Under overcast skies and on a relatively cool night by South Florida standards, the opening bout of the evening pitted veteran Bernard Harris, (22-17-2, 10 KOs) versus young Panamanian Whyber (pronounced Weaver) Garcia in his United States debut. Garcia, who holds the WBA Fedecentro Featherweight and WBC Latin American Super Featherweight titles, was hoping to add a NABA Fedecentro trinket to his ever growing collection.

The interesting part of this bout was the fact that Harris had only been knocked out once in his career, by Carlos "El Famoso" Hernandez, back in 1997 and at a heavier weight class. The question then was, could this youngster with limited experience pass the stern test Harris would undoubtedly present? We would soon find out...

Whyber Garcia put on a show; the aggressor throughout, with a decent arsenal of punches and mucho heart. Hooks to the body -with either hand- did much damage, as well as the Mayorga-like overhand right, which found a home on Harris' head. It was such a punch that sacked Harris in the eighth round, folding him like a deck of cards, albeit not for the 10 count.

Garcia came on strong in the 9th, hurting his opponent to the body with serious left hooks that forced the game Harris to glue his right arm to his pocket for most of the round. A thunderous right to Harris' head dropped him again, for the count this time, 27 seconds into the 10th round.

Whyber Garcia, age 22, gathered his third belt in as many tries, and there to witness the victory were his Panamanian team, trainer Francisco Arroyo and manager Rogelio Espiño. It was a great way to start the evening.

The ladies followed, in a 10 rounds WIBA bantamweight championship bout. Ada "Ace" Velez, 14-1-1, 6 KOs versus Lisa "Bad News" Brown 8-0-1, 3 KOs, and this one promised to be a scorcher.

Lisa Brown set the tone by eking out the first round of the match; the more agile of the two, she out boxed Velez in the opening stanza. The pendulum swung back and forth throughout their meet, with Brown coming back strong in the late rounds.

In the end, the officials scored it 96-94 Brown, 95-95 twice. Velez was very disappointed with the judges' scoring, as was Brown. Our very unofficial score card also reflected a 95 all tally; and a rematch is certainly in order here.

Salsa music and a burst of stage smoke alerted the fans to look toward the entrance gate. The tall silhouette waving a Panamanian flag told the story, as Tito "El Misil" Mendoza made his way through the crowd. His opponent, Ronnie Johnson, was a mismatch on paper and in the ring. Sufficeth to say that Johnson visited the canvas once courtesy of a left hook, a second time courtesy of "El Misil" and a vicious left hook caused a prolonged visit, and the end of the match, and I use the term match very loosely, 2:01 into the first round.

Mendoza and Garcia were seen signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans into the wee hours of the night. "El Misil" Mendoza improves his record to 30-4, 23 KOs.

It was time for the big boys to take center stage, a battle between veteran and former IBF Cruiserweight champion Al "Ice" Cole, 6'4", 234 lbs. and Lance Whitaker, 6'8", 252 lbs. for the NABA title.

Before we get into the actual fight, may I share this with you... Whitaker wore one of the goofiest looking hats I've ever seen in my life at the weigh in, along with a braided goatee, unlike any I've ever seen. When I came over to say hello and casually mentioned how glad I was he had done away with the "Goofi" moniker, he went on to tell me how aliens had kidnapped him and given him the nickname. "He was glad that was over," he added. Pheww! Oh, and one last thing, in fitting Halloween mode, Mr. Whitaker entered the ring to the tune of "The Monster Mash"... Enuf said...

Al Cole was always a favorite of mine, and watching him on this night, brought back a lot of memories. After watching the first two rounds of the fight, I kept thinking there may have been some Ice left. Whitaker was slow and Cole pelted him with the jab often, but whenever Lance felt bothered by the pesky style and jab, he would bounce big shots off Cole's head, imposing his will and size easily.

And so it went, with Cole pressing the action, writing checks he was obviously not able to cash. Whitaker picked up the pace and by the 8th round it was target practice for the big man. Cole's legs began to respond to the pain caused by Whitaker's body attack, his mouth was busted and his nose began to bleed. Lance's left eye was not pretty, and his mouth was bleeding slightly.

Cole was beginning to look like a man who needed a corner with a conscience. In the 9th round, ringside physician Dr. Fields approached Ice's corner and advised them that he was only going to give Cole another round. Tremendous body shots ended the 9th, Cole was gasping for air, and retreated to his corner in obvious pain.

Tenth round and Cole comes out jabbing, seemingly refreshed until Whitaker set up batting practice, similar to tee ball, off Cole's head and body. Alfred Cole never stopped coming forward, and continued to get pounced on by Whitaker. Bleeding from his nose and mouth, gasping for air, and looking totally out of it, operating on heart and instinct, Mr. Cole stayed in the fight.

There were those of us in press row who felt the fight should have been stopped here and now. Cole sustained tremendous punishment, with little defense, mostly to his head. It was obvious he couldn't win the fight without Divine intervention and it wasn't happening. I wanted to be angry at referee Connors for letting it continue; however, in all fairness, Cole would throw meaningless punches in between the bombardment coming his way, so an argument could be made that the ref shouldn't have stopped it. I suppose one could say the doctors should have and could have stopped it, but there is no question in my mind that Al "Ice" Cole's corner definitely should have protected their man and called it a night, to save him from his courageous heart.

I was disgusted as I watched Eddie Mustafa Muhammad completely unmoved by the extreme beating his fighter was taking. This from a man who wants to set up health insurance and other benefits for boxers? Yeah, right. Dr. Margaret Goodman's words echoed in my head as I sat there watching the slaughter, "People (in boxing) have to have a conscience" she once told me during an interview... Yes, Dr. Goodman, I couldn't agree more...

In the end, Whitaker couldn't put Al Cole away, but the judges did, scoring it a unanimous -surprise, surprise- decision for Lance Whitaker, who now owns the NABA heavyweight title, improving his record to 27-2-1, 22 KOs, while Cole drops to 34-12-3, 16 KOs. May I add that Whitaker hasn't lost a fight since December of 2001 when he dropped a unanimous decision to Jameel McCline, in his first defense of the WBC Continental Americas title. Maybe it has something to do with the alien abduction? Nah, never mind...

Up next was one of the most massive fighters I've ever seen, in Corey "T-Rex" Sanders, 6' 4", 310 pounds, 23-7, 15 KOs, coming off a TKO5 loss to DaVarryl "Touch of Sleep" Williamson in June 2002. Sanders was 65 pounds heavier this time around, and looked like a man who hasn't hit the gym in quite some time. His opponent, slick Cuban southpaw Elieser Castillo, 6' 1", 224 lbs., 24-3-2, 13 KOs, and they came to vie for the NABF heavyweight belt.

The "T-Rex" nickname is a good one; Sanders' looks provided the "fright" in Warrior's Boxing Promotions "Fright Night" card. Sanders tried to put fear in Castillo's heart too, with excessive holding, pushing, leaning, coming in with his head, etc. You name it, he did it, and did I forget to mention his very heavy blows? But this was vintage Elieser and he was not going to be denied.

They went at it for twelve grueling rounds with Castillo pouring it on real big from the 8th round on. It looked like the dinosaur was going to fall several times, but his legs refused to fold. The judges scored it 116-112, 117-111 and 118-110 for the Cuban fighter, who is now the official NABF champion. (Castillo held the Interim title after stopping Lawrence Clay-Bey in 9 rounds back in June 2003).

In the house were many celebrities, but the warmest reception went to Marlins pitcher Brad Penny, who signed every autograph that was asked of him, and obliged picture takers in the same fashion. Whyber Garcia -a huge baseball fan- and Penny were seen taking a shot together, holding Garcia's shiny belt. It was very refreshing to watch Mr. Penny react in such amicable manner to the many, many fan requests that came his way. Also present Hector "Macho" Camacho, Joel "El Cepillo" Casamayor, Howard "One Punch At A Time" Davis, Richard "The Destroyer" Hall, Shannon Briggs, Glenn Johnson, Devo Frias and Ricky Quiles, who told us he just inked a promotional agreement with Warrior's Boxing.

In closing, my thoughts are with Al "Ice" Cole, who perhaps should consider retirement. Our thanks to Peter Kahn, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Warrior's Boxing and his staff. Congratulations are in order to all the winners, in particular to Whyber Garcia, the 22 year old kid from Panama, who cried in the center of the ring while embracing the trainer who started him in the business and the manager who has guided him and helped him make this night possible.