Sold out show packs a punch in Melrose
AMONG THOSE who boxed in the February 26 Murphys Boxing Fallen Soldiers event were Brandon Montella from Saugus who beat Ralph Johnson of Worcester in his pro debut. Due to overwhelming success more boxing returns to Memorial Hall on April 10.(Donna Larsson photo)
MELROSE — Murphys Boxing hosted its inaugural “The Memorial Series” boxing event on Thursday, Feb. 26 at The Memorial Hall in Melrose. A sold out crowd was on hand for a stacked night of boxing which featured undefeated Ryan Kielczewski (21-0, 5 KOs) of Quincy in the main event in addition to Mark DeLuca and top ranked super bantamweight Jonathan Guzman.
Murphys Boxing, owned by Dropkick Murphys singer and bassist Ken Casey, launched the new boxing series by opening up with the first boxing card at Memorial Hall. Proceeds benefited The Mass. Fallen Heroes Memorial.
Spike O’Sullivan won Thursday night on the sold out Murphys Boxing Promoted, The Memorial Series fight card with a convincing second round TKO improving to (19-1 12 KOs). Spike pressed the action the whole fight stalking his opponent Larry Smith with vicious body shots. Spike controlled round one, wearing Smith down while continuously landing to the body. In the second round Spike continued his body assault dropping Smith twice before the fight was halted. Before the fight even started the sold out crowd was revved up as Spike made his way to the ring being led by bagpipers and only became increasingly delirious as Spike took the microphone after the fight and stated his desire to set a match against reigning WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin in Boston.
In a scheduled 8 round main event, rising featherweight star Ryan Kielczewski of Quincy improved to 22-0 with an impressive first round knockout over tough journeyman Carlos Fulgencio. Setting up a hurtful body shot with his always impressive speed and combination punching, Ryan K. was able to score his second consecutive knockout much to the delight of his enthusiastic fans. Coincidentally his second fight training with Alex Riveira of Somerville who also has developed hot welterweight prospect Rashidi Ellis.
In an exciting fight Jonathan Guzman improved to 18-0 with all 18 by KO with a fifth round KO over the game Juan Guzman (24-4). Jonathan showed tremendous punching power with crisp combinations and hand speed. The tough Juan continued to battle but the relentless combinations from Jonathan proved to be to much.
Making his pro debut Light Heavyweight Brandon Montella scored a unanimous decision over Ralph Johnson. Fighting in front of a throng of his fans, Brandon dropped Johnson with a body punch in the second, with Johnson just beating the count at 9. Brandon continued to stay on the attack throughout the fight earning the former U.S. Marine the win to go to 1-0 in his career.
In a 6 round welterweight fight, Aleksandra Lopes improved to 12-3-1 over Ashley Nee who was making her pro debut after fighting MMA. Aleksandra was able to use the ring, keeping Ashley at bay with her long jab, in route to winning an unanimous decision. In a scheduled 6 round Welterweight bout, Michael McLaughlin earned a first round win after Raphael Francis was disqualified for a flagrant head butt. McLaughlin of Dorchester improved to 10-1-1.
In the opening bout of the evening Pedro Gonzalez stopped Paulo Souza in the first round of their scheduled 4 round Middleweight bout.
Melrose Hall was sold out and proved to be a worthy venue and great atmosphere for pro boxing in the Boston area. Among the enthusiastic crowd were current boxers Danny O’Connor, Mark Deluca, Rashidi Ellis and former WBA Featherweight Champion Javier Fortuna.
