By Kurt Wolfheimer
Photos: Ray Bailey

Saturday night at Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City New Jersey, a near sellout crowd witnessed Maurice “Sugar Moe” Harris (25-15-2, 11KO’s) retain his USBA heavyweight title belt, dropping Derric Rossy (25-5, 14KO’s) twice en-route to a convincing twelfth round knockout in the main event of the evening. The inaugural five bout card produced by Carla Hill Promotions also had several of the top prospects in the New York-New Jersey region spotlighted in competitive bouts. In The co-feature of the evening, Lavarn “Baby Bowe” Harvell (8-0, 3KO’s) captured a hard fought four round split decision victory over Hamid Abdul Mateen (2-2).

It was a tossup fight around ringside as East Orange, New Jersey’s Maurice Harris put his USBA title on the line against Derric Rossy a former Boston College Defensive end out of Medford New York in the twelve round main event.

Right from the opening bell you could tell it was going to be a battle of wills. The smaller Derric Rossy he would have to get in and out, picking his opportunities to wail away, while Harris needed to use his length and power to eventually bring down Rossy.

The fight had its moments in the early going as each fighter threw big right hands, looking for early knockouts, but it wore into a fight on the inside with multiple clinches that droned on through the early rounds.

Rossy continued to try for a knockout with a leaping right hand to put the fight in his favor, but Harris was wearing him down in the clinches and connecting with big shots of the breaks. The bout swayed in Harris favor when an overhand right forced a tiring Rossy to touch his gloves to the canvas. The New York native immediately rose to his feet and stayed out of trouble, landing a counter left which made Harris cautious throughout the closing moments of the round.

Rounds five through eleven were tedious with lots of clinches, where most of the fighting was done. Each fighter tired, but it seemed that Maurice Harris’s blows were doing more damage as the fight wore on. Finally in the twelfth and final round Harris pushed Rossy to the ropes and sent him to the canvas a three punch combination, ending with an overhand right on the button. Rossy rose to his feet, but was quickly muscled back to the ropes and Harris unloaded a huge four punch combination which had Him out on his feet. Referee Earl Morton stepped in and grabbed the badly hurt Rossy and the bout was waived off at 1:35 of the twelfth round.

In the co-feature of the evening, Hometown light heavyweight Lavarn “Baby Bowe” Harvell out worked a dangerous Hamid Abdul Mateen throughout the four rounds to capture the victory. Mateen did have his moments and may have taken one round. Harvell was cautious throughout but his combinations where cleaner and more effective. Surprisingly one official scored the bout 39-37 in favor of Mateen, but the other two judges scored it 40-36 and 39-37 in favor of Lavarn Harvell for the split decision victory.

Lavarn Harvell jumps 8-0, 3KO’s while Hamid Abdul Mateen falls to 2-2, 1KO.

There was also a strong Irish flavor in the building as the sounds of Olay, Olay, Olay were shouted throughout the event. The large and raucous Irish contingent was there to support heavyweight Thomas Hardwick of Dublin, Ireland, who now resides in Yonkers, New York.

Coming to the ring with the melodic sounds of a bagpipe, Hardwick (1-0, 1KO) stepped into the squared circle for his second bout as a professional against winless Akron Ohio native, Rodell Bolar who entered the ring at 0-3

Hardwick, seemed a bit raw as he stayed behind jabs in the early going of the opening round. Hardwick stepped up the attack and sent Bolar to the canvas with a nice four punch combination in the final minute of the round. Bolar rose to his feet and covered as Hardwick went in wildly for the kill. Bolar threw a right and caught an off balance Hardwick, who slipped to the canvas. It should have been ruled a knockdown but because it was caused by a punch, the referee ruled it a slip.

Hardwick continued to press the attack in the second round with strong body work and Bolar looked tired as the round progressed. It looked as if Hardwick could land that one big right, it would be over.

The Dublin native finally finished the show with a right hand in the late in third dropping Bolar to the canvas for the second time in the round. Bolar rose to his feet, but it was clear that he would just get more punishment and the bout was waived off much to the disgust of Bolar. The time of the stoppage was 1:39 of the third round.

Undefeated Atlantic City middleweight Isiah Seldon had to overcome a few shaky moments in his fight with a game Artie Bembury the Bronx, New York, but was able to use his powerful combinations to capture the unanimous decision victory.

Bembury opened the showed with a couple of hard jabs which snapped back the head of Seldon and he began to get cocky, dropping his left hand and rocking it by his waist while moving around the ring. Seldon, the son of famous heavyweight Bruce Seldon, jumped on Bembury and put him on the defensive with some big combinations.

Seldon appeared to easily be on his way to victory, when all of a sudden a Bembury left hook right hand combo rocked him. Bembury went on the offensive with a big flurry of punches and Seldon looked ready to go, but Artie suddenly stopped his attack and allowed the hurt Atlantic City native to recover. From that point on, Seldon was in complete control of the bout. Bembury survived the fourth and final round though, sending the bout to the scorecards. All three judges saw the bout in favor of Isiah Seldon by scores of 39-37 and 40-36 respectively.

Seldon ups his record to 5-0, 3KO’s, while Artie Bembury slides to 3-5, 1KO.

In the opening bout of the evening, undefeated Atlantic City bantamweight prospect Qa’id Muhammad moved to a perfect 6-0, 5KO’s with a one sided unanimous decision victory over New Rochelle, New York’s Jose “Chili” Rivera (3-3-2).

Muhammad clearly had the better ring generalship and faster combinations as he pelted Rivera with countless flurries throughout the opening two rounds. Rivera did not have the snap on his punches to deter him but he did everything he could to make a dent in Muhammad’s flurries. In the third Rivera came out of the corner and went for broke with a couple good combinations. Quid saw an opening and dropped the over aggressive Rivera with a right up top.

Rivera rose to his feet and recovered quickly. Muhammad easily boxed his way through the third and fourth rounds to easily capture the four round unanimous decision victory. All three judges had it the same 40-35 in favor of Qa’id Muhammad who quickly his gaining a name for himself in the bantamweight division.