By Jody Kohn
In just his second fight scheduled for 10 rounds, Errol Spence Jr. improved to 13-o with a dominating victory over the tough, but outgunned Ronald Cruz.
For all 10 rounds, Spence unloaded on Cruz, but the Puerto Rican fighter now living in Pennsylvania somehow weathered the storm, lasting until the final bell. However, there was little drama when the scores were read, with Spence taking every round on the cards of all 3 judges.
On the televised portion of the ShoBox cards, two other Olympians were showcased as Marcus Browne (12-0) made quick work of Donta Woods, scoring a first round knockout, and Dominic Wade (16-0) took a unanimous decision from Nick Brinson.
Additionally, BJ Flores (30-1-1) continued his comeback, cruising to a unanimous 8 round win over Anthony Smith.
In heavyweight action, Gerald Washington took out Travis Walker in the second round, perhaps announcing himself as a contender among the heavyweights.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. had a couple fighters on the show as Lanell Bellows (8-1-1) took a unanimous decision from the awkward Jas Phipps, and the promising Ladarius Miller (3-0) also went the distance with a convincing performance that actually saw him get hurt prior to the final bell.
Cruiserweight Steve Lovett (10-0, 8 KOs) went right to work on his opponent, dropping Dwayne Williams (4-3, 1 KO) in round three as Vic Drakulich had seen enough as he called a halt at 1:11 of the round.
Light heavyweight Tyrell Hendrix (11-4-2, 4KOs) handed Dennis Hasson (16-1, 6KOs) the first loss of his career dropping him twice in round four. Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight at 2:59 of the round with Hasson still on the canvas.
Ronnie Shields-trained welterweight “Cowboy” Ryan Karl (2-0, 2 KOs) went right after his opponent, Corey Muldrew (1-8) pinning him against the ropes and landing a barrage of punches causing referee Robert Byrd to stop the fight at the 1:01 mark.
Unbeaten super middleweight John Magda (8-0, 7 KOs) bit off more then he could chew and was on his way to his first defeat when he landed a perfect right counter hook dropping Taneal Goyco (6-8, 3 KOs). Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the bout at 2:24 of the fourth round, when Goyco was unable continue.
Middleweight Caleb Plant (4-0, 1 KO) remained undefeated winning a 4 round UD over Michael Noriega (4-5, 4 KOs). Final scores were 40-36 on all cards.
Following the fights, we enlisted the help of Michael Hunter, a two-time Olympian himself, to talk with a couple of his old teammates to talk about their impressive wins.
http://youtu.be/q_MURlEVvgE
w/ Marcus Browne
http://youtu.be/0C9F99Y49QY
