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Alicia "Slick" Ashley, 125, of Westbury, Long Island, won the vacant IWBF
featherweight title with a ten-round split decision over Gilroy, CA's colorful
Kelsey "Road Warrior" Jeffries, 125, last night (Feb 23 2002) at Bally's Atlantic City.
Southpaw Ashley, now 7-3-1, counterpunched effectively, using her jab, and
increasingly timing Jeffries rushes with straight left hands to the head.
Jeffries, now 11-7-1 with 1 KO, floored Ashley for a brief count in the second
round, when she caught Ashley with a straight left as she was coming in.
The knockdown served as a reminder for Ashley to fight her fight, which was
to use movement and timing to thwart Jeffries' aggressiveness, rather than
going to Jeffries. Jeffries, for her part, showed no ill effects from her
decision loss to Corrine VanRyckDeGroot three weeks ago in Florida, proving she
is indeed a "Road Warrior". The bout opened with feeling-out first round, with
Jeffries advancing and Ashley establishing her right jab. In the second,
Jeffries jabbed effectively, and introduced her left hook. Jeffries scored
the flash knockdown of Ashley, who rose quickly, and then landed several good
straight lefts to the head.
The third and fourth rounds saw the script established for the rest of the fight,
as Jeffries pressed, while Ashley slid away and counterpunched. Ashley's
dominant punch, the straight-left counter, was clearly evident by the end of
the fourth round. The fifth saw some good exchanges, with Jeffries landing a good
right and left hook, and Ashley scoring with combinations. In the sixth, Ashley
became elusive, as Jeffries continued to press and land to the body. Ashley
was doing an excellent job of slipping nearly all of the head shots. In the
seventh, Ashley landed a soft right that caught Jeffries off-balance, and Kelsey
bounced off the ropes and played to the crowd. "That didn't hurt me at all".
She said of the exchange afterwards. Ashley then landed some good right
hooks and her effective straight left counters.
In the eighth, Ashley brought a right to the body into play, to go along with a
steady diet of lefts. The more Jeffries worked her way in, the more chances
Ashley had to score with them. The ninth and tenth were more of the same:
Jeffries attacking, and Ashley slipping, moving, and countering. Judge Eugene
Grant scored 97-93 and Melvina Lathan scored 96-93, both for Ashley. Judge
Emil Conforti liked Jeffries by the score of 96-94. I thought Ashley
dominated the fight from the fifth round on, earning a comfortable win over the
hard working Californian.
After the bout, IWBF President Frankie "G" Globushutz presented Alicia with
the IWBF title belt.
Other bouts:
1988 Olympic Gold Medalist, and former WBO Heavyweight champ, "Merciless" Ray
Mercer, 224, of Fayetteville, NC, marked time while waiting for a
well-deserved big money bout, scoring a 1st round (:38) wipeout of Kewanee,
IL's Troy "Country Boy" Weida (41-11-2, 29 KO's), who landed nary a punch.
"I don't know. He was throwing a lot of punches over there in the warmups",
said Mercer when he was asked why he thought Weida couldn't get and punches
off.
Eliezer "Latino Sensation" Valentin, 143, Wilmington, DE, survived a few
shaky moments, before turning up the heat to outbox Chambersburg, PA's
Michael "The Doctor" Doaks, 147, by the scores of 60-54, 59-56, and 60-55, in
a 6 round welterweight bout. Doaks (3-4-1) had success early, rocking
Valentin (7-1-1, 5 KO's) in the 2nd, but saw his moment pass after Valentin
survived. Valentin got stronger as the bout progressed, and he was able to
outscore Doaks in many exciting exchanges.
Julio Aquino, 138, of Passaic, NJ, and Lancaster, PA's Bobby "Boogie Man"
High engaged in an abbreviated slugfest, as Aquino knocked High out cold at
1:28 of the 3rd round of a 6 round junior welterweight match. Lefty High
(5-3-1) unloaded his best punch, a powerful straight left, on the button of
Aquino in the opening round. Aquino (6-2, 6 KO's) absorbed the blow, then
came on to stun High with a left, and then unload a barrage of clean blows to
the head of High, which dropped him for the count, and then some.
As exciting as Aquino's knockout of High was, the KO of the night goes to
South Philadelphia's Curtis "Razor" Wilkens, 147. Wilkens (4-8-1, 1 KO)
destroyed previously unbeaten Edwin Collado, 149, of Orlando, FL, with a
highlight-film of a right hand at 1:02 of the 3rd round in a 4 round junior
middleweight match. Collado (4-1, 3 KO's) is heavy-handed, but needs to make
defense an immediate priority in his training.
Sitting ringside were John "The Beast" Brown, Larry "Laser" Marks, Gerald
"Jedi" Nobles, and 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist and former world champion,
Kennedy McKinney, who announced that he is making a comeback on March 23rd in
Deptford, NJ (say it ain't so).
Newly minted IWBF junior middleweight champ Vienna Williams was also
introduced.
Also present was the elegant Kathy "Wildcat" Collins, the IWBF #2 and WIBA #4
ranked junior welterweight, who is clamoring for a rematch with Christy
Martin, or a bout with come-backing Lucia Rijker.
Thanks to Rick for sending me this report ... Dee
Other links
To check out more fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated: Monday, May 17, 2004
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