Agnaldo Nunes W12 Carlos Navarro... The last time we looked, Brazil wasn’t part of North America, but in the Foxwoods co-feature, Brazilian Agnaldo Nunes (17-1-1) retained his regional junior lightweight title with a majority decision over Carlos Navarro (27-5-1) of Los Angeles. There were no knockdowns in what for the most part an evenly-matched scrap. We actually had Navarro in front after eight, (at that point the judges were split three ways) but the Californian faded down the stretch and allowed Nunes to get a nose in front. Epstein had it even at 114-114, while George Smith and Don Trella both scored it 115-113 (as did Boxingtalk).
Another young Freitas countryman, middleweight Isaac Rodrigues (2-0), was credited with another majority decision, this one over 44 year-old Hollister Elliott, a verdict booed by most non-Brazilians in the crowd. Elliott (7-19-2), a staple on the New England club fight scene for the past 22 years, fought his heart out and looked as if he might have done enough to pull it out.
Elliott was, in any case, battering Rodrigues all around the ring in the final round, but he even lost that one on the card of one judge (Frank Lombardi, who scored it 40-36.) Epstein favored Rodrigues 39-37, while Feldman had it a more sensible 38-38.
Freitas’ loss left Brazil 2-for-3 on the night, but two Russians fighting on the undercard gave that country a clean sweep.
Unbeaten heavyweight Alexei Soloviev had a tougher time than expected, but still posted a unanimous decision over bush-bearded Philadelphian Levon Warner in their six-round prelim. Although Soloviev rocked his opponent with a couple of good right hands late in the second, and again in the final round, when he caught Warner with a trio of uppercuts, he was unable to put him down. Warner didn’t help his cause when he was docked a point by referee Eddie Claudio for holding in the fifth, and Soloviev prevailed by scores of 58-55 twice (Sammartino and Trella) and 57-56 (Smith). Soloviev is now 12-0, Warner 6-4-2.
In the opening act of the evening, welterweight Rusian Provoknikov (2-0) required less than a round to blast out winless opponent Antoine Barrett (0-3). Provodnikov put Barrett through the ropes with a body shot, and while Barrett made it back into the ring, it wasn’t for long. After the Virginian took a hard one-two to the head, referee Joey Lupino stepped in at 2:33.
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‘ONCE AND FOR BRAWL’
Banner Promotions/DKP
FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO
Mashantucket, Conn.
April 28, 2007
LIGHTWEIGHTS: Juan Diaz, 135, Houston, Texas TKO’d Acelino Freitas, 135, Salvador, Brazil (8) (Retains WBA and wins WBO titles)
HEAVYWEIGHTS: Alexei Soloviev, 220, Cheboksary, Russia dec. Levon Warner, 224, Philadelphia, Penn. (6)
MIDDLEWEIGHTS: Isaac Rodrigues, 158, Belen Do Para, Brazil dec. Hollister Elliott, 159, Dorchester, Mass. (4)
WELTERWEIGHTS: Rusian Provodnikov, 142, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia TKO’d Antwon Barrett, 142, Norfolk, Va. (2)
JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHTS: Agnaldo Nunes, 129, Piracicaba, Brazil dec. Carlos Navarro, 129, Los Angeles, Calif. (12
