Ardreal Holmes Jr. retains USBA Super Welterweight belt in all-Michigan match with Marlon Harrington
IBF #7, WBO #8 Light Heavyweight Ali Izmailov blitzes Britton Norwood in four in co-main event
Flint, Michigan’s Ardreal “Bossman” Holmes Jr. (15-0, 6 KOs) successfully defended his USBA Super Welterweight Championship with a dominating second-round stoppage of Detroit’s Marlon Harrington (now 10-2, 9 KOs)
Fighting in the 10-round all-Michigan main event of the inaugural “Big Time Boxing USA” event, presented by Salita Promotions and streaming live on DAZN from Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit, Holmes, a 6’ 2” southpaw and 2016 U.S. Olympic alternate stayed careful of Harrington’s power in the opening frame before opening up with a powerful southpaw left hand in round two.
Coming out looking to mix it up more in the second, Holmes suddenly couldn’t miss with his surprisingly accurate southpaw shots and dropped a badly shaken Harrington three times before referee Ansel Stewart indicated he’d seen enough at 1:25 of round two, leaving the pro-Harrington crowd at a loss.
The impressive victory was Holmes’ first defense of the USBA title he won in June of last year.
Despite just five career knockouts going in, Holmes says the impressive result was exactly to plan.
“Not to sound cocky, but I expected to win like that,” said Holmes, post-fight. “We have been working on sitting down on punches. I’m not going to lie and say I expected it that soon though. This fight put me back into the championship mode I need to stay in.”
Ali Izmaylov vs Britton Norwood
In the night’s co-main event, unbeaten USBA Light Heavyweight Champion Ali Izmaylov (now 12-0, 8 KOs) scored a fourth-round stoppage of challenger Britton Norwood (now 13-5-1, 10 KOs).
Originally from Russia, Izmaylov now resides in Detroit and trains in Miami with former two-weight world champion John David Jackson. Norwood, originally from Jackson, Mississippi and now fighting out of Las Vegas is trained by two-weight world champion Joel Casamayor.
Izmaylov dropped Norwood in round two with a body shot and bloodied his face in round three after moving his attack upstairs. Norwood was down again in round four from a body shot and then hurt badly by a left hook.
Izmaylov finished the job shortly after with his follow-up barrage that prompted Casamayor to ask the referee to wave it off at 1:28.
Joseph Hicks Jr. vs Ricardo Ruben Villalba
2020 US Olympic Team Captain and now undefeated super welterweight Joseph Hicks Jr. (now 10-0, 7 KOs) of Grand Rapids, Michigan, survived a couple close rounds before knocking out Ricardo Ruben Villalba (now 20-11-1, 8 KOs) of Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Villalba came out fighting well in the first round, landing some sneaky right hands and kept it up in round two. Hicks got things on track in round three, dropping Villalba with a hard body shot. Hicks repeated the feat early in round four, and this time this the Argentinean chose not to rise before referee Steve Daher reached the count of 10.
The time was :42. The bout had been scheduled for six.
Da’Velle Smith vs Rolando Wenceslao Mansilla
To open the broadcast, Inkster, Michigan’s 23-year-old middleweight Da’Velle Smith (now 8-0, 6 KOs) was forced to go the full six-round distance against rugged veteran Rolando Wenceslao Mansilla (now 19-14-1, 9 KOs) of Parana, Entre Rios, Argentina.
A professional survivor, albeit a durable one, Mansilla was hurt briefly by a right hand to the head in round three and again in round five to the body by the power of Smith. Mansilla also spit out his mouthpiece three times during the action, but the tough South American was, able to bloody the nose of Smith before the finish.
Smith’s fast hands and comparative youth were more than enough to win the fight. The scores were 59-55, 60-54 x 2.
Cameran Pankey vs Juan Hernandez Martinez
The featherweight “swing bout” turned out to be the fight of the night, as crowd favorite Cameran Pankey (now 9-1, 4 KOs) of Pontiac, Michigan, suffered his first career defeat to unheralded Juan Hernandez Martinez (now 3-3-2) of Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico, via unanimous six-round decision.
The Mexican Martinez, a last-minute substitute opponent, came out in hot pursuit, and caught Pankey with several strong punches to the head and body from the left and right sides.
Seemingly unable to escape the corners, Pankey was down hard from a body shot and follow up left hook from the relentless Martinez in the third, but somehow survived to the bell.
Shockingly, Pankey managed to stage a rally in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds by rediscovering his movement, but to the credit of the Michigan judges, it was not enough, as all three scored it 57-56 Martinez, with the knockdown making the difference.