Popular junior welterweight Joseph Fernandez of St. Petersburg, FL became the ABF champion with an impressive third round stoppage against veteran Jose Forero of Panama. Backed by a large cheering section, Fernandez got off to a strong start and landed many clean shots against the rugged Forero. In round three, the southpaw Fernandez connected with picturesque right hook to Forero’s head that sent him crashing to the canvas.
Forero bravely got up at the count of 8 but was in no condition to continue, forcing Referee Michael DeJesus to halt the contest at 2:10.
With the victory, Fernandez improves to 14-3-3 with 5 knockouts. Forero slips to 13-9-1 (11 KO’s).
Light heavyweight Imran “El Toro Arab” Haddabah of St. Petersburg destroyed Los Angeles, CA’s Victor Garcia Rivera in 1 minute and 51 seconds. The heavy-handed Haddabah scored three knockdowns and is now 3-0 with all of his victories coming by first round stoppage.
135 pound up and comer Iron Alvarez of Tampa, FL improved to 14-0 (11 KO’s) following a hard-fought decision over Miami, FL based Argentinian Jonatan Hernan Godoy, 5-11 (2 KO’s).
Alvarez had a significant height and reach advantage and peppered Godoy with jabs and straight rights from the opening bell. Alvarez’ repeated blows opened a cut over Godoy’s left eye and helped him score a hard knockdown but Godoy had no intentions of packing it in.
Bleeding and down on the scorecards, Godoy begun pressing the fight and successfully connected with a number of punches to Alvarez’ head.
After six entertaining rounds, scores were 58-55 and 59-54 twice.
Junior lightweight Daniel “G.D.F.E.” Bailey of Tampa improved to 8-0 with an impressive six round decision over Aguadilla, Puerto Rico’s Pedro Hernandez. An Army veteran and multi-time amateur champion, Bailey displayed solid skills and looks to be a prospect on the rise.
In a women’s flyweight contest, Maryguenn Vellinga Hinz scored a third round TKO over debuting Simona Sarpa of Tampa. Vellinga Hinz, of Park City, UT, is 3-1-2 with 2 wins by knockout.
Cruiserweight Adrian Pinheiro of Orlando, FL improved to 3-0 (3 KO’s) with a first round knockout of Wilson, NC’s Dequanti Johnson and Tampa middleweight Christopher Rodriguez moved to 2-0 (2 KO’s) by KO’ing Milwaukee, WI’s Jay Ellis in round one.
“I am thrilled we were able to give the fans an entertaining show,” said Jody Caliguire of Fire Fist Boxing. “There is a lot of up and coming talent in the Tampa-St Pete region and the fans have always been great in packing the house on fight night. We’re looking forward to our next show.”
Fire Fist Boxing Promotions returns to Banquet Masters on January, 28. More information will follow.
For more information, visit Firefistboxing.net or Facebook.com/Firefistboxing.