Undercard report from Reading

Darnell Jiles W6 James Helmes:  With over 120 amateur wins and 8 pro fight under his belt, Darnell Jiles Jr. is beginning to look like a very complete fighter.  Team Jiles, which is headed by Steve Nelson, thought their fighter was ready to take a significant step up in class.  Coming into the fight at only 7-0, Jiles took on undefeated James Helms who was 6-0 coming in.  From the opening bell Jiles was landing big shots.  The young prospect from Rochester NY throws his punches with sheer ferocity but the technique never seems to diminish.  Jiles sits down on his punches, sets everything off of the jab and counters beautifully.  It was a very entertaining bout as Helmes came to fight.  James Helmes is a very good counter puncher and it is obvious why he was undefeated coming into the fight, but James Helmes was just simply outgunned.  Jiles’ speed, power and technique along with the pin point straight left hand helped him cruise to a well fought unanimous decision.  The official scores were 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56 all in favor of Jiles.  Boxingtalks’ Matt Goldstein scored the fight 59-55 and Jim Barlieb scored the fight 58-56 all in favor of Jiles.  Darnell “Good News” Jiles Jr. now moves to 8-0 with 3 knockouts and James Helmes drops to 6-1 with 1 knockout.  Jiles was trained in the amateurs by his father but is now trained by Marshall Kauffman and Joe Pastore at King’s Gym in Reading PA.  Jiles is managed by the veteran Steve Nelson who was amazingly wearing a jacket and pants last night.  Way to go Steve! 

Fight of the Year Will Not Be Televised

Lucien Gonzalez UD4 Danny McDermott:  Quite simply, this has to be a candidate for fight of the year.  Unfortunately for Versus, they did not have the cameras running.  Danny McDermott was undefeated coming into the fight at 4-0-1 with 2 knockouts.  McDermott ran into a freight train known as Lucian Armando Gonzalez who was 3-4 coming into the fight.  Gonzalez and McDermott went at each other from the opening seconds and never let up.  Gonzalez dropped McDermott in the first round with a barrage of punches from all angles and McDermott was hurt.  With a lot of heart and grit, McDermott pulled himself together and rallied in the round.  It was toe to toe action for the entire fight.  Most of the crowd and ringside observers were astonished that both men were standing at the end of the four rounds.  It was some of the most brutal action Boxingtalk ringside observers have ever witnessed.  Gonzalez and McDermott both showed the hearts of champions and the loser has nothing to be ashamed of.  Gonzalez, who was homeless 8 months ago in Puerto Rico and did not speak English, now lives in Reading PA and fights out of King’s Gym.  It also must be noted that all of Gonzalez’s losses were to undefeated fighters.  The official scores were 39-36, 38-37 and 38-37.  Boxingtalks’ Matt Goldstein and Jim Barlieb both scored the fight 38-37 in favor of Gonzales.  Kudos to the matchmaker.

AND IN THE MAIN EVENT...

Hasim Rahman TKO10 Zuri Lawrence... Boxing fans in Reading, Pennsylvania saw a rare occurrence when Zuri Lawrence got knocked out of the ring and onto the arena floor, but beat the twenty-count as was able to continue fighting. Lawrence's efforts did not pay off, however, as he lost a heavyweight bout to former champion Hasim Rahman via tenth-round technical knockout. The key moment of the fight came when Rahman hit Lawrence with four straight big rights and Lawrence fell through the ropes. Lawrence was hurt but made it back into the ring around the count of sixteen. The bell ended the round before action could resume, but during the seventh,  Lawrence did pretty well for himself, and it was a pretty close fight going into the final round. In the last round, Rahman landed another right that had Lawence out on his feet. The referee correctly stopped the fight. The official scorecards after nine rounds had Lawrence leading on one card, but two or more points behind on the other two. Although he didn't dominate, Rahman (44-6-2) threw over 800 punches in little more than nine rounds, so Marshall Kaufman had him in good shape. Give the Rock credit, he is out there fighting, unlike most heavyweights who sit on thir rankings and wait for a title shot. source: versus /scott shaffer