Making the short trip across the river by ferry or car from his native Staten Island, Reshat Mati defeated Joe Eli Hernandez by one-sided unanimous decision over eight rounds.
The official scores from ringside were 80-72 x 3. The 23-year-old Mati (12-0, 7 KOs) had his way with the overmatched Hernandez imposing his way through the bout and using swift head movement to make the wilder Texan swing and miss.
Mati’s quickness kept Hernandez off balanced and uncomfortable for the first three rounds until Mati took his foot off the gas and began luring Hernandez into a brawl.
Mati is a local fan favorite and had several hundred fans raucously cheering for him and Mati, of Albanian descent, enjoyed interacting and posturing to the crowd.
While his cheering section was asking for a stoppage, Mati resumed working from behind the jab and landing a body shot when the opportunity arose.
By the sixth round Mati had Hernandez all but figured out and continued peppering Hernandez with the jab slowly taking his will away cruising to a lopsided decision victory.
