(photos by Kevin Howard/OnTheRopes) This past Saturday afternoon at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, the Fox Theater hosted a boxing event highlighted by rising cruiserweight contender Thabiso Mchunu. The seven fight card also featured rising lightweight Karl ‘Dynamite’ Dargan, and while on paper the two main events looked like a walk in the park, the fights themselves delivered in action and had some drama.
The main event saw Thabiso ‘The Rock’ Mchunu (17-1, 11 KOs) face rugged cruiserweight, Garret ‘The Ultimate Warrior’ Wilson (13-8-1, 7 KOs). Mchunu — who was riding a 6 fight win streak — started the fight working behind a solid jab, and was consistently picking off the aggressive Wilson.
In round 2, Mchunu stunned Wilson several times, and in what would become the theme of the night, Wilson would come back strong, throwing bombs trying to end the fight.
While the fight did not have any knockdowns, the crowd loved every second, and even though Wilson won very few rounds, the crowd pulled for the underdog and cheered his relentless nature. Mchunu boxed well and did an excellent job of making Wilson ineffective, and at the same time also showing his great counter punching ability.
Wilson, while not as skilled as Mchunu, had a world class chin, and while shaken, he came through the bout on his feet, and even won some new fans. Mchunu retained his NABF Cruiserweight Title with a unanimous decision victory. The scores were (96-93, 99-90 and 98-91). With the win, Mchunu looks to get a title shot and has his eyes set on WBC cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Włodarczyk.
In the co main event, undefeated Karl ‘Dynamite’ Dargan (17-0, 9 KOs) got his toughest test to date, as he met Angino ‘The Nightmare’ Perez (16-6, 14 KOs). The fight started off with Dargan showing off his superior speed and boxing ability. In the second round, Perez quickly established himself as a game challenger by throwing and landing powerful shots, even knocking down Dargan in the second round. But Perez also showed a lack of control by continuing to try and hit Dargan while he was still on the floor.
As the fight wore on, Dargan started to wear down Perez, eventually scoring a knock down in the fifth round. Not long after the knockdown, Dargan closed the show and ended up planting Perez face first on the canvas, to which the referee immediately stopped the bout. Dargan now looks to continue his forward progress and will look to be matched with even bigger challenges in his weight class.
The Main Events card as a whole was an exciting and interesting boxing event, and even though there was a lack of name recognition, the match makers did a good job of giving the favorites tough challenges that made each fight hold your attention. The NBC Sports card shows that sometimes in boxing you don’t need the big named stars, or a big fight build up, you just need good match making and fighters that are willing to please the boxing fans.
(Additional event photos from Kevin Howard/On The Ropes)
I love the cards like this appear on network TV again, cause it’s been a long time since I remember seeing one. It use to be a regular thing back in the 80’s, but I enjoyed this more than the Mayweather undercard.
Dargan looked really good, and he dealt with power well in his last fight. I think he can become a champ, and he is ready to be stepped up.
good pictures, Dargan is a good prospect