WHITFIELD WINS NABO TITLE IN AUGUSTA, GA
CHERRY, ZEWSKI, ELEGELE, LOVE, FINNEY AND COTE
POST HUGE WINS ON UNDERCARD

Saturday night in front of a huge crowd at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia, Rayonta “THE STINGRAY” Whitfield thrilled his hometown fans with a ninth round stoppage over Sergio Espinoza, winning the vacant NABO Flyweight Title.

Whitfield’s win over Espinoza was part of an outstanding evening of world class professional boxing presented by Chet Koerner’s TKO Boxing Promotions.

Dominating the action from the opening bell, Whitfield landed at will against the game Espinoza. Putting Espinoza on the mat in the second and seventh round, Whitfield dropped the San Diego native again in the ninth with a huge right hook which caused Espinoza’s corner to signal to the referee to stop the bout. Time of the stoppage was 2:49.

With the win, Whitfield improved to 24-1-0 (12KO’s) while Espinoza fell to 16-7-1 (5KO’s).

In the co-feature, Tampa’s Edner “CHERRY BOMB” Cherry stopped his second foe in eight days with a second round knockout over Delvin Placencia of the Dominican Republic. Drilling Placencia with his trademark body shots from the opening bell, referee Brian Stutts called a halt to Cherry’s attack at the :56 mark of the second round.

Cherry, now competing as a junior lightweight, improved to 27-6-2 (15KO’s), while Placencia moves to 15-3-0 (6KO’s).

The highly anticipated professional debut of welterweight Mikael Zewski proved to be amongst the highlights of the evening as he faced off against South Carolina newcomer Kevin Kibler.

With an array of pummeling uppercuts and heavy handed body shots, Zewski wasted no time in dominating the action from the opening bell. With power shots which could be felt in the rafters of the Bell Auditorium, the welterweight from Quebec, Canada, thrilled the crowd with his aggressive attack.

As the carnage continued in the third round and with a brave Kibler taking a brutal beating, the bout was stopped by referee Stutts at the 1:39 mark.

Zewski, 1-0-0 (1KO), starts his professional career in style with the stoppage while Kibler’s mark hits 0-1-1.

In a sensational six round lightweight bout, Quebec, Canada’s Pier Olivier Cote and Minnesota’s Wilshaun Boxley had the fans on their feet in a match up that saw excellent two way action throughout.

With both combatants willing to trade in close throughout the bout with little thought to defense, the Gatti-Ward like bout provided a feast of action for the Augusta crowd.

Although cut over his left eye in the first round, Cote bravely fought on against his counter punching foe, finally dropping him in the fifth round with a huge right hand.

The all action bout went to the scorecards at the end of six with Cote taking a unanimous decision by scores of 57-56, 57-56 and 58-55. Cote stays unbeaten at 10-0-0 (6KO’s) while Boxley moves to 5-5-0 (3KO’s).

Among the most talked about prospects in boxing, Melboune, Florida’s Joseph Elegele stayed perfect with a terrific performance against veteran Deon Nash in their four round junior welterweight bout.

Using outstanding boxing skills and height and reach advantage, Elegele moved around the ring against Nash with the look of a world class contender as he peppered his foe at will while avoiding any incoming fire.

With all three scores of 40 x 36 giving Elegele the win, he improves to 5-0-0 (3KO’s), while Nash moves to 5-11-0 (1KO).

Detroit, Michigan’s J’Leon Love won his second professional bout by first round knockout, with a halt to his middleweight bout against pro debuting Rufus Defibaugh coming at the :47 mark of the initial stanza. Love improves to 2-0-0 (2KO’s).

The opening bout of the evening featured the pro debut of Smith Station, Alabama’s Michael Finney against Dmitry Labados of Miami, Florida. The lanky Finney displayed an outstanding body attack from the opening bell as he followed Labados around the ring.

A perfectly placed left hook to the body drilled Labados to the mat where he was counted out at the time of 1:11. Finney opens his pro career at 1-0-0 (1KO) while Labados falls to 0-2-0.