By Craig Wick at ringside

Hitz Boxing kicked off its 2017 promotional season Friday night, with a seven-bout offering at the Belvedere Event Center in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village. Excellent matchups provided the packed crowd good, two-way action with several of the contests anyone’s guess until the scorecards were revealed.

In the main go, undefeated heavyweight prospect Nick Mazurek, fighting out of nearby Palatine, IL, faced the toughest test of his young career in the form of Jamal Woods, a 50-fight veteran known for giving undefeated heavies a long night at the office. Woods didn’t disappoint, showing up as advertised and giving Mazurek the kind of work that should help flatten his learning curve going forward. Early in the fight, however, Mazurek’s vaunted one-two to the head and his commitment to the body seemed to suggest an early night. “Not so fast” as coach Lee Corso would opine. Woods, who trucked in from Arkansas, weathered the early storm and began landing shots of his own, namely “cheap” lead left hooks, which by the fourth had drawn blood from the nose of Mazurek. The output of Woods, however, was never substantial enough to turn the tide, allowing Mazurek to coast home the winner, 59-54, 59-54, and a bizarre 60-53.

In a competitive, briskly fought super lightweight battle, Chicago’s Genaro Mendez (11-3-1, 6 KOs) overcame the stern challenge of “Money” Mike Fowler (5-5, 2 KOs) Milwaukee, WI, to take the decision after six. Both southpaws decided the battle would be waged on the inside, and their work didn’t disappoint, with right hooks and straight left hands thrown and landed throughout. Neither fighter found themselves in serious trouble and at the bell, all three judges favored the slightly heavier shots landed by Mendez, 40-36, and 39-37 twice.

With huge crowd support urging him on, Chicago’s Tommy Hughes impressed in his light heavyweight pro debut with a second round stoppage over game Allencino Farelli (0-2) also of Chicago. The brutal commitment by Hughes to the body of Farelli paved the way for the three knockdowns he registered in round two, all via right hands to the head. The final knockdown convinced referee Celestino Ruiz to call a halt at 1:54, launching Hughes and his Irish faithful into a roof-shaking celebration.

In an excellent matchup of undefeated welterweights, Nick Ramirez (9-0-1, 2 KOs) Chicago, IL, took a close, hard fought unanimous decision after six over Robelle Rogers (5-1, 3 KOs) Lexington, KY. This was a fascinating matchup that could see both men sharing space on another night down the road. The southpaw Rogers boxed extremely well and more than held his own throughout. Ramirez, to his credit, made adjustments early, which allowed his left hooks to the body and right hands upstairs to get through with increased regularity as the fight wore on. At the bell, all three judges had it identical, 58-56 for Ramirez. Excellent stuff from both men.

Chicago’s Yousif Saleh improved to 3-0, 2 KOs, with an opening round blitzkrieg over Green Bay’s Dale Bennett (1-3, 1 KO) in a lightweight contest scheduled for four. Bennett was down early from an overhand right and finished off shortly after the midway point with a series of combinations to the head. Official time was 1:42.

In a rarity these days, a “Pick ‘em” clash involving two fighters making their pro-debuts, Chicago’s Matt Cameron and Tristen James, Des Moines, IA, fought to a majority draw after four rounds of crowd pleasing cruiserweight action. James controlled the opening round, boxing well from the outside, however Cameron upped the tempo in round two and began getting to James with good work to the body. Rounds three and four were tough to shade as both men exchanged on nearly even terms. When it was over, one judge, clearly in his own little ringside universe, had it a shutout for James, 40-36, but was thankfully overruled by his pencil-wielding colleagues, who both saw it 38-38. Kudos to both men, and their connections, for taking the fight and not seeking out a debut ‘gimme.’

In the opener, Chicago’s Chris Kimble nailed down the win in his pro debut with a 3rd round TKO over Jorge Gonzalez Rolon (0-2) Gary, IN. After Rolon’s second trip to the canvas, referee Lou Hall waved the contest off at 1:35.

Fight Night Finales: Chicago area fighters sure have been a fickle bunch of late, with the changing of promoters and trainers seemingly all the rage. The recent swapping kind of reminds me of a pugilistic swinger’s party, except at the end of the night swingers still have the good sense to go home with whoever got them there. Not that grass can’t occasionally grow greener on the other side, mind you; however history suggests that by the time you’ve climbed the fence and hopped over, you’ve usually landed in a hot, steaming shit that someone who’s pulling the same knee-jerk stunt you are just left behind. And finally, a question that continues to perplex: why is it that a talented fighter can trumpet his next outing via social media, receive damn near seven-hundred “likes,” only to discover on fight-night that 30 of those actually bought a ticket and made it through the door? Granted some of those ‘likers’ aren’t local but in reality, most of them are. So get off your ass, ‘likers,’ and get to the fights. Your local gladiator would appreciate it a lot more than a click of the mouse.
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