First up was a ten-round prelim middleweight pairing with undefeated Detroit local Rubin Williams, sportin’ an unblemished resume of eleven starches among his 19 wins, facing Colombia visitor Epifanio Mendoza at 16-2-1 - all wins via the knockout route.

At first glance, this Mendoza guy looked familiar ... just couldn't place him ... it was the demeanor ... a look of complete confidence - not so, the undefeated Williams in the other corner.

And then the bell ... and it quickly came to me ... was an early KO win over a then very promising Tokumbo Olajide - until the showcase that went awry, Olajide was on the proverbial doorstep to better things.

And so it was no surprise that the Colombian clouter from Barranquilla town would be bringing the mail to the hometown favorite ... and in a wham-bam thank you ma'am opening bell onslaught, it was finis at the 42-seconds mark of round one.

Mendoza comes to fight ... physically strong and can punch with the right hand ... end of story ... good bye ... no title timber but a fun watch.

And Rubin Williams? Unfortunately, the prior clean slate was a bit of a fib ... once the cupboard was bare of pugilistic pablum, he became the meal ... no fire in the belly last nite ... and quickly became a willing target ala them back to the ropes, ice-hockey fite "turtle" surrender jobs.

Main event saw Rydell Booker remaining unbeaten via unanimous decision over an ancient King Arthur Williams ... Booker is now 20 wins with eleven stoppages ... and you gotta wonder if the KO victims have since been returned to the respective resting places.

Even doing biz at the cruiser division I see no bauble for this new face Booker ... while the win was convincing the shortage of punching power is evident ... and though the kid can box some, it isn't near enough to keep a serious banger at bay.

As for the king ... he's dead ... long live the king!

Semper fi,

GEL

06-14-03

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