TAPIA STUNNED, MONAGHAN VICTORIOUS IN TOP RANK AND TRUTV CARD IN NEWARK
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 09 May 2015
NEWARK, NJ ? The Prudential Center in the downtown area of this historic city played host to a Top Rank Inc.?s boxing event held Friday night in this noted venue.
Local fighters led by New Jersey?s Glen Tapia and New York?s Sean Monaghan, both popular in the area, headlined the first truTV offering from the East Coast which was aired LIVE over the network.
But all did not go well with the hometown favorites as Tapia, of Passaic, NJ, suffered a bad beating in the the hands of visiting Michel Soro of France and lost via TKO in the 4th in front of his shocked fans.
Soro (26-1-1,16 KOs) sneaked a hard left against Tapia in the 4th that stunned the Jersey fighter who was never the same after that shot. Unable to hold and defend himself, Tapia took in additional punishment from a barrage of shots from his opponent forcing a stoppage from Referee David Fields at the 2:10 mark of the round.
Soro won the vacant USBA super welterweight title and snatched Tapia?s WBO / NABO super welterweight title with his impressive performance in enemy territory.
Tapia suffered his 2nd loss in 25 fights (15 KOs), both knockout defeats. He suffered his first TKO setback against James Kirkland in 2013, also here in New Jersey.
MONAGHAN DECISIONS GAME CONCEICAO
In the co-main event, hardworking New York Light heavyweight fighter, Sean Monaghan of Long Beach, brought his horde of fans and his aggressiveness across the Hudson River against a game and undeterred Cleiton Conceicao (19-7-2, 15 KOs) of Brazil.
Fighting in the opener of truTV?s broadcast, Monaghan and Conceicao figured in a bruising contest delivered through 10 rounds of pounding action that delighted the fans in the arena.
Monaghan unloaded damaging shots to the body and head of Conceicao who never backed down from his opponent?s advances and who also brought his own heavy artillery that inflicted damage to Monaghan.
The New Yorker landed more shots against the visiting Brazilian fighter who hurt the unbeaten fighter with looping left hooks in the final two rounds of the fight, producing a scare to Monaghan?s fans that traveled with him from Nassau County.
Monaghan and his fans weathered a difficult 9th and 10th round with a Unanimous Decision victory by a dominating tally of 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92 in all three judges? at ringside.
The defending WBC Continental of Americas Light Heavyweight Champ may have left the ring with a swollen right eye, which was a result of Conceicao?s hooks and haymakers, but he also stepped out of the ring with his unbeaten and improved record of 24-0 (15 KOs)and his regional belt.
FALCAO STOPS FOE IN 3rd
Brazilian Olympic medal winner, Esquiva Falcao maintained his unblemished professional record with a 3rd round TKO win over Paul Harness of Kansas City.
Falcao, a silver medalist from the 2012 London Games, beat a hapless Harness (5-5-1, 4 KOs) in three rounds of a one-sided Super welterweight match to improve his record to 8-0 with 6 KOs.
The fighter out of Vitoria, Espirito Santo in Brazil, committed to attacking his opponent?s body early. This opened up for additional attack upstairs for Falcao.
A hard left forced Harness to a knee in the 3rd which he got up from but additional beating after the knockdown forced Referee Benjy Estevez Jr. to halt the bout at the conclusion of the third round.
RODRIGUEZ WINS EASY
Another Jersey fighter in Hasbrouck Heights?, Julian Rodriguez scored an easy win with another first round stoppage of his opponent in front of his hometown fans.
Rodriguez stunned Peter Oluoch (14-9-2, 8 KOs) of Miami with a snappy left that pushed him to a corner.
The unbeaten Super Lightweight fighter then unloaded on his dazed foe forcing the referee (Harvey Dock) to rule a quick halt at the 1:22 mark of the 1st.
Rodriguez, who was a sparring mate for Manny Pacquiao last year for his rematch with Tim Bradley, improved to 10-0 with 9 knockouts.
GOODAL TKO 1 ASBURY
New Milford?s Darren Goodall had an early night of work with a 1st round TKO of Alex Asbury (0-1) of Charlotte, North Carolina
Goodall dropped Asbury twice in the opening round of their 4 round Super Middleweight clash to notch the 2nd win in his young career.
A strong left sent a careless Asbury down early then a series of shots with an ending to the body stopped him for good at the 2:47 mark of the 1st.
Goodall is the first fighter to fight and win from the Garden State in tonight?s fisticuffs.
REED TKO?s VAZQUEZ IN OPENER
In the first bout of the evening, Super Lightweight, Michael Reed (14-0, 8 KOs) kept his unbeaten record intact with a 2nd round TKO of Osenohad Vazquez (8-4-1, 3 KOs).
After a dominating first round, Reed of Waldorf, Maryland drilled his foe with hard lefts that to the head that was unanswered by Vazquez (Vega, Baja Puerto Rico).
Referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight at the 2 minute mark of the 2nd to prevent further damage to Vazquez.
ARIAS TKO'S BLACK IN 1
In a swing bout of unbeaten heavyweights, George Arias of Bronx, NY stopped Carlos Black of Maryland in Round 1 of a scheduled 4 rounder.
Two left hooks from the now 3-0 (2 KOs) Arias sent Black (1-1) staggering to the ropes followed by a series of combos that sealed the deal for the Bronx heavyweight.
You can reach the author at rrmaze24@aol.com and @Freemazon910.
Photo: Sean Monaghan (R) in action against Smith in this file photo by Dr Ed de la Vega.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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