'Mighty' Mike is back!

Photos: Marty Rosengarten / Ringsidephotos.com

In front of a standing room only house at the Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom this past Thursday, "Mighty Mike" Arnaoutis thrilled his legions of fans in attendance with a dominating twelve round decision over the very tough Harrison Cuello.  Arnaoutis captured the vacant USBA jr. welterweight title and reinstated himself into 140-pound contendership with his victory.

A sea of the blue and white flag of Greece filled the arena as the Arnaoutis' fans banged their drums and waved their colors to cheer on their fellow compatriot to an impressive win. Arnaoutis  -  born in Athens, Greece and now living in Atlantic City  -  showed great boxing skills and pinpoint punching throughout the contest.

"Mighty Mike" was relentless the entire fight as Cuello  -  from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and now living in the Bronx  -  tried to figure out how to slow down the relentless Arnaoutis.  Cuello fought a brave fight and never stopped trying in the fast paced bout but the skills and will of Arnaoutis were just too much to handle.

All three judges scored the bout 119-109 for Arnaoutis who improves to 18-2-2 (9 KOs), while Cuello slips to 15-6-2 (11 KOs).

"What we witnessed tonight was the rebirth of "Mighty Mike" in the junior welterweight division,” said Star Boxing chief Joe DeGuardia. "I truly believe that Mike will become the world champion most boxing experts predicted he would be, in the very near future. Also, the sold out venue shows that boxing can thrive when you give the fans what they want!"

MADDALONE DESTROYS YEOMAN IN TWO!

In the semi-final heavyweight bout, popular Queens brawler Vinny Maddalone (29-4, 20 KOs) destroyed Jeff Yeoman (21-9, 7 KOs) of Indiana in two rounds.  Maddalone knocked Yeoman down twice in the second round, the latter being the final blow, causing referee Dick Flaherty to call a halt at 2:11 of the second round.

MORE UNDERCARD RESULTS:

There was no need for judges for the four remaining bouts on the undercard as all four winners won with explosive knockouts.

In a wild super middleweight battle, Curtis "Showtime" Stevens and Thomas Reid fought the “Fight of the Night!”  Stevens started out aggressively in the opening stanza cornering Reid while unleashing powerful combinations to the head and body. The pattern continued for most of the second round until Reid uncorked a devastating overhand right which put Stevens down. Stevens arose at the count of eight but was clearly wobbly and luckily for him the bell sounded saving him from a possible knockout. The action was hot and heavy for the remainder of the contest, often bringing the standing room only crowd to their feet. Entering the last round it was anybody's fight. The gutsy Reid tried desperately for the win but was corned by Stevens with about thirty seconds left in the bout. Stevens let loose with a barrage of punches culminating with a vicious left hook which had Reid out on his feet forcing referee David Fields to move in and stop the fight at 2:55 of the eighth round. With the win Stevens improves to 18-2-1 (13 KOs) while Reid falls to 35-22-1 (13 KOs).

Welterweight prospect Raymond Serrano Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs) destroyed the usually durable Abe Bruno (6-11-4, 3 KOs) at 2:59 of the first round of a scheduled four round bout. Serrano displayed the skill and punching power that has boxing experts talking about him as he overwhelmed his game opponent. Bruno tried to fight back but Serrano just had too much speed and firepower for Bruno.

Debuting heavyweight Tim Skolnick and Shawn McLean (2-2, 1 KO) went to war from the opening bell.   In the second round, McLean dropped Skolnick with an overhand right.  Skolnick came back in round three to flatten McLean with a crushing overhand right which resulted in a knockout.

Dominican heavyweight prospect Nagy Aguilar remained undefeated (7-0, 5 KOs) with a devastating first round KO of Mike Jones (6-14, 2 KOs). The plodding Jones started out quickly landing some good shots on Aguilar but walked smack into a crushing right hand which stretched him out at 1:35 of the first round.

Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing show filled the Manhattan Center with a SRO crowd. It was an exciting night of fights and all in attendance had a thoroughly electric and enjoyable evening.