By Dwjuan Frazier
Photos: Bob Ryder

ByFightnews.com

No one complained that the two main events were short. The Lions of Detroit may be dead, but boxing was able to give Detroit fans something to cheer about on Sunday night at the Masonic Temple in downtown Detroit.

Dmitry Salita took up the challenge with another installation of his “Detroit Brawl” series on Sunday night at the Masonic temple downtown, which played host to the series’ best attended show. The card consisted of ten bouts, with a mix of four, six, and eight round fights.

The main event featured Detroiter Lanardo Tyner (31-10-2), who, prior to this fight, hadn’t fought in almost three years, and Istvan Dernanecz (10-5, 7 KOs) from Nagykanizsa, Hungary. Tyner didn’t waste any time in this fight, saying that his corner insisted that he end the fight as quickly as possible. Tyner started off patiently, as if he was trying to get back into the swing of things, and then he just blitzed Dernanecz with a flurry of punches that left Dernanecz leaning on the ropes for stability until referee Ansel Stewart stopped the fight . “I heard my corner saying “let’s get out of here”, so I had to get it over with,” Tyner said. “You can’t play around in this sport.” Tyner won by TKO in the first round at 1:58.

In the co-main event, Joseph Gordon Smith, Detroit, Michigan, faced off against Szilveszter Ajtai (10-4-1, 5 KOs) of Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary. Smith scored a knockdown in the first, ensuring him a round in case it went to a decision. By the second round, it was clear that the fight was over as Smith unloaded an avalanche of blows to the head of Ajtai, scoring two more knockdowns and a TKO 2 at 1:00 to secure the victory. Smith remains undefeated, improving to 12-0, 7 KOs.

The most exciting fight of the night came from the super middleweight matchup between Deandre Ware (8-0-1, 6 KOs) of Toledo, OH and Juan Rojas-Sanchez (7-19-2, 6 KOs) from Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico. It was hard to tell who won what round because they were going back and forth the whole fight, with neither fighter able to establish control. Ware was successful when he was able to fight from a distance and work his jab. Contrarily, Sanchez tried to win the fight by shrinking the distance between the two, which allowed him to tag Ware’s body seemingly at will. The outcome of this match was left up to the judges, and it was declared a split draw based on their scorings. Luckily, for fight fans, Salita Promotions and both fighters agreed to set up a rematch in the near future, with the hopes of declaring a winner the next time.

Other fights: Cruiserweight Alexey Zubov (14-1, 8 KOs) of Magnitogorsk, Russia stopped Andras Csomor (18-15-1, 14 KOs) of Budapest, Hungary, at 1:05 in the third

Six rounders: Ja’Rico O’Quinn, Detroit, Michigan, improved to 5-0, 4 KOs after a TKO 3 at 2:34 victory over his opponent Angel Carvajal (2-6), Chicago, IL. Heavyweight Junior Wright (16-2-1, 13 KOs) of Evanston, IL, swung a big left hook to knockout his challenger, Detroit’s Damon McCreary at 2:04 of the second round.

Four rounders: Southpaw Ardreal Holmes (5-0, 3 KOs) from Flint, MI, knocked out his challenger Bryan Goldsby (4-2) of Macon, GA at 2:59 of the second round. After looking uninterested in the first, Detroiter Larry Ventus (8-11-1, 4 KOs) threw a single left hook to knockout Jesus Lule (9-21-1), of Fort Myers, FL at 2:26 of round two. Super featherweight Dwayne Zeigler (6-0-1, 5 KOs) of Montgomery, AL, won a unanimous decision over (40-36, 40-36, 39-37) Charles Clark (1-2-1, 1 KO) of Dallas, TX). In a heavyweight match-up, Detroit’s Marcus Carter scored a TKO 2 over Timothy Dunn (0-7-1) of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, who either didn’t know when to throw a punch or just didn’t want to. Carter moves to 2-0, 2 KOs