Paris Earns Belt at Ford Center In a busy fight that ended one round shy of the scheduled 8 and was unusually laden with rules violations – Paris was admonished at least three times by Referee Ron Cunningham for violations including lacing and elbowing – Paris didn’t have an easy time with Philadelphia’s Kevin Carmody (10-9-0) but prevailed with a seventh round TKO to remain undefeated. The main event on Heavy Hitter Promotions’ six-card “Night of Knockouts” had the pro-Paris audience on its feet for much of the often acrimonious fight that saw both boxers connect with multiple blows way late after the first bell and saw a downed Paris – he fell, he wasn’t knocked down – take a hit to the back of the head in the fourth round. Carmody’s
tendency not to block hits from the hard-hitting Detroiter proved
a big mistake when, after a series of punches with his back against
the ropes went undefended and unprotected – Referee Cunningham
waved off the action at 1:07 of the seventh round giving Paris what
should have been his 18th win and #13 by way of knockout. However,
a Paris KO victory in a December 2006 fight in Flint was changed
this past week to a “no contest” due to a positive drug
test by both fighters. Paris’ record is officially 17-0-1
with 12 knockouts. Detroit’s Damon McCreary (13-0-0, 10 KO) also remains undefeated following a TKO win over his Las Vegas opponent, Salah Zabian, A cut above the left eye of Zabian in the second round caused Referee Frank Garza to end the contest, after consultation with ringside physician Dr. Evans Farres, prior to the third round bell. Dearborn’s
Fadi Faraj was staggered backwards into the ropes of a neutral corner
midway through the first round but came back strong landing several
hard punches sending Salomon Becerra crashing to the canvas continuing
the Muskegonite’s unbroken loss record of five – all
by knockout. The mismatched fight paired the 4-0 Faraj with the
0-4 Becerra with the result being a surprise to no one. The undercard featured three MMA fighters from the White Lake Combat Club in one light heavyweight and two heavyweight bouts facing traditionally trained boxers. All three Muskegon-area fighters had similar outcomes albeit by different means. Andy Coronado, in his boxing debut, dropped a unanimous decision to Lansing’s Tommy Washington, Jr. (3-4-1). Debuting 6’5” John Lofquist suffered both a TKO loss and a dislocated right shoulder against Detroiter Larry Carter (2-2-1) and Adrian’s Santos Martinez (2-0) dispatched the third mixed-martial artist Shawn Dean (0-2) after two first round knockdowns and a third standing count ended the contest just 2:20 into the round. A seventh bout between Alexis Hloros and David Maund was cancelled late after Maund was unable to achieve the higher weight needed to make the match within the rules. The
night of boxing was courtesy of a trio of promoters that included
Heavy Hitter Promotions, CLIP and Greg Ahrens. The evening action
was filmed by the Fox Sports Network. No broadcast date was known
at press time. |
