The term “Theatre of the Unexpected” is often used in Boxing, and on Friday night July 28th at the Paramount in Huntington, Long Island, NY, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing certainly provided the capacity crowd with something they won’t soon forget. The main event saw local hero Anthony “Showtime” Karperis of nearby Hicksville take on the Bronx’ Louis Cruz. The two waged a fierce battle throughout the fight taking turns battering each other until a vicious uppercut by Cruz in the final seconds of the 9th round dropped Karperis.
Karperis was visibly hurt and Cruz swarmed in with a flurry of punches and closed the show with only one second left in the round as the referee called the fight off. Karperis was dominating the round and had Cruz pinned in the neutral corner when out of nowhere the debilitating punch was delivered. The fight was nip and tuck the whole way with the balance of the fight to be decided in the final two rounds. Karperis drops to 14-3 5KO while Cruz improves to 12-3 6KO’s. The bout was scheduled for 10 rounds in the Jr. Welterweight division.
The co-featured 8 round Lightweight bout saw Brooklyn’s Dean Burrell, 12-1-1 9KO’s battle it out with upset minded Carlos Osorio, 13-7 5KO’s from El Viejo, Nicaragua. Burrell was looking to capitalize on his last Paramount appearance, a stunning KO of Huntington’s own Johnny Hernandez, but ended up in the fight of his life as the two fought each other from the opening to the final bell much to the delight of the capacity crowd. Osorio was the aggressor the entire fight but Burrell stood his ground and traded freely with Osorio. In the end the judges were split, with one judge scoring the bout 77-75 in favor of Burrell, another 77-75 in favor of Osorio, while the third and deciding judge saw the fight even at 76-76, thus resulting in a draw. A rematch would be in order for this terrific fight.
Undefeated Welterweight Tyrone James from Elmont, Long Island, improved to 5-0 3KO’s as he destroyed the usually durable and tough Alexander Picot, 2-4-1 Hartford, CT, inside of one round. James wasted no time as he jumped all over Picot unleashing hard shots to the head and body. Picot was left virtually helpless against the ropes forcing the referee to call a halt to the action. The bout was scheduled for 6 rounds.
The opening fight saw Rochester, NY native Sequan Felton score his first win as a pro as he ruined the pro debut of NYC fighter Harrison Barba by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice. The action was thrilling between these two young fighters as the aggressive Barba went right after Felton who threw some eye-catching combinations of his own. After 4 rounds of this fast paced Lightweight fight the unanimous decision was announced in Felton’s favor as he improves to 1-2 and Barba falls to 0-1.
Jr. Middleweights Abner Guadalupe of the Bronx and Newark’s Simon Saye also went to war for 4 rounds. After the dust cleared the bout was ruled a majority draw. Scores were 39-37 for Guadalupe, which was over ruled by matching scores of 38-38 by the 2 remaining judges. Guadalupe is now 0-0-1 while Saye is 0-1-1.
Promoter Joe DeGuardia had these comments at the conclusion of the night’s action “This was a very exciting show in which the fans saw evenly matched bouts where 2 resulted in draws and also two upsets. It shows that our fights at the Paramount are predictable in only one way: the fans get to see exciting fights where the outcome is not pre-determined. I’m very proud of Anthony Karperis who fought his heart out, and Cruz who fought a smart fight. I know Anthony will come back stronger and better than ever when he returns and we look forward to his return. One thing for sure, when you fight with heart and determination like Karperis did, you earn a return to our shows whether you win, lose or draw. It is why I can’t say enough about the effort all of these warriors put forth in front of another capacity crowd at the Paramount. My hat is off to all of them. I also thank all of our sponsors and our great fans for an evening we won’t soon forget”.
Details on the next scheduled Paramount show, which will be in September, will be announced shortly. Check out www.starboxing.com for all information.Malik Jackson (2-0, 2 KOs) of Washington, DC will fight an opponent to be named in a super bantamweight bout.
Tickets for this great evening of boxing are priced at $150, $125, $100, $80 and $55 and can be purchased at www.rspboxing.com