Greatest fight in Ballroom history!

March 11, 2006

By "Priceless" Steve Price and Gary "Digital" Williams at ringside
Photos: Mike Greenhill

Resiliency, determination, fortitude, discipline, dedication, heart and the unflappable desire to succeed are some of the things that man conjures up when the going gets rough; if his intentions are to do something great. One needs to look no further than the history books and use as a reference the plight of the Pilgrims and other settlers who transcended onto this great nation of ours some 400 or so years ago and sacrificed to make it what it is today; The Land of Opportunity.

In prizefighting to the greatest degree, those criteria are essential to succeed and to create opportunities for glory and wealth. Unfortunately, for the club fighting scene that lacks the exposure of the larger fight venues in places like Vegas and Atlantic City, great fights can sometimes go unnoticed. Outside of the 500 or so local fight fans and a few boxing icons who just so happen to be in the neighborhood, many outside of these realms fail to witness something worth remembering, such as this little known six round fight between prospects Maxwell Taylor of Baltimore, MD and Derek Ennis of Philadelphia, PA.

Described by Michael's Eighth Avenue ring announcer Pat O'Malley as "the greatest fight in Ballroom Boxing history." Up until tonight, the biggest claim to fame for either fighter was a decision loss by Taylor to the Contender's Ahmed Khaddour on Shobox some months ago. We all know of the Gatti/Ward trilogy, the Hagler/Hearns war, the Ali/Frazier trilogy, the Castillo/Corrales I barnburner seen by many, and of course many other classics that leave fight fans chomping at the bit, but few had the pleasure of witnessing Taylor/Ennis Thursday night in Glen Burnie; a fight minus the big lights, millions of dollars, and mass TV exposure. Hey, we all had to start somewhere, right?

"That was the greatest fight I've seen in a long time," praised Lou Duva, the boxing legend trainer and manager. "I think that both guys should have won, they fought their hearts out."

Philly's own, Derek Ennis 9-0-1, 6 KO's came out blazing in the first round looking to head up route 95 early, but the seasoned Taylor, 12-2-1, 5 KO's wasn't willing to cooperate. Ennis jumped all over "The General" landing an array of hard shots that had Taylor covering up like a clam. Taylor opened up towards the end of the first round by raking a tiring Ennis with some sweet left hand crosses.

Round two witnessed Ennis investing in some scintillating bodywork like Donald Trump invests in Real Estate, where the impact of the shots could be heard throughout the venue. Ennis punctuated the round by pasting Taylor with a nice right hand that drew blood from the nose of Taylor.

In round three Taylor covered up well from an ever firing Ennis and popped him with lead lefts when Ennis would stop working (fatigued from exhaustion no doubt due to his high work rate). Suddenly, a right hand to the body helped an off balance Taylor reach the canvas, Taylor was quickly up on his feet. Taylor pounced right on Ennis, seemingly frustrated by the knockdown and teed off on a retreating Ellis along the ropes. Blood began to drip from the Philly bangers mouth.

Round four contained some of the most dramatic action of the fight. A revived Ennis came out like a man possessed and went back to ripping the flanks of Taylor. Taylor wasn't to be outdone as he fired back with some good left hands and right hooks of his own. At the mid-point of the round, both fighters were extremely gassed and exasperated from what must have been a total of 150 power punches thrown by both fighters with a possible 60% connect rate by each. Amazingly, Taylor reached into his reserves first and unloaded with a big left hand that dropped Ennis with authority. It looked like the fight was over, but the tough Philly prospect got up only to be dropped again, and to his favor, saved by the bell.

The last two rounds did not disappoint as neither guy wilted against the others will, representing the rough and tumble cities in which they hail from, Baltimore and Philly to the fullest extent. Both young lions landed some telling blows to the delight of the Ballroom faithful that would make lesser men desire a new line of employment. Judges scored this six round war 56-55 for Taylor, 57-55 for Ennis, and 56-56. PSP scored the bout 56-54 for Ennis.

"I thought I won the fight," said a calm and collected Taylor. "He was strong and had some powerful punches, but I blocked a lot of them. He won the first round and maybe the third, but I picked it up and won the rest. This is the type of fight that will help me down the line. I will like to meet him again somewhere down the line."

"He didn't beat me," said a dejected Ennis(seemingly referencing the draw to a loss). "The only round he won was the round he dropped me in. I took this fight a week ago, I was supposed to be fighting somebody else tonight. This was was a good fight for my career. We'll take a rematch. We can do it anywhere, its whatever."

In the co-main event, "The Silver Boy" Jose Rodriguez, New York, NY used some nice counterpunching and confident boxing to upend determined Orazio "The Razor" Robinson of Manassas, VA in a bloody six round Junior Middleweight scrap.

The first round started out at a brisk pace with both combatants landing some textbook hooks. Rodriguez, 155 1/2 lbs. used his southpaw stance to his advantage and landing a sneaky left hand at the bell to wobble Robinson. The second round started off like the first-good energy, Rodriguez placed a nice right hook to Robinson's ribcage. A clash of heads had claret racing down the left eye of Rodriguez like the nile river, luckily for Silver Boy, not blurring his vision. Robinson, 155 1/4 lbs. responded by connecting with a picture perfect right hand-left hook counter. Rodriguez began to showboat in the fourth round, trying to do his best rendition of the Ali shuffle, and also bounced on his toes like an aerobics instructor. Matter of factly, the tactic worked, as he was able to land some nice uppercuts and hooks on his bewildered foe. The last round proved to be exciting as a right-left by Rodriguez had Robinson's nose and mouth bleeding, and a right hand by Robinson seemed to open a cut over the left eye of Rodriguez. Blood and sweat flew for the rest of the round as both fighters landed a healthy portion of blows to the approval of the crowd.

Judges scored the bout 58-56 Rodriguez, 60-54 Rodriguez and 57-57. PSP scored the fight 59-54 Rodriguez. With the win, Rodriguez remains unbeaten at 5-0-0, 1 KO, while Robinson suffers his second straight defeat and dips to 5-3-2, 4 KO's.

On the undercard, Taurus "Mushin" Corbbrey, Bluffton, S.C, dropped lanky Kareem Robinson, Philadelphia, PA in round two and coasted on to a 40-35(three times) UD victory. Corbbrey's record climbs to 3-1-1, 0 KO's and Robinson's ledger drops to 2-4-0 1 KO.

Former top United States amateur, now turned pro, Eric "The Outlaw" Hunter of Philadelphia, PA outgunned Steve Lozoya, Las Cruces, New Mexico in just 29 seconds with a single right hand counter in a Featherweight four rounder. Hunter see's his resume up to 5-0-0 3 KO's while Lozoya is still waiting for a win in the pro game. His record falls to 0-3-0.

James Franks, 2-1-0, 1 KO, Newport News, VA, chased down Andre Nichols, 1-1-0, 0 KO's, Dale City, VA for three rounds finally cornering him and stopping him with a barrage of punches in another four round featherweight scrap. Referee Gary Camponeshci waved off the carnage at 1:55 of the third round.

Brooklyn, N.Y Cruiserweight, Jameson Bostic, 5-3-0 4 KO's boxed his way to a six round UD victory over William "The Storm" Bailey, 4-9-2, 2 KO's, Virginia Beach, VA.

Scott Wagner promoted the event and Chris Middendorf served as the matchmaker. Boxing celebrities in the house included Lou Duva, Trainer Tommy Brooks and USBA Junior Lightweight champion Lamont "Bay" Pearson.