.

Both boxers turned fighting at close quarters into an art form as they traded head and body shots throughout the contest. Early, Taylor did damage to the head while Wilson was scoring with strong body shots. Wilson started to take advantage with uppercuts and head shots, but Taylor fought back gamely with a solid sixth-round to give him the victory, with the judges scorecards at 58-57, 59-53 and 58-56.

Taylor is now 7-0, four KO's while Wilson falls to 13-11-2, eight KO's.

Also on the card, DC junior welterweight Reggie "The Mechanic" Holly put on a solid performance, easily dominating Ken Humphreys of Ripley, TN in a six-round rematch.

In the last bout between these two (in March of 2006 at the Lincoln Theatre), Holly used superior boxing skills to get the victory. In this bout, Holly again was on the onset, with strong combinations to win the contest.

Holly's record is now 7-3, two KO's while Humphreys is 4-5, three KO's.

Stafford, VA heavyweight "The People's Champion" Jonathan Felton scored a second-round TKO over veteran Eric Starr of Hillsborough, FR. Felton landed a devasting left hand and dropped him to the canvas. Moments later, Felton finished the job as he was all over Starr.

Felton has now won two straight and rasises her record to 5-8, five KO's. Starr is listed at 15-32.

Also, Portland, OR flyweight Gabriel Cruz spoiled the pro debut of DC's Derrick "No Joke" McFadden. Cruz outworked McFadden enough to earn a four-round majority decision.

DC Boxing history was made on this card as two of the bouts were refereed by Michelle Hall, the first female professional boxing referee in the Beltway region. Hall told me after the card that she said she made some mistakes. Could've (and did) fooled me. She was very solid in both bouts as she worked the rematch between Reggie Holly and Ken Humphreys as well as the McFadden-Cruz matchup.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION: As far as pure action is concerned, this was the best Babie Girl promotion I have seen. The Taylor-Wilson bout was a classic.

To hear more, please go to the Post-fight Wrap-Up:

Gabcast! Boxing Along the Beltway #65 - Post-Fight Wrap-Up from Howard University!

In this Post-Fight Wrap-Up from Howard University's Burr Gymnasium, "The Fight Doctor" Jerome Spears and I talk about a card that had great fights and an unfortunate scenario in the main event.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vinson left a bogus title on the scale but it shows just how much of a professional he is.

Did she show her piercings and do the ringcards as I was told she was?

Anonymous said...

Yo G Dog,

Glad to see you posted something but you really have to get with the 21st century here because your Gab Cast is not working. This one or the other one with Ms White. Did you not pay the bill?

I live for your updates but you really must get rid of a blog and pay for a dot.com. They are cheap and really easy to maintain.

Stick and Move Steve from Clinton, MD

Anonymous said...

The fans missed a good one at Howard last night. Maybe they were home watching four rounds of Ricky Hatton. Maybe they got stuck in the Carribean Day festival traffic on Georgia Avenue. I know my short ride down to the school took over an hour. Too bad for those that didn't go, though. The show lasted too long -- four hours is getting into Don King territory -- and we could have done without a six-round exhibition at the start -- but otherwise this was the good stuff. Full credit to matchmaker Crider for finding Jameel Wilson for Reginald Taylor. This was the kind of light heavyweight action that used to make -- for us developing oldtimers -- that division so unique and special: punching power that appeared heavyweight coming from men not so huge that they couldn't sustain the pace. Digital and I were thinking the same things: Matthew Saad Muhammad, Marvin Johnson, guys like that. True, Taylor and Wilson were gassed at the end, but they both found inner reserves and Taylor clobbered Wilson at the beginning of round 6 and Wilson had Taylor on the ropes at the end, dishing out a whipping. Taylor has to be sore from the body shots he took in this fight, but he comes out undefeated. Great stuff. As for Clarence Vinson, give this guy some credit. He could have packed it in after getting knocked down in the second, especially since he either didn't do the hard work to get ready for the fight, or has outgrown his weight class. He had enough conditioning and heart to match his skill to beat the difficult, taller DaLuz. I'm a bit of a homer, but I've got a sneaky feeling Darryl "Terrible T" Tyson, given the opportunity, is going to emerge as one of the top trainers around here. He may have never won a world title, but he is the consumate spartan warrior, with total dedication to fitness and craft. Outside the gym after the fight, he wasn't patting Vinson on the back for a job well done, he was letting him know nothing short of total commitment cuts it in this game. Like Taylor-Wilson, that, too, is good stuff.-- John Scheinman

Anonymous said...

jeez, how many times did I hit that button?

Anonymous said...

Reggie Taylor remains undefeated!!! Gary - now we see how he's progessing - solid punching - well calculated. His conditioning proved to be a major component in his win last night - kudos to B. Hunter. Everyone needs to come out and support him at his next bout on August 3rd!

Anonymous said...

The USNBC Title is definitely not a bogus title. It used to be that the NABF (North American Boxing Federation) was the North American version of the WBC. The IBF has the USBA, the WBO has the NABO and the WBA has the NABA, as each of the major organizations has a North American component. At the time the NABF was far and away the strongest and the most valued. But politics entered the fray and the NABF and its parent body had some differences of opinion and the NABF went out on its own, and the WBC created the USNBC as its new North American title. As the WBC is the most valued, respected and legitimate (in context!), the USNBC belt deserves some respect. As the NABF has been around much longer, it still retains the aura as the best title to get, but the USNBC should garner more and more respect as time progresses because of its direct link to the WBC.
In terms of Vinson, it is a shame that he did not make the weight and win this belt. But it certainly is a title that is worth going after.

Gary Digital Williams said...

Steve, you may need to check your equipment. Gabcast is working fine on this end.

Gary Digital Williams said...

I echo everything John Scheinman said about last night including the comments about Darryl Tyson. Tyson is an encyclopedia when it comes to this sport. Over the past 20 years, I have learned so much about the psychology of this business from talking to him.

If I can add on, Tyson stayed at the lightweight limit of 135 for more than 10 years before moving to 140. He is truly a spartan and I think eventually Vinson and anyone else who works with Tyson will know what that term means.

Thanks, Chris for the lesson on the USNBC title. As I tried to note, a number of top contenders in different weight classes hold USNBC titles including Matt Godfrey and Joey Spina. It is a legitimate title.

Anonymous said...

Digital, first, thanks again for the ride last night. Much, much, much appreciated.

Second: Chris, thanks for the info. I didn't know that the four major bodies each had a "secondary" if you will title. What were these "differences of opinion"?

Third, John, you do the boxing stuff for the Post, don't you? Keep up the good work, and if he doesn't mind hopefully Digital can introduce us at some future show...

Anonymous said...

People missed some great fights i dont know what shes goingbto do to put ass in the seat

Anonymous said...

Gabriel Cruz didn't just outwork McFadden, at 19 years old he took the fight to a 34 McFadden whose attempts at intimidation didn't faze the much smaller Cruz

Anonymous said...

I don't agree he was ok both fighters at the lower weight didn't fight like it. They was waiting on each other

Anonymous said...

Cruz and McFadden was a free-swinging affair, wide punches were the order of the day. If either of them could have come up the middle with hard shots, they would have taken over. McFadden looked too wound up in there, but, hey, he was probably excited. -- J.S.

Anonymous said...

Fight pics can be seen here .

Anonymous said...

Chris said:In terms of Vinson, it is a shame that he did not make the weight and win this belt. But it certainly is a title that is worth going after.

I agree it was ashame that Vinson acted like a rank amateur by this stunt!