ESPN 2 kicked off its Heavyweight Boxcino Tournament on the February 20, 2015 edition of Friday Night Fights.
ESPN is holding two eight-man tournaments, the second of which began tonight featuring four quarterfinal Heavyweight bouts at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York
Each of tonight’s fights were scheduled for six rounds, but with one caveat: if a fight ends in a draw after the sixth, it will be continued for a seventh tie-breaking round.
Furthermore, if the seventh round also ends in a draw, three ringside writers will determine which of the two will move into the tournament’s semifinals, which will take place on April 10.
The winner of both tournaments will be awarded a special ESPN Boxcino belt.
Lenroy Thomas (18-3, 9 KOs) scores UD over Jason Estrada (20-5, 6 KOs)
In the opening fight of the night, faded amateur standout Jason Estrada struggled to deal with the reach and height of Lenroy Thomas.
Estrada was able to land shots, but was also there to be hit–a lot. The fight would go the distance but, since, the judges had it closer than what it actually was, the fight was allowed to continue into a seventh tie-breaking round.
Thomas would walk away with the decision with scores of 68-67 (3x).
Razvan Cojanu (12-1, 7 KOs) scores UD over Ed Fountain (10-0, 4 KOs)
Razcan Cojanu, who had an impressive amateur career, looked less than impressive against Ed Fountain.
Cojanu did not take advantage of his height, reach, and expereince against Fountain and allowed the smaller fighter to have his moments throughout the fight.
Cojanu would walk away with the decision (68-67, 68-67, and 68-65) after another seventh tie-breaking round for the night, but did not look as good as his record suggested.
Cojanu will now face Thomas in the Heavyweight semifinals on April 10.
Andrey Fedosov (25-3, 20 KOs) KOs Nat Heaven (9-1, 7 KOs) in Round 1
Andrey Fedosov made quick work of Nat Heaven in their quarterfinal fight.
Fedosov landed a powerful left hook that Heaven struggled to get up from. Heaven got back to his feet, but only to be knocked down again by a left hook to the temple.
The fight was soon called off as an angry Heaven walked away from the ring.
Donovan Dennis (10-1, 8 KOs) stop Steve Vukosa (10-0, 4 KOs) in Round 4
Donovan Dennis looked to put himself back into the mix after recently being knocked out on ESPN by Nat Heaven.
After two rounds of boxing, Dennis landed a hook on Vukos that almost finished the fight.
Vukosa was allowed to continue and fought into the fourth round until the fight was stopped before Vukos, who no longer had any answer for Dennis’ punches, could take further unnecessary damage.
Dennis will now face Fedosov in the tournament semifinals on April 10.
