[10/16/2009, Philadelphia] It was a chilly Friday night, but you couldn’t tell from inside the Blue Horizon on Broad Street. There was smoldering heat coming from an Ecuadorian boxer standing in the red corner, while he glared as his opponent approaching the ring. The audience came to life, because many of them knew that these two particular boxers had almost brawled at the weigh-in the day before.
The stare-down added some drama to a stacked fight card for the 10th Anniversary Power Productions show, which was to be headlined by the USBA championship bout between Derek “Pooh” Ennis and Eromosele Albert.
Back in the Blue on Broad, the crowd was hollering because the referee could barely keep the two men away from each other before the bell rang. As soon as the ref got out of the way, The Ecuadorian drove his opponent into the ropes and threw a barrage of power punches to the head and body, and would continue to do so for four straight rounds.
The Ecuadorian was Mario Mina, and he battled the larger Tommie “Big Poppa” Speller to a unanimous decison. This was the second victory of the night for the Battlestrong Boxing stable; the first went to the young gunner of the group, Killer Coy Evans.
Evans fought the first bout of the night against Carlos “Bam Bam” Diaz of Philadelphia. Even though Diaz was by far the more experienced boxer, Evans set the tempo of the fight early and maintained control for four solid rounds.
Prior to this fight, promoter Greg Robinson called Evans the “baddest 126 pounder this side of the Mississippi”, and Evans made a stake at this title by showing off an arsenal of dangerous hooks that seem to come from all angles. Diaz is known to be a solid puncher, but Killer Coy easily overwhelmed the challenger with speed, aggressiveness, and a precision counter-punching campaign. The decision was unanimous, and the Battlestrong crew was 2-0.
(watch the exciting first round HERE)
The final bout of the night featured the most prolific fighter on the Battlestrong team, the dangerous and well-rounded Derek ‘Pooh’ Ennis. His opponent was the two-time Olympian from Nigeria, Eromesele Albert [18-2] from Miami. The winner would walk away with the USBA Junior Middleweight Championship and a world ranking.
Details of this fight are in the previous article.
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