ESPN Friday Night Fights at Turning Stone – January 16, 2015

ESPN Friday Night Fights at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY, presented by Banner Promotions. (Fight recaps by Ray Carruthers and Jon Carson)

The Main Event was for the NABA/NABO Middleweight Championship.  Bryan Vera (23-8-0, 14 KO's) challenging "El Mongoose" Willie Monroe, Jr. (18-1-0, 6 KO's) for the straps.  Vera started off confident and aggressive early on as Monroe seemed content be patient and measuring with the jab.  Monroe started to open up some shots late in the second round and eventually landed a flurry in the fifth, scoring a controversial knock down of Vera.   Vera never went down, and did not seem to be in distress, but the ref intervened after a sequence on the ropes and started counting.  Vera responded by continuing to be aggressive, but Monroe was able to withstand the barrage and continue the tactical approach, responding with strong counter shots.  Vera remained aggressive until the end though and the fight went the distance.  Monroe retained his belts via unanimous decision. CLICK FOR FULL FIGHT PHOTO GALLERY

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The second of ESPN's Friday Night Fights featured a matchup between Brandon "Cannon" Adams (14-1, 9 KO's) against Lekan "Lucky" Byfield (6-6-2, 1 KO).   Adams jumped out in the first round landing a couple of two punch combos which set up a huge right which dropped Byfield in the middle of the round.  Byfield recovered to finish the round, but probably wished he did not.  Adams pounced in the second, using his powerful right to floor "Lucky" twice...the second of which Byfield was unable to recover.

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In the first matchup of ESPN's Friday Night Fights, Greg Jackson (3-1-1, 1 KO) fought Cornelius Whitlock (3-1-2, 2 KO's), with both fighters having almost identical records going into the bout.  In the second round, Jackson was hit with a ferocious, body crumbling punch that sent him to the canvas.  Remarkably, Jackson was able to get up and make it out of the round, unfortunate for Whitlock.  During the third round, Jackson utilized his reach advantage landing a series of jabs and eventually got Whitlock in the corner and unloaded a series of punches, dazing Whitlock and causing the referee to stop the fight, giving Jackson the surprising TKO victory, improving his record to (4-1-1, 2 KO's).

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The third bout of the evening featured Antonio Fernandez (18-4-1, 3 KO's) against undefeated Taras Shelestyuk (9-0, 6 KO's).  Taras proved why he was undefeated by setting Fernandez up with the jab and then landing a few combos about a 1:30 into the fight causing the referee to wave off the fight, earning Taras a TKO victory.  Fernandez was dazed after the knockdown and a stretcher had to be called for precaution.  Fernandez eventually  appeared to be coherent and the was able to walk off on his own accord.  Taras improves to an undefeated mark of (10-0, 7 KO's).

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The second bout featured an impressive performance by Vitor Jones de Oliveira who had the fight stopped in the first round  Jones knocked him down once and proceeded to batter Doyle until the referee waved off the fight.  Jones improves to an undefeated mark of 8-0 with 5 KO's.

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The opening fight featured Cameron Allen (5-17-0, 3 KO's) from Battle Creek, MI taking on Borngod Washington (3-15-0, 1 KO) from Queens, NY.  Allen was able to establish dominance early on in the first round, landing heavy shots to Washington's head and scoring a quick knockdown.  Although Washington was able to recover, Allen had the upperhand for the remainder of the four round bout, scoring the unanimous decision 40-35 on all three judge's cards.