Young unbeaten Cincinnati-based prospects Boubacar Sylla and Desmond Jarmon headlined Wyatt Promotions’ sold out launch of its new Friday Night Fights series in nearby Covington, KY.
(Cincinnati, OH) – The turnout for Cincinnati’s Wyatt Promotions couldn’t have gone any better for its inaugural ‘Friday Night Fights’ event at the Radisson Hotel in Covington, Kentucky. The event was initially scheduled for 10 bouts and unofficially, the attendance was standing room only.
The evening’s featured attractions were undefeated pressure-puncher welterweight Boubacar Sylla (9-0, 7 KOs) and About Billions Promotions’ promising 20-year old featherweight Desmond Jarmon (4-0, 3 KOs). Joining those two were familiar Cincinnati prospects Quashawn Toler, Jayvon Garnett, Daniel Long, Mikail T. Jones and newcomer Kyle Taylor.
The action in the ring was exhilarating, but fans also got to enjoy the company of four-division world champion Adrien Broner, undefeated IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter, Jr, former world champion Rau’Shee Warren, recent Top Rank Boxing signee Jamel Herring, Roc Nation Sports’ world-ranked featherweight Tyler McCreary and several other Queen City boxing luminaries.
Adrien Broner and Rau’Shee Warren ringside supporting Cincinnati’s next wave of boxers. Photo by Troy Pope/IKonik iMages
In the night’s main event, 6-foot tall Sylla skillfully attacked and punished New Orleans-based southpaw Rynell Griffin behind a commanding jab and his entire arsenal of punches, for a 6-round unanimous decision victory. Sylla remained straight, long and fast through the earlier part of the fight. His length and speed neutralized Griffin from the outset of the bout, as Sylla often relied on a punishing left jab-straight right combination that kept his opponent more focused on his defense rather than rushing to return fire.
Sylla flurried in the second round as Griffin found himself with his back against the ropes, but he responded with a series of punches to buy himself some time to safely make it into round three. In the subsequent round Sylla unleashed a vicious body attack with both hands until Griffin responded at 20-second mark with a short overhand right inside one of Sylla’s shots for his best punch to that point in the fight.
In the fourth round Sylla connected with a trio of big right hands, as Griffin continued to stand within range. Sylla switched up from his work underneath to score with some effective head-hunting. A stinging straight right sent Griffin several steps backwards, but again the visiting southpaw connected with his biggest left hook of the night to close the round. This was the result of an opening created by one of Sylla’s rare wide arcing shots.
Sylla opened round five with a sensational right hook-right uppercut combination that rocked Griffin. The Senegal-born fighter maintained his pressure and accurate punching for another round, but Griffin courageously battled back in spurts.
Sylla’s jab was as commanding in the sixth round as it was in the opening round. His punishing attack led to Griffin taking a knee in a delayed reaction to a body shot on his left side. Moments later referee Marvin Whittamore surprisingly halted the action to give Griffin a standing 8-count in a moment that could’ve warranted a stoppage – a Sylla shot briefly sent Griffin’s upper body outside of the top rope.
Somehow, Griffin battled through the remainder of the round, where shortly after the conclusion the judges’ scoring unanimously delivered Sylla his ninth professional victory. Afterwards, Sylla praised Griffin for his durability. He jokingly spoke on his streak of six consecutive stoppages being snapped with, “…I can’t knock them all out.”
The disappointment of two scratched fights and an extended amount of time in a series of indefinite training camps resulted in an unusual display of frustration by Jarmon at the weigh-in on Thursday night. During the stare down he place his hands around the neck of his opponent, David Quay, and shoved the shorter fighter backwards.
The two fighters entered the ring 24 hours later with a grudge to settle at the contract weight of 130 pounds. Quay opted to engage in some trash-talking – after charging inside a couple of times to fail at establishing himself as the fight’s boss – while standing directly in front of Jarmon. The 20-year old Cincinnati native stayed focused and connected with several right hands that quickly sent his opponent to the canvas for his third first-round knockout in four fights.
Adrien Broner joined his victorious young fighter in the ring as the official decision was announced, and after exiting the ring the former champion concisely summed up Jarmon’s performance with, “We going through the motions, we better than the rest.”
Daniel Long (4-0, 2 KOs) vs Martegus Martin (0-2, 2 KOs): The bigger looking Martin attempted to impose his size on Long as the two went to chest-to-chest in some wild action to start the fight. At the 57-second mark Long connected with a stealth compact left hook to Martin’s body that immediately sent him to the canvas where he was counted out by referee Marvin Whittamore.
Jayvon Garnett (7-0, 5 KOs) vs Stephon McIntyre (3-38-4, 1 KO): The undefeated Garnett and Georgia’s McIntyre unexpectedly delivered the night’s most intriguing matchup – despite it looking like a softer touch on paper for the Cincy fighter. Garnett swept the first few rounds behind a punishing body attack. He remained the busier fighter throughout the fight, regularly pawing at McIntyre’s tight guard early on trying to create an opening to rock McIntyre. McIntyre connected with a thudding three-punch combination early in the second round that got Garnett’s respect, but he continued to work at raking McIntyre’s guard to displace his defense.
Over the balance of the fight McIntyre landed some crafty shots in spurts, highlighted by a clean left hook on Garnett’s belt line in round three. Garnett remained the busier man in the six-rounder, circling away from McIntyre’s single shots over the last few rounds. He jabbed to McIntyre’s body to counter his tight guard, constantly finished his combinations in round five with a punishing left hook to the body.
McIntyre landed a good right hook to Garnett’s body in the final round, but Garnett maintained control of the action to go on to earn his seventh win by sweeping all the rounds on the judges’ cards. After the final bell, the fighters spent a moment in the center of the ring, complimenting each other on a well-contested battle.
Quashawn Toler (4-0, 4 KOs) vs Leonel Jimenez (4-21-1, 3 KOs): Toler is an action fighter, he’s athletic and possesses a full array of punches. His quickness, and shell defense, immediately gave Jimenez major problems with keeping pace and gaining any confidence with establishing his offense. A crushing body shot from Toler sent Jimenez staggering into the ropes. Toler’s pressure produced three knock downs causing the ref to stop the bout at 1:02 in the first round.
Kyle Taylor (2-0, 2 KOs) vs Adam Young (0-8, 4 KOs): Taylor had no problems with establishing his attack against the southpaw Young in the first round. A crushing right hook had Young in trouble early, and after continuing to successfully punch around the guard in the first round, Young began breathing through his mouth and throwing punches that began to lack any steam. Young caught Taylor in a brief reckless moment in the second round, landing a straight left to the hometown fighter’s upper chest.
Taylor walked through the shot and quickly resumed with his body work, adding in some effective uppercuts. Young flurried in spots, out of desperation, but after a dominant third round where Young began showing signs of excessive punishment, Whittamore stopped the fight after the Memphis native made his way to his corner.
Mikail T. Jones (3-0, 2 KOs) vs William Davis (0-5, 1 KOs): Jones, a super welterweight product of Cincinnati’s Real Deal Boxing gym, and Davis circled the ring exchanging a few glancing shots until Jones abruptly ended the contest with a flush shot that floored Davis at the 40-second mark. Davis remained down bent over on one knee for the 10-count, as blood began to rush from an apparent nose injury that was too serious for him to continue.
After the night’s action concluded an elated Randall Wyatt, the event’s promoter, shared his thoughts on the success of his new fight series. “Oh man, it was a great night, we had some real good fights, we sold it out, there were people wrapped around the building. There were cars outside on top of cars, there were people on top of people.” 
“It was a great event on the inside! First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming. It was incident-free, the only fights that went on were inside the ring – exactly where they were supposed to be. As long as we’re having shows and doing things like that, we will be here. Wyatt will be doing shows in this area for years to come as long as everything goes exactly the way it went tonight.”
On the long-term outlook for Wyatt Promotions, Wyatt added, “This card was an amazing card for the Cincinnati area, it had all the top Cincinnati fighters – coming from the amateurs to the early stages of their pro careers.
It was incident-free, the only fights that went on were inside the ring – exactly where they were supposed to be.
“We’re at ground zero right now, no disrespect to anything. I’m not saying that the guys that they fought weren’t competitive. The competition level may have been a difference, we had a couple quick stoppages, but if you don’t go in the gym and prepare yourself, you don’t put a guy down like that.”
“We’re trying to get our guys, our stable of guys, to a stage of being competitive no matter who you’re fighting. And we’ll put them in there with anybody.”
Wyatt regularly accompanies several of Cincinnati’s established professional boxers to their appearances on Premier Boxing Champions or Showtime Boxing. These fighters include unbeaten welterweight Jamontay Clark, as well as world-class fighters like Broner and Warren. When asked whether Wyatt Promotions’ objective was to eventually pair his stable of promising fighters – including Toler, Long and Garnett – with a larger show featuring a main event with a Warren, Wyatt revealed his hand.
“My goal is to bring the guys those guys that you just mentioned, right here in the Cincinnati area, and we do a big time show because both of those guys deserve to be on their own show right here in Cincinnati. They deserve it. And I’ll do whatever I need to do to make that happen.
So I’m asking anybody that’s involved with them on those levels; Showtime, we’ve got electricity here! HBO we’ve got electricity here! Bring it here, let’s go. What’s stopping them?
During the evening’s bouts, the announcement was made that the last Friday in April is scheduled as the next event in the Friday Night Series. Due to impressive turnout on a cold Midwest winter evening, the Radisson Hotel in Covington will remain an option as the host site. But as the card materializes Wyatt and his trusted team plan to explore all its options to provide a safe, entertaining experience for Cincinnati area boxing fans, as well as a stage to advance the careers of the young fighters being developed.
Header photo and all body photos provided by Troy Pope/IKonik iMages
