On Saturday, January 17, 2015, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center hosted Keystone Boxing’s 2015 debut, Capital City Boxing.
The night featured an exciting nine-bout card, with stand-out prospects Kevin Rivers Jr. and Demond Nicholson in action—among others.
Keystone Boxing is known for putting on the best quality fights in the DC metro and fortunately for fight fans, tonight was no different. With local stars such as Top Rank’s Mike Reed, Al Haymon’s Jarrett Hurd and Roc Nation’s Dusty Hernandez-Harrison in attendance, the night got started off with an exciting upset.
DC native Maurice “Moe” Adams Jr. (1-1, 0 KOs) took on Gabriel “Mr. G” Braxton (2-7, 1 KOs) in a four-round Bantamweight bout. Round 1 belonged to Adams, who came out aggressive, putting together combinations and backing his opponent up.
Adams fed off of the crowd’s energy as he tried to notch his second pro victory. Towards the end of the first round, a well-placed left hook to the body hurt Braxton.
In Round 2 the tide turned. After getting the better of all of the exchanges in Round 1, Adams got the worst of it in Round 2 as Braxton began finding a home for his looping hooks.
In Round 3, Braxton did not let up as he continued to hit Adams with flush shots. After eating four big punches in succession, Adams’ corner had seen enough and jumped in to stop the fight—officially at 1:36 of Round 3.
Although 2015 is young, fight fans were treated to a fight that will likely be considered for Beltway Fight of the Year.
In a battle of Maryland fighters, Montgomery Village native Gerome Quigley took on Laurel’s Norman Allen in a Welterweight clash.
Quigley wasted no time getting things started as he buzzed Allen with a good hook within the first few seconds of the fight. What looked like another early KO victory for Quigley turned out to be something different all together.
While pressing the action, Quigley was dropped and hurt by a nice counter left from Allen. The Quigley contingent gasped and the majority of fans jumped to their feet as Quigley was visibly stunned and stumbled a bit on the canvas before getting off the mat.
There is nothing like being live at a fight when a crowd favorite is dropped and the crowd is stunned. The silence can be deafening.
As Allen sensed his opponent was hurt and tried to come forward to land some more meaningful punches, Quigley regrouped himself and trapped Allen in the corner, scoring his own knockdown.
Moments later, Quigley would get caught with the same counter left that had dropped him for the first time in his career, but he took the punch better the second time.
Quigley set his combinations up nicely with a good jab, backing Allen up to the ropes and knocking him down two more times before the round ended. The crowd was alive as the second stanza began. Quigley wasted no time putting his punches together and was able to drop Allen for the fourth time in the fight.
The referee had seen enough and made the decision—a merciful one—to stop the fight. It was an impressive back-and-forth fight which showed Quigley’s ability to work through adversity.
Standout prospect, Kevin “K-Smoove” Rivers Jr. (11-0, 8 KOs) of Palmer Park, MD took on a game, but outgunned opponent in Stephon McIntyre
The fight was scheduled for six rounds in the Featherweight division and served as the co-featured bout of the evening.
Rivers was poised as he got to work immediately in Round 1 with a vicious attack to the body. Rivers set the tone as he spent the better part of the opening round putting precise two and three punch combinations together.
The main problem for McIntyre was that he remained stationary against the ropes for stretches, allowing Rivers to have an easy target to break down.
The next two rounds went exactly the same way as Rivers showed exactly why he is so highly regarded. After absorbing a barrage of body shots in succession, McIntyre’s corner decided to throw in the towel.
In the main event of the evening, Headbangers Boxing Gym pupil, Demond “DBestatit” Nicholson looked to rebound from his first pro loss last November as he took on Rahman “Genghis Khan” Yusubov in a six round Middleweight bout.
While Genghis Khan is a bad ass, intimidating nickname, it was Nicholson who did all of the conquering in this bout.
After one round of being beat from pillar to post, Yusubov returned to his corner to tell his team that he was not interested in continuing.
The pain of absorbing huge hooks from Nicholson was written all over Yusubov’s face so it was a good move that he decided against going back out to fight. For most of the first round Yusubov looked befuddled, not knowing whether to stand in the orthodox or southpaw stance.
It was a great comeback win for Nicholson who got back on track for his 11th KO in as many victories.
Other Results:
Thomas “Gunna Man” Mattice defeats Tyrone “Showtime” Wright
Cleveland, OH native Thomas Mattice remained undefeated (2-0, 2 KOs) as he clocked DC native, Ty Wright (2-2, KOs) with a big right hook which landed right on the temple.
It was a bit of a delayed reaction, but Wright crashed to the deck and could not beat the count.
“Monster” Marq Johns defeats Jaxel Marrero
Boxing Along the Beltway’s 2014 Knockout of the Year winner, Marq Johns (5-0-1, 4 KOs) had a rough start against Puerto Rico native Jaxel Marrero (1-4-1, 0 KOs).
Marrero came out assertive and determined to bring the action to the heavy-hitting Johns. Marrero dominated Round 1 by dictating the pace with good hooks and uppercuts both upstairs and downstairs.
Johns remained composed and came out looking to crank up his output in Round 2. Johns struck with a hard overhand right which got Marrero’s attention.
After that one punch landed, Marrero’s body language completely changed and Johns began to have success putting pressure on.
In Round 3, Marrero’s eye began to swell rapidly as Johns could not miss.
After being dominated for most of the final round, Marrero found some room to land two big hooks which may have buzzed Johns a bit, but not enough to change the outcome. Marrero showed tremendous heart in giving the fans an exciting bout as Johns walked away with a well-deserved decision victory.
Renaldo “Misunderstood” Gaines defeats Arthur Parker
Renaldo Gaines (5-2, 1 KO) picked up a hard earned four-round victory over tough opponent, Arthur Parker (1-13-1, 1 KO). Official scores were 40-36 (twice) and 39-37.
Patrick Harris defeats Sean Lockhart – 4 Rounds
Lightweight up-and-comer, Patrick Harris (4-0, 3 KOs) didn’t even get a chance to break a sweat as he mopped the floor with Sean Lockhart (5-26-2, 2 KOs), earning a first-round KO.
Mykal “The Professor” Fox defeats Luis “Yeye” Rodriguez
Mykal Fox (5-0, 1 KOs)—younger brother of DiBella Entertainment prospect, Alantez Fox, worked through some rough spots to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Luis Rodriguez (3-2, 2 KOs) .
Fox, who stands at an imposing 6’4″ came out looking to control the pace with his jab. Rodriguez–who stands at 5’8″–tried to find a way inside but was ineffective with single lunging shots.
Fox put three and four punch combinations together throughout the fight, but he did leave himself open to some counters which found their mark. Good learning experience and progress fight for the young Fox.
