Hunter outclasses DeLuz!

August 4, 2008

By Kurt Wolfheimer at ringside

Friday night at the Cisco Arena in Oaks, Pa, fans witnessed a near perfect performance by the extremely talented featherweight Eric “ the Outlaw” Hunter (10-1, 4KOs) of Philadelphia. Pa as he boxed circles around 26 fight veteran Robert DeLuz (11-13-2, 9KO’s) of Providence, Rhode Island, even dropping him twice en-route to a near perfect unanimous decision victory. The undercard promoted by Greg Robinson’s Power Productions and Sports Xtreme Productions Inc. sadly had to scratch a highly anticipated heavyweight scrap that had a lot of bad blood between heavy-handed Marc “Oak Tree” Brown and veteran Maurice Wheeler, when Wheeler failed to show at the weigh in.

Eric Hunter’s hand speed had Robert DeLuz covering or punching at air throughout the opening couple rounds of the fight.

DeLuz was caught off guard with a left hook in round two that had his glove touch the canvas. He was more off balance then hurt but Referee Shawn Clark called it a knockdown.

Rounds four through six appeared to be a microcosm of each other as Hunter 123.5 picked apart the defense of the pressing Robert DeLuz who could only land a right hand or two up top when on the inside in each round. Hunter looked like a surgeon as he used knifing combinations and sharp jabs that repeatedly found their mark through the gloves of DeLuz.

Hunter stepped up his attack in round seven as he went to the body with heavy hooks that made thudding sounds, which could be heard from the last couple rows of the arena.

Ahead by a wide margin on the scorecards, Hunter easily could have boxed his way until the final bell, but he went after DeLuz with a heavy four-punch combination. In the middle of the round, Hunter, timed a DeLuz left hand with a counter left of his own on the button, which sent the Rhode Island native to the canvas. DeLuz went on the retreat, but Hunter continued to pour it on before he landed a perfect 1-2 combination that sent DeLuz back to the mat. DeLuz was game though and tried to fight back as Hunter peppered away with combinations until the final bell sounded to end the fight.

All three judges had Hunter easily ahead by scores of 80-69 x 2, and 79-70 for the one -sided unanimous decision victory.

“I had to stick to my game plan and box tonight,” said Hunter. “ I knew he was a one punch fighter and if I followed what my corner told me to do, everything would work out fine. He had a good chin, so I had to slow him down with the body work and I almost got him out of there”

In the co-feature of the evening, Wilmington, Delaware welterweight Ryan Belasco upped his to 8-2-3, 2KOs with a convincing six round unanimous decision victory over Milwaukee Wisconsin’s Justin Danforth (5-13, 1KO).

Belasco looked at home from round three on as he dissected the praying mantis like style of the southpaw Justin Danforth with various combinations while moving in and out of punching range.

Danforth pressed forward behind his right jabs, but had no answer Belasco’s counter left hooks in rounds four though six.

Several times Danforth’s mouthpiece was knocked out of his mouth by punches from Belasco. Finally in round five, Referee Hurly McCall took a point after the mouthpiece fell out again in round five.

Behind on the scorecards, Danforth vainly went to the body in the sixth and final round but could not answer the quicker counters from Belasco.

All three judges had the bout easily in favor of Ryan Belasco by scores of 59-54 x 2 and 60-53 for the unanimous decision victory.

Island Park, New York super bantamweight Tracy Hutt (1-1) used her hand speed and straight two and three punch combinations to spoil the local debut of Christina Leadbeater (1-1) of Philadelphia, PA in a spirited four rounder.

Leadbeater 120.5 had her moments with big wide hooks, which backed up Hutt 122.5 in the later rounds. However Hutt’s short straight combinations constantly beat Leadbetter to the punch and kept her off balance throughout.

All three judges had the fight in favor of Hutt by scores of 40-36 x 2, and 39-37 for the unanimous decision victory.

Junior welterweight Jesus Barbosa PA outworked a very tough fellow Philadelphian Kywame Hill over four rounds to capture a hard fought majority decision victory.

The twenty-year old Barbosa went to work on the inside throughout round one and the early portion of round two with short two punch combinations on the much taller Hill.

The bout began to even out late in round two and early in round three as Hill found his range on the out side with jabs and slapping four-punch combinations.

Barbosa jumped up and down while moving side to side, which confused and intimidated Hill, allowing him to get back inside with heavy combinations late in round three.

An accidental elbow caught Barbosa as he rose up on the inside and it opened a caught that streamed down his forehead throughout the final round. The cut seamed to energize Barbosa, who pressed forward in the final moments and caught Hill with a strong right hand on the chin in the closing seconds of the fight.

One judge had the bout 38-38 even, but was overruled by the other two judges, who had 40-36 and 39-37 in favor of Jesus Barbosa for the Majority decision victory.

Undefeated cruiserweight Ronson Frank of Rosedale raised his record to 12-0, 4KOs with a fifth round knockout of Wheeling West Virginia’s Earl Doe 4-4 3KO’s.

Frank 183, kept Doe on the outside for the opening three round with his long right jabs and two punch combinations. Doe 184 switched to the southpaw stance late in an effort to solve the long reach and movement of the elusive southpaw.

Ronson Frank saw that his combinations had done their work and began to set down on his punches in round four and had Earl Doe fading. A right hand from Frank had blood streaming from Earl’s nose. Bronson stepped up the attack with a hard five-punch combination, but the attack was stalled as Doe lost his mouthpiece.

The end finally came, when Ronson unleashed a five-punch combination and finished with a lethal uppercut on the button that sent Earl Doe to the canvas for the ten count at 1:54 of round five of the scheduled six round bout.

Lightweights Travis Thompson of Philadelphia, PA and Corey McCants of Brooklyn fought to a back forth, four round draw.

Thompson 135, who had to give up several inches in height and reach, fought well on the inside early and actually stunned McCants 134 with a combination up top in the opening round.

McCall found the range of the lunges from Thompson with several jabs and counters in round three.

Round four was a battle of wills as both tired from the earlier work. Thompson appeared to barely outwork McCants in the final round. McCants however, landed a couple good shots just as the bell sounded to end the fight.

All three judges had it differently, 39-37 Thompson, 39-37 McCants and 38-38 even, as the bout was declared a draw.

Travis Thompson slides to 3-2-1, 2KO’s while Corey McCants moves to 2-10-2, 1KO.