White Stops Garcia; Kroll Gets A Draw; Gonzalez Wins
JORDAN WHITE VS ERIDSON GARCIA – Well, the fight between hard-hitting junior lightweight prospect Jordan “Shortdog” White (15-1, 11KO) and formerly undefeated prospect Eridson Garcia (17-1, 11KO) didn’t last long!
Garcia looked good fighting behind the jab and seemed to be in control of the fight. Then he made one fatal mistake of lunging in with a straight left to the body. At the same time came a perfectly timed and accurately placed check left hook from White. The punch landed with a “thud” that put Garcia down and out!
All it took was one round for Shortdog against a respectable opponent. As he celebrated, Bill Haney, the father of undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, was seen in his corner. This means he is keeping good enough company around that can get him to the next level!
PAUL KROLL VS GUIDO SCHRAMM
In the last ShoBox showing for junior middleweight prospect Paul “The Punisher” Kroll (10-0-2, 6KO), he escaped a fight he should have lost with a controversial draw. This nationally televised showing would be slightly different against Argentina native Guido “GES” Schramm (16-1-2, 9KO).
Kroll has good counter-punching ability, but has a problem handling pressure. As fights wane on, he can be seen looking for one big shot. If his opponent is able to avoid that shot or absorb it, Kroll seems to be a sitting duck for any kind of pressure that may follow. This until he figures you out! Schramm repeatedly walked his opponent down to force an exchange. This allowed him to land the harder shots while Kroll was the more technical of the two.
It would be the little things that determined the winner of this fight. While Schramm landed the harder punches, The Punisher was “punishing” the Argentine with short shots while he came forward. For almost every punch GES threw, there would be stinging short shots on the inside and at mid-range.
Towards the end of the fight, Schramm looked desperate. Fatigue and running into counters created a sense of urgency. His corner mentioned prior to the sixth and eighth rounds that he had to get the knockout or Kroll would get a gift from the judges. In desperation, Schramm looked very wild offensively, which left him even more susceptible to counters.
In the end, the judges still felt Schramm did enough to make the fight close. Kroll would walk away with a second consecutive draw on Showtime Boxing as the judges saw it 77-75 Kroll and 76-76 twice. In this scenario, Kroll should have walked away as the winner but suffered another disappointing draw.
JULIAN GONZALEZ VS JOHNNY SPELL
A pair of undefeated Pennsylvania based junior lightweight prospects in Julian Gonzalez (11-0-1, 9KO) and Johnny Spell (8-1, 4KO) met to see whose ‘O’ would go!
Gonzalez is a 21 year-old power-puncher from Reading. Down the street is 27 year-old Spell who is more of a slick boxer from Pittsburgh. After an even first round, the power of Gonzalez had Spell hurt badly in the second. It would be an overhand right on top of Spell’s jab that had the Pittsburgh native holding on for life with thirty seconds left in the round.
He survived, but played it very cautious throughout. This would seem to backfire, however, it quickly became the correct choice. By round five, Gonzalez had slowed down his volume tremendously. This allowed Spell to dictate the pace and maintain distance from the outside behind his jab. If Gonzalez tried to pick up the pace, he would run into counters.
In round seven, Gonzalez picked up the volume again. By being first, he opened up windows of opportunities to land combinations. Spell again would be hurt, but not to the degree he was hurt in the second round. Gonzalez made sure to keep this pace to bank the final round of the bout as well.
On the scorecards, the judges felt Gonzalez had the edge. With scores of 78-74 twice and 79-73, the Reading native remained undefeated, but saw a second straight opponent go the distance.
