Hernandez whips Randall! November 28, 2003 By Robert Hoffman Photos: John Booz

"Fearless" Fernando Hernandez avenged an earlier DQ loss to Frankie "The Surgeon" Randall on Wednesday at the Hitz Boxing 11th annual "Thanksgiving Eve Ramada Rumble" by scoring a decisive knockout over the former champ.

In their first meeting back in August 2002, the 42-year-old veteran Randall outclassed, outboxed and frustrated the comparatively inexperienced Hernandez. A frustrated Hernandez was warned for repeated low blows until the referee disqualified him at 2:28 into round six.

This time Hernandez kept his punches clean to score the well-deserved victory.

The southpaw Hernandez rushed out of is corner at the opening bell and started unloading his punches on Randall. Randall blocked the shots and returned fire carefully. Randall was outworked by the more aggressive Hernandez but Randall had the more effective powershots.

Toward the end of the opening stanza, Hernandez unloaded a four or five punch series and Randall retaliated firing a hard right hand down the middle that landed smack on the forehead of Hernandez.

Hernandez dropped to his knees for a second but he bounced right back up. Hernandez was surprised but he did not look any worse from the flash knockdown.

Both combatants exchanged evenly in the second, with the same pattern of Hernandez throwing more punches, but Randall landing the cleaner and more effective punches. The secret to his success was that Randall was timing Hernandez coming in. Hernandez would fire 2, 3, 4 shots and Randall would fire a right hand back at the end of the series.

Neither fighter used a jab to setup a punch therefore most the punches had bad intentions written on the glove. Randall would just paw with his jar open he saw an opening right hand, loading up for one punch. Hernandez threw nothing but powershots all night.

Hernandez came out aggressively as the bell rang for the third. Hernandez pushed Randall against the ropes with an assault of left and right hooks to the body. Randall covered up with his body against the ropes. Hernandez suddenly switched his attack upstairs throwing 8 to 10 shots in a headhunting maneuver. Randall had his hands up for protection but he looked weak.

Finally Randall dropped to his knees from the accumulation of punches. Randall got off his knees and stood up barely beating the count. Randall looked at the referee and shook his head. Referee Gerald Scott stopped the action for the TKO victory in the third round to Hernandez.

The 34-year old Hernandez (18-6-2, 8 KOs) said to FightNews.com, "Last time I gave Randall too much respect and got carried away when things got ugly. This time I was more focused and aggressive."

On the other side of the ring, the 42-year old Randall (59-14-1, 42 KOs) blamed his lack of training for his loss but he did not mention retirement.

After such a sweet victory over a former two-time champion, Hernandez told FightNews.com, "I will fight for another two years. If I haven't gotten to a world title by then, I will get out and focus on my training career, and get behind the scenes in boxing. I will still be in great shape in two years. I've never used drugs, never drank or smoked, and I am in top physical condition. But after two more years it will be time to turn my attentions to my other dreams."

In the co-main event, former Canadian Olympic heavyweight Art Binkowski stopped veteran Mario Cawley in a hard fought contest.

Binkowski - his nose bloodied, both eyes nearly swollen shut, and most likely behind on the cards - pulled out a come from behind victory in with a sudden knockout in the first minute of the seventh.

Cawley had his moments but the younger and bigger Binkowski was able to survive the early punishment to regain control of the fight and to save his unblemished record.

Binkowski dropped Cawley at the end of the sixth round with a huge right hook to the body. Cawley got up as the bell rang to end the round.

Binkowski established his dominance at the start of the seventh round coming out landing heavy hands. Within the first minute, a right hook to the ear dropped Cawley but a few seconds later he got back up. Another right hook to the head started to send Cawley down again and Binkowski half-pushed/half-walked into Cawley to ensure his trip to the canvas.

Cawley rolled over to his left side as referee John O'Brien reached the count of ten at 58 seconds into the seventh round.

Binkowski remains undefeated with 10 wins, 1 draw with 8 knockouts while the veteran Cawley drops to 22 wins against 11 losses with 16 knockouts.

* * *

Middleweight Miguel "Macho" Hernandez remains unbeaten with a record now of 6-0, 5 KO's when stopped Michael Rush at 1:53 of round 1. Rush drops to 1-3. Rush never stood a chance against the devastating punching power of Hernandez who dropped Rush at the opening of round one with a quick left followed by a right hook to the head. The fight resumes and a left hook to the body drops Rush again. When the fight resumes again, Hernandez fires a powerful right hook that Rush was not even close to trying to block. At this, referee Tim Adams rushed in and stopped the fight before Rush could be seriously injured.

Female amateur National Champion and two time Golden Gloves heavyweight Elizabeth Kerin made her pro debut against Ebony Teague who had a record of 0-2 going into the fight. It became obvious from the first second of round one that Teague had no real boxing skills at all, with her head way back and her eyes closed, Teague flailed recklessly in an attempt to hit anything! It was just a matter of time for Kerin to figure a way to get inside the flailing windmill that Teague called punches. It resembled Don Quixote knocking down the windmills with his lance! The first solid left hook sent Teague sprawling to the canvas. After the fight resumed a right hook drops Teague hard, facedown on the canvas. She beats the count but referee John O'Brien can clearly see that she is in no condition to continue and waves the action off at 1:43 of round one. So, Kerin begins her pro career with a TKO win on her record.

Super middleweights Carlos Anduray (now 6-0-1, 4 KO's) and Adam Stewart (now 2-5-2) fought an exciting 4 round contest that ended in a majority draw with scores of 39-37 for Anduray, and 38-38 twice. It was a very close fight, with rounds that were difficult to score since each round was won by no more than a punch or two advantage.

Cruiserweights Gary Gomez (now 8-3, 4 KO's) and John Roman Williams (now 12-3, 6 KO's) battled in a tough and gritty fight that had a few fouls, a lot of showboating from Williams, and headbutting between the rounds from Williams as well. But the fight went the scheduled 6 rounds and the decision was left in the hands of the judges who scored the fight 56-58 for Williams, and 58-56 twice for Gomez.

Promoter Bobby Hitz of Hitz Boxing was very satisfied with the near capacity holiday crowd. "It is always a great show. This is one of my favorite shows during the year. The fans are in a good mood and everybody enjoys the action."