ESPN2 closed the month of May with a slam-bang affair on all its televised bouts ... the three winners were Kassim Ouma over Angel Hernandez by split decision in the main event ... Gary Balletto by KO3 over Frank Houghtaling and Daniel Edouard by 6-round decision over Romero Johnson.
And the rest of the story:
Ouma returns from rehab after drive by shooting victim and sporting a very visible tummy scar ... also returns with a convincing display of what I would describe as an aggressive, counter-punching clinic over a tough but one-dimensional Angel Hernandez.
My "unofficial" reads 8-4 in rounds for the 24 year old southpaw ... not a big puncher but very accurate with the combos and tosses them in bunches ... as in 1000 plus over 12 stanzas - and Hernandez ... wild looping shots from both sides of the plate while shooting for the cheap seats.
Not to be ... scoring went 115-113 from both Fred Ucci and Arthur Mercante Sr. with Tom Kaczmarek the dissenter scoring for Hernandez 115-113 ... and you gotta feel this guy scored using the time-tested Braille system.
Ouma improves to 17-1-2, 11 KOs... Hernandez drops to 25-4, 16 KOs.
Semi-final had new face jr. welter Gary Balletto overpowering Frank Houghtaling with a non-stop wild-winging approach before scoring the knockout at 2:17 of round four ... and suddenly the Balletto kid is being seen as title timber ... pronto, I might add.
Ok, the resume is pretty ... goes to 28-1-2 with 25 whacks ... but the other guy is now 17-9-5 with four knockouts ... and the Balletto picture fades a teeny bit ... toss in that victim Frankie also works full time at road job with NYS ... neat civil service position while moonlighting at pro boxing ... it showed with futile Frankie flailing while tank is nearing empty at close of round three.
And Balletto? Young, strong and lets them punches fly with bad intentions ... probably not the banger the 25 stops would indicate ... and needs adjustment to style ... much too erect for a walk-in banger. And the chinny-chin-chin will eventually be the key to how far this popular new kid on the block will go.
Finally, a six-rounder that was hot-n-heavy over the full distance ... a pair of middleweights that tossed bombs from start to finish ... Daniel Edouard gets the majority nod over Romero Johnson ... goes to 11-0, 7KOs with Johnson dropping to 6-1 and 4 stops . .. and the scoring ... 60-54 twice for Edouard and 57-57 even turned in by Fred Ucci ... gimme a break ... Edouard outguts and outbombs Johnson who tossed his share of home run shots, but come rounds 4-5-6 the confidence level goes bye-bye while Edo baby keeps ticking like a good Timex.
Action show ... and nice exchange of good byes from the co-workers to the departing Bob Papa.
Semper fi,
GEL
5-31-03
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