The Mouthpiece – Ain’t Nobody – Torres, Patricio, Williams, Johnson, Marrero, Bean, Norman, Lewandowski, & Richard Pryor

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Ain’t Nobody – Torres, Patricio, Williams, Johnson, Marrero, Bean,
Norman, Lewandowski, & Richard Pryor

By: George H. Hanson Jr., Esq.

Date: September 14, 2024
Venue: 2300 Arena – Philadelphia, PA
Promoter: Alex Barbosa’s R&B Promotions – “Philly Fight Night VI”
Ring Announcer: Alex Barbosa
Referee: Shawn Clark
Coverage: www.combatsportsnow.com
Photos: Larry Dixon
Editors: Dr. Yulanda Essoka & Kahlil Small
Gloves: “Put Up Your Dukes” brand – www.kdukesboxing.com

As we say in colloquial terms “ain’t nobody does it better” than Alex Barbosa and his team at R&B Promotions. Faced with the daunting task of replacing the main event featuring rapidly rising undefeated junior-middleweight Oluwafemi “The Nigerian Nightmare” Oyeleye (16 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws – 10 kos) – Barbosa and his team decided to elevate debuting junior-welterweights Omayki “El Domi” Torres of the Dominican Republic fighting out of Trenton, New Jersey and Anibal “AJ” Mercado of Newton, Pennsylvania to the forefront. Yes, the main event was a four-rounder – the Dominican Republic (Torres) versus Puerto Rico (Mercado).

It was an ingenious idea because the venue was almost near capacity, filled with fans supporting both countries. Thus, it was equally gratifying when undefeated lightweight Juan Marrero made his entrance to the 1983 hit “Ain’t Nobody” by Rufus & Chaka Khan. That song summarized another spectacular night of the sweet science in the greatest boxing town on the planet – Philadelphia.

Mercado emerged from the dressing room and his fans stood in unison as he made his way into the ring. Next, Torres appeared on the runway, a hooded sweatshirt covering his head, sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, the Dominican Republic flag across his shoulders as he walked briskly to the ring, his supporters shouting raucously. Excitement was in the air and loads of social dynamite were present for an extremely explosive encounter. When Torres removed his hoody and shades – I was almost speechless because he is the doppelganger for my cousin Otis Simpson! The late, great Richard Pryor seated next to me from the world beyond – the twilight zone – quipped – “That motherfucker looks like Otis!” Telepathically I responded – “Shut up Rich, you didn’t pay to get in here – don’t start any trouble!” I guess the old adage that “everyone has a twin” is true. Referee Clark, who was flying solo tonight – refereeing the entire card – gave the instructions and the fighters and handlers retreated to their respective corners. The gong sounded and the main event commenced with Mercado taking the lead – coming forward.

Mercado attacked early – walking down his opponent – working behind the jab as Torres retreated looking to counter. Whenever, there was an exchange – it was evident that the catlike reflexes of El Domi gave him a distinctive advantage. He was able to counter and unload like a Gatlin gun finishing with a left hook and gained separation motoring around the ring like a lion stalking its prey on the plains of the Serengeti. There were no knockdowns and neither fighter was in dire straights throughout the action-packed four rounds. It was a wonderful demonstration of the sweet science by both combatants with Mercado’s supporters being a tad louder than the Dominican contingent.

However, nothing dissuaded El Domi from executing his plan as a gloved-matador. He garnered rounds 1-3 on my scorecard. I scored the fourth and final round for Mercado, who was relentless, throwing more punches boosted by his supporters who stood cheering raucaously for him throughtout the round . One judge scored it even 38-38 but was overruled by the other two who reflected my scorecard of 39-37 for Torres who won by majority decision in an extremely entertaining and exciting debut. Once again Richard Pryor interjected – “I told you El Domi was a bad motherfucker! That boy can fight!” Thank you, Rich – I’m going to stop bringing you to the fights!

2023 National Golden Gloves 125lbs. Champion, Shera Mae “Da Beast” Patricio of Waianae, Hawaii stole the show in the third fight of the night. In the scheduled four-rounder between debuting bantamweights (118 lbs.) – Shera Mae Patricio lived up to her moniker against Ayeshia Green of Princeton, New Jersey. The lady I affectionately call “The Hawaiian Punch” strolled out at the opening bell and deposited her opponent on the canvas with a combination. However, Green didn’t just show up for a payday – boxing from the southpaw stance she fought valiantly and made it out of the round.

Patricio pressed the action in the second stanza, evoking fond memories of the late, great Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor looking like a bald eagle swooping down on its prey – hell-bent on separating Green from her senses! The lady from Princeton showed her mettle and was able to survive the second round despite the heavy artillery dropped on her.

This is where you must understand the nuisances and intricacies of the sweet science, there is a method to the madness and that Patricio is a strategic thinker – not a whirlwind of punches from all angles. She laid the ultimate trap and bagged her prey. Reminiscent of the great five-division World Champion – Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns against the legendary Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran – Patricio baited Green with a jab to the body immediately following up with a devastating and crushing overhand right that sent her to the canvas – lights out – fight over! Referee Shawn Clark didn’t waste time counting because Green wasn’t getting up. Patricio was declared the winner by knockout 1:22 of Round 3. Thank God Green was able to make it upright and back to the dressing room without any assistance. Patricio will be a World Champion before her sixth fight. She is on the road to greatness, and I am ecstatic that Philadelphia was her first stop.

In the opening fight of the night – a scheduled six-round middleweight bout – Philadelphia’s Dewayne “The Beast” Williams (4 wins – 8 losses – 1 draw – 4 kos) won a majority decision 58-54, 57-55 and 56-56 over Quaseem “Hurricane” Carter (5 wins – 1 loss – 0 draws – 4 kos) of Newark, New Jersey. It was a virtual chess match from the opening bell with Carter being busier with the jab garnering the first round on my scorecard by a slight edge. However, Williams found his rhythm and started connecting with the jab followed by a straight right. It was an evenly matched fight as they both tried to gain an upper-hand using feints as their corners yelled throughout the match. James Shedrick Sr., Williams’ trainer, was boisterous throughout the bout yelling the right instructions – admonishing his charge to stay busy – cognizant that with eight losses there is a high probability that his fighter has been relegated to the status of “opponent” or cannon fodder for upcoming prospects. But there is an adage in boxing – “records don’t beat you – fighters do!” Thus, despite the eight blemishes on his record – even Stevie Wonder could see that Williams is a talented fighter with plenty in his tank to drive far into the middleweight division. “That boy can fight!” quipped the ghost of Richard Pryor sitting next to me! Carter, like his nemesis, is a highly skilled boxer with a high boxing IQ. However, he simply could not keep his mouthpiece in place and was penalized a point in rounds four and six for it landing on the canvas – Referee Clark concluding that he purposely spat out his gumshield. Based on the scores – absent of the penalties – the fight would have been scored 58-56 Williams, 58-56 Carter and 57-57 – a split-draw. I had Williams winning four rounds to two or 58-54 in a closely contested match. Hopefully, we will get the opportunity to witness a rematch.

Legendary Philadelphia trainer – Fred Jenkins Sr. was in the corner of his pugilistic prodigy – rapidly rising nineteen-year-old junior-middleweight Richard Johnson (2 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws – 1 ko). I don’t know what is in the water at 26th and Master Street – home of ABC Recreation Center in North Philadelphia. But, since a twenty-seven-year-old Jenkins produced his first World Champion – twenty-five-year-old IBF Lightweight Champion Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown on January 30, 1984 – the recreation center has been churning out arguably the best boxers in the greatest boxing city on the planet – Philadelphia. Like the mythical Dr. Frankenstein, Jenkins goes into his lab and emerges with human fighting machines – boxers steeped in the art of the sweet science and the talent to make it all the way to the top. Johnson is merely his latest prodigy – a tall boxer with lean muscles, a quick thinker, amazing reflexes and the power to separate opponents from their senses with one punch.

In the second bout on the card, Johnson faced fellow Philadelphian Jamar Leach (1 win – 1 loss – 0 draws – 0 kos). I was in press-row on April 14, 2013, for Leach’s debut against Allen Otto who was also making his entrance into the professional ranks. With almost no time left on the clock – Otto connected with a powerful, well-timed right hand that crashed off the side of Leach’s cranium somehow causing him to land face-first on the canvas as though he was planking – working on his core. Given that performance, I wasn’t optimistic that the thirty-four-year-old would make it to the final bell of the scheduled four-rounder against the power-punching, prodigious teenager. Once again, Rich chimed in – “Johnson gonna kill that motherfucker!” I simply nodded, thinking – “I have to stop inviting famous dead people to the fights!”

Johnson stalked Leach at the opening bell, working behind his jab switching to the southpaw stance ten seconds into the bout – raking his opponent with some vicious body shots. Leach kept his distance and motored around the ring – unable to avoid the body shots but adept and defensively savvy enough to evade the left hooks and straight rights targeting his head. The second stanza was almost identical to the opening round with Johnson going to the body, laying land mines that would lead to Leach’s demise. Twenty seconds in the third round, Johnson connected with a blow south of the border – hitting Leach square in the gonads – forcing referee Clark to call a halt to give Leach time to recover. Leach stood in his corner shaking his hips during the almost two-minute respite.

He signaled that he had recovered, and the action resumed. Johnson pressed the action and despite the warning earlier for the low blow – stayed committed to the gameplan of “working the body and the head will fall.” With almost a minute remaining in the round, Johnson hurt Leach with a body shot and swooped down on him like a B-52H Stratofortress – dropping the heavy artillery – hitting the target – forcing Pennsylvania Athletic Commission Official Joe Divon to signal to the referee to end the fight. Referee Clark was a millisecond from stopping the fiasco when Divon waived it off. Johnson was declared the winner by technical knockout 2:09 of the third round. I didn’t look in Pryor’s direction, I could hear him saying, “I told you that motherfucker was going to get kilt!” No that’s not a typo – I am merely writing how he said it.

I am a huge fan of spectacular entrances. Nothing will ever top WBO World Featherweight Champion “Prince” Naseem Hamed’s entrance on a flying carpet from the dressing room to the ring to face Vuyani Bungu March 11, 2000, at Olympia, London. However, tonight the award for “Entrance of the Night” belonged to undefeated, hard-punching Philadelphia lightweight Juan “The One” Marrero (5 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws – 5 kos). Juan went old school with “Ain’t Nobody” – the 1983 hit single that was #1 on the Rhythm & Blues charts by Rufus & Chaka Khan. The song blasted over the house speakers as he made his way to the ring for the seventh bout, eyes covered with dark sunglasses – his handlers in tow – fans and family on their feet cheering – some singing and dancing as his opponent Ezra “The Black Cowboy” Rabin (1 win – 6 losses- 0 draws – 1 ko) from Oakland, California waited patiently. The music that framed Marrero’s entrance was refreshing because my ears are assaulted every time a boxer makes his way to the ring blasting rappers bellowing self-hate, misogyny, low self-esteem and violence packaged as music! Thank you, Juan!

With Hall of Fame Cutman – Joey Eye – in his corner performing triple duty as coach, second and cutman – Rabin followed instructions and was able to make it to the final bell of the scheduled four-rounder upright. It was a spirited contest with Marrero attacking at the opening bell digging into his opponent’s body with hard shots and combinations. However, “The Black Cowboy” did not come to Philadelphia to be memorialized in a picture for “Knockout of the Night.” He fought an intelligent fight, was defensively sound and didn’t engage in a shoot-out with Marrero. There weren’t any knockdowns and neither fighter was in dire straits – on the verge of being knocked out. For pedagogical purposes this was the ideal fight for Marrero who has become accustomed to seeing his opponents either comatose on the canvas or rescued by the referee. This was the first time he heard the bell ending one of his fights. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Marrero who earned a unanimous decision victory. The Black Cowboy makes it back to Oakland leaving us nothing for a viral meme. All Rich had to say was, “You know that the Lone Ranger was Black?” Yes, Bass Reeves – the first Black US Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi was the real-life inspiration for the Lone Ranger.

The fourth bout featured the big guys – heavyweights – Daniel Bean (3 wins – 2 losses – 0 draws – 2 kos) of Old Bridge, New Jersey against undefeated Jesse Hayward (2 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws – 0 kos) of Philadelphia. Somehow, I thought that Bean would be in a rematch with Dante “Mr. Snuggly Time” Selby after winning a four-round majority decision in their June 22nd chess match. However, tonight Bean was across the ring from Hayward. And, when the bell rang – he worked behind his jab being busier – doing enough to win the opening round.

There were no knockdowns and neither fighter was in jeopardy of losing by knockout. Bean was simply busier as Hayward appeared to be waiting to land a game-changing punch. Midway, in the third round I heard “Jesse, hit that motherfucker!” I thought that directive came from my invisible friend, comedic legend the late, the great Richard Pryor, seated next to me. However, I noted that the comment came from directly behind me. At the end of the round, I stood up and introduced myself to the gentleman seated behind our VIP enclosure. He told me that his name is Todd Parker and that he is the Director of Operations at Tacony Academy Charter High School in Philadelphia – Hayward’s alma mater. I handed him my notebook where I chronicle all the night’s action, and he wrote his name and email address. I told him that he would be included in my fight coverage.

Hayward responded in the next round with his best punch of the night – a straight right. However, Bean was in a zone and was unaffected. It was an intriguing match that could have turned into a slugfest. However, both combatants appeared to be strategic and didn’t engage in a traditional heavyweight brawl. All three scorecards had it 39-37 for Bean who won by unanimous decision. I would love to see a six-round rematch.

In an action-packed somewhat wild barroom brawl twenty-six-year-old lightweight Noah “The Cannon” Norman (2 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws – 2 kos) of Coatesville, Pennsylvania waged a four-round war with winless Benji Gomez (0 wins – 2 losses – 0 draws) of Oxnard, California. Norman attacked at the opening bell putting the southpaw Gomez down twice in the opening stanza with uppercuts. Somehow, Gomez pulled himself off the canvas and was able to continue and make it back to his corner. Norman was hell-bent on leaving Gomez horizontal on the canvas counting sheep. It was evident that “defense” to these two combatants meant “a barrier, railing or other upright structure enclosing an area or ground to mark a boundary, control access, or prevent escape” because neither fighter attempted to block a punch nor slip and roll. This was strictly a war of attrition and after the opening round – I was surprised that the judges had to decide the outcome.

Round after round they waged war – both combatants launching bombs as though they were inebriated in a pub in Dublin, Ireland and wanted to settle a dispute. Norman refused to take a step backwards and Gomez stood his ground. Norman suffered a cut on his left eye that had little or no impact on his gameplan. One judge scored all four rounds for Norman – 40-34 while the other two scored it two rounds apiece – however the two knockdowns in first round was the difference – a 10-7 round for Norman. Thus, the other two judges had it 38-36 for Norman who won by unanimous decision. Absent of the two knockdowns – two judges would have scored the fight even 38-38 and the final decision would have been a majority draw.

Looking like a supermodel and standing 5 ft 7 inches – debuting twenty-five-year-old flyweight Lia “Rogue” Lewandowski of Berlin, New Jersey towered over her opponent – 5 ft 0 inches – forty-five-year-old Amarilis “Manito” Adorno (1 win – 13 losses – 0 draws – 0 kos) from Veja Baja, Puerto Rico in the sixth bout – a scheduled four rounder. It should be noted that Adorno has only suffered one knockout loss in her career – back in 2018. Adorno came forward at the opening bell with the taller Lewandowski landing the better, more accurate shots. However, despite the bombardment, the more experienced boxer demonstrated her defensive wizardry by slipping and rolling to avoid being hit flush with power punches.

The size disparity was so egregious that Rich quipped, “Goddamn, Manito is so short that you can see her feet on her driver’s license!” I had to remind the genius behind “Live on Sunset Strip” that he departed this earthly life on December 10, 2005, and that I am the only one in the building who could see and hear him. Thus, his commentary was falling on deaf ears in the building. However, I must admit that his description of the diminutive pugilist was accurate.

In the fourth round with barely thirty-seconds remaining, Adorno had the audience cheering when she found her inner “Pernell Whitaker” and demonstrated her defensive abilities by slipping a combination that was unleashed to close the show. Lewandowski threw with bad intentions hoping to end the festivities in fantastic fashion. The gong sounded bringing closure to another entertaining fight. No surprise, all three judges had it 40-36 for Lewandowski who won by unanimous decision in her debut and the start of an extremely bright future.

It was another exceptional night of boxing by R&B Promotions. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the amateur portion of the show featuring 14 bouts beginning at 4 PM. Nevertheless, I arrived in the building two minutes before Dewayne Williams was preparing to make his ring walk with his trainer James Shedrick Sr. Photographer Larry Dixon got a photograph with all three of us. Lastly, I am not sure if I will be taking Richard Pryor to the next fight on my agenda. Maybe, I will invite Redd Foxx if he can get his passport approved to travel from the after-life.

Continue to support the sweet science. And remember, always carry your mouthpiece!

ghanson18@icloud.com