By Larry Tornambe, at Ringside

An eight-card at the New Alhambra in South Philadelphia highlighted a busy Philadelphia night on June 16th. With a Phillies game and a concert also going on in South Philadelphia, the fans who filled the New Alhambra were treated to a knockout night of boxing. These kinds of bouts are what put Russell Peltz in Boxing’s Hall of Fame, Joe Hand Promotions partnered with Peltz Boxing for the card that will be replayed on CN8 on the Comcast network from Maine to Maryland. Check your local listings because you’ll want to tape these fights, especially Rogers Mtagwa vs. Art Simonyan in the 12-round main event for the USBA Featherweight belt.

Simonyan moved up from 122 lbs not long after losing his USBA super Bantamweight belt. Mtagwa, from Tanzania, has been training and fighting in Philadelphia and has fit the mold of a “Philly fighter”. Guys like Benny Briscoe and Matthew Saad Muhammad would be proud to watch Mtagwa, the USBA champ, who usually needs to be rocked before he roars. Mtagwa (125 lbs) started early and stunned Simonyan in the opening heat. Rogers went for the ending but ran out of time in the first round. Art came from Los Angeles and wasn’t about to be sent out early; his return in the 2nd round was founded and a solid body attack and a smart mix of combinations. Rogers threw harder punches in the 3rd round, but Simonyan (15-3-2) tossed and land more punches, including a round stealing combination just before the bell.

Simonyan was having success in the 4th, but both fighters were exchanging blows. With the crowd stirring loudly, Mtgawa answered a stunning combination with a clean, hard left hook and Simonyan went down. The count reached 10 and Simonyan was KO’d and an exhilarating defense was successful for Mtgawa (20-10-2; 15KO’s). Both of these battlers proved the little guys can punch hard while showing various boxing skills. The 10-count was reached at 1:56 of the 4th round.

Speaking of punching hard.; Whoowee (yes a new official boxing term) is all we could gather in our throats as John Poore and Cerrone Fox came out fighting at the bell. Both heavyweights feature 100% knockouts in their wins, so we sought fireworks. Fox was 7-4-1 and Poore was 17-1 coming in and all wins were by knockout. The fans in attendance were expecting Poore to get #18, but Fox landed the first hard punch and Poore did the ‘That-a-way’ dance-body one way and the legs the other way. The hometown Poore absorbed several thudding shots to the head and Fox kept offering more, until Steve Smoger was able to get between them to call a halt and save Poore. The TKO for Fox is registered at 1:11 of the first.

Oh wait, we’re not done yet. I hope you CN8 subscribers still have tape left. Another heavyweight bout between Mark “Oak Tree” Brown and Greg McGhee ended early with rockets red glare and bombs bursting on jaws. McGhee was hurt early and although he tried to fight back, Brown gave himself just enough punching room to heave largely scoring combinations and the fight was called at 1:48 of the first.

Yo,this is Philadelphia; we’re still not done. The opening bout also had a highlight knockout when Kaseem Wilson improved to 3-0 with a opening round KO of Enes Canovic (0-1).

Latif Mundy worked some rounds against the mostly stiff Abe Torres. Mundy scored a 3rd round TKO to earn his 2nd win in as many pro fights.

Glenn Turner and Richard Stewart reprised a Cruiserweight bout from earlier in the year. Stewart narrowly won their fist bout in Dover, Delaware. The 6-round bout saw Stewart cut early in the 3rd after each fighter won a round. Stewart also took the 3rd after getting cut and turning up the heat. Stewart said the cut eyelid was “caused by a punch”. Turner finished the bout a bit stronger but the 3 judges were split: 59-55 for Stewart; 58-56 for Turner and 57-57 even for a draw.

Ryan Belasco and Jeremy Bethea made their pro debuts, The lightweights showed they have the desire but they need more time in the gym. Bethea, a southpaw, moved the wrong way all night-to his left into Belasco’s right. Belasco, on the other glove, didn’t throw meaningful rights into his easy target, although he did drop Bethea (131 lbs) with a flurry. Bethea lost a point by body slamming Belasco. Belasco, 135½ lbs, won the unanimous decision.