Harris defeats Garcia in Detroit

Fightnews.com

Report by Brad Snyder The Undercard
Photos by Bob Ryder

The Night of Knockouts series at the Sound Board in Motor City Casino Detroit proves to be the strongest event series in boxing. The sellout/standing room only night sold out a week prior to the event. Promoter Carlos Llinas, once again, added local favorites to the A-side of the card and matched them with solid opponents on the other side.

Perhaps Detroit’s next star is Winfred “Hot Boy” Harris. Harris took on the challenge of tough fighter, Aaron Garcia, of Guadalajara, Mexico. Harris dominated the main event. With throwing from multiple angles and showing seasoned moves, Harris is displaying his growth in the ring. Garcia allowed Harris to work on his craft, as he had will power to continue to move forward. Garcia was able to eat the power that Harris brought. The fight was for the promotions middleweight title. Harris had all three judges scoring the bout (80-72, 80-72, 80-72) in his favor. Harris moves to (17-0, 9 KOs), as Garcia drops to (16-8-1, 11 KOs).

The co-main event fight featured two local Detroit fighters, both with good boxing reputations. Dwayne Williams has an impressive opponent list, including an Olympic Gold medalist. While Taylor Duerr has a reputation for his power. Round 1 was wild as ever with Duerr catching Williams with a hard punch, but Williams came back and caught Duerr with a right of his own. The light heavyweight bout was for the promotions belt. Duerr was able to land three giant uppercuts in the 2nd Round, all three clean. These shots, along with the bodywork, had Williams hitting the canvas for the first knockdown of the fight. The 3rd uppercut showed Williams not able to recover, as another uppercut landed in the corner. Williams’ corner had seen enough, as Williams goes down from another uppercut, being the second knockdown of the fight. The win improves Duerr to an impressive (6-0, 6 KOs) start. The loss drops Williams to (6-8-1, 3 KOs).

The story of the night was the homecoming fight for Rydell Booker. Described as “Chapter 2” of his life, Booker fought his second fight since his lay off and time in prison. Booker was able to use a sharp jab and good body work in the early rounds against a strong opponent in Jamal Woods. Booker often was firing the jab through the tight jab work of Woods. Both landed great blows throughout the fight. But it was the skilled boxing of Booker giving him the unanimous decision victory (59-55, 59-55, 58-54). The win put Booker up to (24-1, 12 KOs). Jamal Woods now stands at (16-39-7, 11 KOs). The win, also, gave Booker the promoter’s Heavyweight belt.

Frank Martin (4-0, 3 KOs) was able to stop Terren Arrington (0-1) at the 1:48 mark of the 2nd Round by TKO. The fight produced a wild swiging 1st Round, but Martin began to land the better shots the end of the round. The 4-Round Jr. Welterweight fight was quickly over once Martin began to move forward.

Anthony Barnes (10-0, 8 KOs) wasted no time getting a knockout victory at the 37-second mark of the 1st Round over Lenwood Dozier (10-20-2, 5 KOs). Barnes ended the light heavyweight fight with a left hook to the head, after establishing a jab in the beginning seconds of the round. The fight marked Barnes return to the ring after his two-year layoff due to injury.

Middleweight Derrick Coleman (3-0, 3 KOs) continued to impress with his 43-second 3rd Round TKO of Raul Hernandez (0-1). Coleman was patient and allowed himself to fire, only when timing was correct. After knocking down Hernandez in the 1st, the third knockdown was enough to have Hernandez’s corner throw in the towel.

In other action, middleweight Darryl Cunningham (38-9, 15 KOs) defeated Gundrick King (19-20, 12 KOs) by UD (60-54, 60-54, 60-54). King remained calm throughout the fight, as Cunningham continued to give him some body work in the first rounds. The 5th Round had Cunningham aggressively pushing up King into the ropes and corners of the ring. But right into the 6th Round, Cunningham threw hard shots to King’s body pushing him across the ring.

Josh Visel (1-0) won with a split decision (39-37, 40-36-Visel; 39-38-Chauvin) against Jared Chauvin (0-1). It was a close matchup for both debut fighters in the Jr. Middleweight division. The fight began evenly matched on both sides. By the 3rd, Visel went into action. After a quick knockdown by Chauvin, Visel threw a right into Chauvin’s head.

The first debut fight of the night, we saw blood. Jermon Houck (1-0) busted open the nose of Joel Berman (0-1) early in the 2nd Round of the Jr. Welterweight bout. Houck won the UD (40-36) all around.

Opening up the card, we had Isiah Jones (6-0, 3 KOs) defeating Cameron Burroughs (4-4, 3 KOs) in the 6-Round Middleweight division.

The Night of Knockouts XII was promoted by Carlos Llinas.