By George Hanson
I can’t help myself, every time I hear the national anthem I get goose bumps and a titillating feeling engulfs my body as a montage of images plays like a movie in my mind’s eye—reminders of the American Dream and why immigrants like myself believe in it. Tonight was no different as I stood with the sold-out capacity crowd in the beautiful ballroom of the Hamilton Manor as the three divas comprising the group Surreal Soul belted out their rendition of the anthem before the opening match of the eight- bout card by Nedals Promotions. It was another great night showcasing the sweet science with a terrific main event and five action-packed four-round bouts. On display were the various fabrics of the American quilt as fighters representing eight countries (USA, Bahamas, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, and Sweden) displayed their wares. Only in America!
Matchmaking is the key to boxing, two fighters’ careers when juxtaposed sometimes appear like adjacent mall escalators—both moving in opposite direction, one going up and the other going down. A great matchmaker will ensure that a hot young prospect score a credible win over a battle-tested veteran who still has a marquee name, but is definitely in the twilight of his tenure or on his way down. This was the case in the main event between three-time world title challenger light-heavyweight Omar Sheika (28 wins – 9 losses – 0 draws – 20 kos) and Garrett “The Ultimate Warrior” Wilson (7 wins – 2 losses – 0 draws – 2 kos) of Philadelphia. Sheika, whose biggest win was a majority decision over future light-heavyweight champion and perennial contender, Glen Johnson, at The Legendary Blue Horizon in June 2000, is on the tail-end of a notable career.
Sheika failed in three attempts to secure the super-middleweight championship, the first being a fifth round technical knockout loss to WBO champion Joe Calzaghe two months after beating Johnson at the Blue. In his last two tries, Sheika lost unanimous decisions to IBF champion Jeff Lacy in December 2004 and WBC champion Markus Beyer in September 2005. Sheika’s most memorable lost occurred two fights ago when he was halted in the fifth round by former four-division world champion Roy Jones in 2009.
This was supposed to be the night the fat lady cleared her throat and sang the final swan song for Sheika’s career. It was time for Wilson, the young pup, to send the aging lion, Sheika, off the plains of the Serengeti and into retirement. The disparity in experience did not matter to the fearless Wilson who fights with reckless abandon and knew that a win over Sheika would take him to the next level of contention. No doubt, the astute J. Russell Peltz, Wilson’s promoter, shared the same sentiments as he waited patiently at ringside confident that his fighter would pass the ultimate test.
Wilson entered the ring decked out in the most exquisite black boxing trunks, compliments of designer Simon “Punchline” Carr. He bolted out at the opening bell, hopped on Sheika and commenced to rain down his fury on the veteran. Moving forward like a Sherman tank, the shorter compact boxer hit Sheika with everything except the referee. You just had the feeling that the fat lady was clearing her throat as he smashed the veteran with hooks to the body and head oftentimes peppering him with jackhammer jabs. Stunned, the pro-Sheika crowd held its breath wondering if their man would survive the onslaught. Sheika fought back, but Wilson continued throwing spectacular punches believing his opponent’s denouement imminent. Sheika, his faced reddened from Wilson’s barrage, made it back to his corner perplexed.
Wilson picked up where he left off in the second stanza. However, midway in the round, his gas light came on and he pulled over to the ring ropes. He was running out of fuel and it was time to coast. However, Sheika realized what was happening and cruised over to Wilson and placed most of his shots to the young fighter’s ribcage and solar plexus. Sedulous in his mission, Sheika never paid any attention to Wilson who shook his head signaling to the crowd that the punches were not hurting him. Body punching is like putting money in the bank because at some point you will cash in by making a withdrawal. The effects of Sheika’s body punches, though not evident immediately, would make a difference in the subsequent rounds. The round ended with Wilson doing his impression of the rope-a-dope as he answered with several punches that lacked the speed and power of the opening round. Mmmm, the fat lady never cleared her throat as the round ended.
Standing between rounds, Wilson entertained the crowd by dancing before the bell sounded for Round 3. Sheika continued his assault to the body as Wilson retreated to the ropes. He was hoping to get his second wind but Sheika never gave him an opportunity. Maybe this was the sign of things to come because early in the fourth round Sheika caught Wilson with a sweeping left hook that would have knocked out most boxers. Moving in for the kill, Sheika opened up his arsenal and unloaded a barrage of blistering rights and lefts as Wilson bobbed and weaved as punches whistled over his head, with some landing on his shoulder blades. When you thought the referee was moving in to make a call, Wilson answered back with some bombs and moved along the ropes out of danger. He regained his composure and was moving around. However, his legs showing the effects of the body shots took him back to the ropes. Sheika unloaded rapid-fire blows as referee Page jumped in somewhat prematurely at 1:32 to waive off the action; thus declaring Sheika the winner. Inexperience, conditioning and technique cost Wilson the biggest win of his career. Had he shortened up on his punches instead of wailing away with wide left hooks and roundhouse rights, I doubt Sheika would have made it out of the opening stanza. Then again, what do I know? I have been in malls where for whatever reasons the escalators switch functions – the down escalator is made to go up and vice-versa.
The co-main event featured junior-middleweight Ahmed “Baby Face” Kaddour (21 wins – 2 losses – 1 draw – 9 kos) from Sweden by way of Lebanon, who despite losing two bouts on Season One of the reality boxing show The Contender endeared himself to the viewing audience. Kaddour won a lackluster unanimous eight-round decision over Bahamian Jarome Ellis (12 wins – 10 losses – 2 draws – 10 kos) now residing in Coconut Creek, Florida by scores of 80-72 and 79-73 twice. It was evident that the unorthodox Ellis, a disc jockey by trade, was more enthralled with entertaining the audience than doing everything he could to win. Five seconds into Round 1 and Kaddour hurt the Bahamian with a right hand. Ellis cleared his head by clutching his attacking nemesis and survived further punishment. This was the highlight of the fight because the remaining rounds had Kaddour attempting to engage his unwilling opponent in a shootout.
Style makes fights and this was clearly the wrong opponent to showcase Kaddour’s talent. It takes two to tango and the man from the Caribbean wanted to do just enough to make it look like a fight. He might have fooled the rest of the audience, but I wasn’t buying it. For whatever reason, Ellis was as interested in winning as most Americans are in the sport of curling. Fighting with his chin tucked, doing the shoulder roll made popular by pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather, Ellis made it difficult for Kaddour throughout the bout. Whenever Ellis fought back you got the idea that if he wanted to win, he could turn the tides. After all, he has kayoed 10 opponents in his twelve victories. But Ellis’ attacks were ephemeral, lasting only a few seconds. He was comfortable in clowning his way through eight rounds that were as interesting as watching paint dry. Then again, maybe I was the only one that wasn’t fooled by his shenanigans.
1996 Olympic Bronze medalist welterweight Terrance “The Heat” Cauthen (33 wins – 6 losses – 0 draws – 9 kos) from Trenton, New Jersey won a unanimous eight-round decision by scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75 over Isam Khalil (15 wins – 1 loss – 2 draws – 9 kos) of Sweden. Call me cynical, but this one should have been staged at Penn Relays because Cauthen ran around the ring for the entire bout with Khalil in hot pursuit. What are trainers teaching in Sweden? The art of cutting off the ring and cornering the opponent was absent from Khalil’s repertoire. He allowed Cauthen to use all the real estate running into his fellow southpaw’s right hooks. I am sure many will write about Cauthen’s so-called safety-first style, something that the fighter tried to explain in a recent article in the Trenton Times. Bernard Hopkins is the architect of this style of fighting. But we need not hide behind adjectives and call it what it is—boring. If I want to see someone run, I tune in to the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Or, if I want to see two people tangled up because one is holding the other as in Hopkins’ case, I watch the Playboy channel.
Cauthen danced, catching Khalil, who resembles an action figure from a video game, with occasional jabs and right hooks. Khalil, to his credit, tried to make a fight oftentimes missing the elusive Cauthen who never stood still. Fortunately, this was scheduled for only eight rounds because had it been a ten-rounder I would have filed a civil suit against Cauthen claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress. I cannot bear to watch fighters who are so cautious that I have to wonder why they are in a contact sport.
Cauthen could have learned much from the combatants in the five four-round matches because these 10 boxers realized that they are in the hurt business and all were hell-bent on scoring knockouts. This was evident in the case of light-heavyweight “King” David Brown (0 wins – 1 loss – 0 draws) of East Orange, New Jersey who dropped debuting Alando Swain from Trenton, New Jersey in the first round with a left hook before disposing of him at 1:31 of Round 2 with a crushing right which he turned into an uppercut. Swain appeared to leave his feet before swaying in the wind like a palm tree in a tropical storm leaving referee O’Melia to come to his aid. The likable and soft-spoken Brown, married with two children, works in construction when he is not in the gym honing his skills. Standing at almost six-feet-three, with arms that can reach you across the room, you have to wonder how Brown makes 175 pounds because he looks like a heavyweight. Swain, a bricklayer, originally from North Carolina is six inches shorter, muscular and compact. He looks like he would be comfortable at running back for the Philadelphia Eagles. It was evident from the onset that someone was not going to make it to the final bell. Brown kept his opponent at bay and landed his Nyquil-laced punches leaving you to wonder what would have happened if Swain had made it past those long arms and penetrated his defense.
Kenyans are world-renowned for long distance running as evident by their dominance at every major marathon. Unlike his countrymen, Kikuyu tribesman super-middleweight Joe Njau (0 wins – 3 losses – 0 draws) now residing in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, doesn’t own a pair of track shoes. The word “running” was removed from his dictionary because Joe is more like the Masai warriors of his country who hunt and kill lions and tonight undefeated William Salser (3 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws – 2 kos) of Mansfield, Ohio was the prey. The Kenyan, who owns an auto-transport company, www.myridehelp.com, came out for the opening bell walking down in such a stealth-like manner it appeared as though he was creeping up on the Ohio fighter. Salser, a union carpenter who enjoys riding motorcycle, is trained by Prince Charles Williams, former IBF light-heavyweight champion.
Confident, the undefeated fighter entered the ring to Special by Jamaican recording artist, Mavado native—entrance music made popular by Jackie “The Jamaican Sensation” Davis. Nobody including Salser’s corner, expected what transpired as Njau snuck up on the carpenter with a straight right that landed squarely on his chin crashing him to the canvas early in Round 1. Surprised and somewhat shaken, Salser rose at the count of four, survived a barrage of punches, cleared his head and landed a few good shots at the close of the round. Boxing on the outside Salser was winning the second round when with 10 seconds remaining the Kenyan landed a right hook, turning it immediately into an uppercut that landed at the base of Salser’s chin imploding him to the canvas like someone had set off charges in his boxing shoes. Up at the count of six, Salser survived the round including the remainder of the fight as Njau went on to get his first win, a unanimous decision by scores of 40-34 on all three scorecards.
Decked out in the colors of his country’s flag, Haitian lightweight boxer Osnel Charles (1 wins – 2 losses – 0 draws – 0 kos) of Atlantic City, New Jersey was on a search and destroy mission looking for a knockout as he stormed out for the opening bell against Marcus Smith (0 wins – 1 loss) of Glassboro, New Jersey in a scheduled four-rounder. Charles left his jab at home and walked straight to his taller opponent placing vicious right hands and hooks to Smith’s body. Moving laterally, Smith landed a nice overhand right that bounced off the determined Haitian’s dome like a pebble off an elephant’s back—it did nothing to slow his progress. Charles landed a combination that wobbled Smith, whose right glove touched the canvas, a knockdown that was missed by referee O’Melia. Smith made it to the second round and found himself under heavy fire as Charles never took a backwards step. Despite being on the receiving end of many heavy blows that would have stopped many fighters with less intestinal fortitude, Smith never gave up. When you thought the referee was about to stop the fight, Smith fought back letting everyone know that it’s not “the size of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog that makes the difference.” With about 20 seconds remaining in the bout, Charles sent Smith to the canvas with a devastating left hook and you just knew the fight was over. But like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, Smith got up at the count of nine and made it to the final bell earning everyone’s respect and admiration. Charles won a unanimous decision by scores of 40-35, 39-36 and 38-37, leaving me to wonder what fight one judge watching. Only in America!
Other Results: The opening bout featured debuting featherweights Francisco “The Extraordinary Mr. Magoo” Ortiz of Veja Baja, Puerto Rico and Marco Garcia of Camden New Jersey by way of Guatemala. This was a spirited match as the eighteen-year old southpaw Ortiz, a natural comedian who speak very little English but had me laughing along with his handlers in the dressing room, resembled a gifted matador as he side-stepped the stronger Garcia’s bull rushes while countering with right hooks. There were several exchanges throughout the bout, however, Garcia kept his composure and showed great ring generalship by using every inch of the ring to offset his opponent. Ortiz pressed the action and landed some good shots, but Ortiz, resembling Hector “Macho’ Camacho, fought like the former world champion and earned a majority decision by scores of 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38.
Looking to earn his first win, tough Philly lightweight Ramon Ellis (0 wins – 3 losses – 0 draws) dropped a unanimous four-round decision by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 twice to Jason Sosa (1 win – 0 losses – 0 draws – 0 kos) from Camden, New Jersey. The shorter Sosa hurt Ellis early in the opening stanza with a hard straight right that had the Philadelphian bobbing and weaving to evade further punishment. In Round 2 Ellis hurt Sosa with an uppercut to the solar plexus that probably could have ended the fight had Ellis dug another one to the same spot. This punch probably allowed Ellis to take the next round because Sosa was grounded as Ellis pinned him on the ropes working the body. Sosa stole the final round by boxing from a distance as Ellis missed with some big shots.
This was another great night of boxing by Nedals Promotions at a wonderful venue. At the conclusion of the evening festivities, Jerry Salzano, owner of The Hamilton Manor, took me on a tour of the facility which boasts an Italian restaurant and night club which was in full-swing, packed to capacity as patrons enjoyed the music. Salzano has been able to replicate the feel of Las Vegas right off of Route 156. Boxing is back in Hamilton. Only in America.
CONTACT THE AUTHOR: ghanson3@hotmail.com
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