Bad Boys of Boxing

The main event of the card of the Bad Boys of Boxing, saw a light heavyweight match up between former champion and Miami native Glen Johnson (47-12-2, 32 KO’s) and Aaron Norwood (26-10-2, 13 KO’s). It is safe to assume that even before this bout Johnson was seemingly looking past Norwood, as he stated that he was to “call out” Joe Calzaghe who is currently the undisputed light heavyweight champion. Johnson’s eye is definitely on another title run.

The start of the fight was a tale told by the relentless jab of Glen Johnson. With no answer in sight for the bigger, stronger Johnson, Norwood did all he could to withstand the pounding being brought upon him.

The fight would be stopped by the referee 1:27 into the 4th round and the victory awarded to Johnson by TKO.

By the looks of it Johnson, was right to look ahead and indeed should call out Calzaghe as his next opponent.

When asked about a possible match up with Calzaghe, Johnson had this to say, “We were supposed to fight twice and he back out of both. I think it’s the next logical step.”

The result of the “call out” remains to be seen, however the result of his match on this night determines that Glen Johnson is indeed a Bad Boy of Boxing.

In the co-main event of the evening, James McGirt Jr. (19-1, 9 KO’s) began his match with Marcus Upshaw (8-3, 3 KO’s) in impressive fashion with a knockdown late in the first round. Things would even out a little as the next couple of rounds would go back and forth between the two middleweights. In the middle rounds McGirt would let his frustration show as Upshaw was both throwing and landing punches at will. It was a cat and mouse game as McGirt was seemingly threatened by a very potent offense being thrown at him from the Jacksonville native. Much like the other fights on the card this one would go to the judges after a hard fought 10 rounds. The judges would score this fight 95-93, 94-94 twice, leading to a majority draw. One positive note for McGirt is that by not losing the fight he may have managed to preserve his scheduled HBO bout this coming January.

In other bouts:

Dat Nguyen (14-1, 6 KO’s) defeated Puerto Rican fighter Carlos “Bam Bam” Diaz
(10-16-4, 7 KO’s) in an 8 round unanimous decision. The bout was scored 78-74 twice, and 79-73.

Kelvin Galarza making his pro debut against Jareem “the dream” Bryant (1-0) went to a four round unanimous decision. In the end the judges would score the bout 38-37 twice, and 39-37, to give Galarza his first professional victory. This victory earned him a contract with the Hollywood based Warriors boxing, which he will sign today.

In the heavyweight bout on the card, Wilmer Vazquez (7-0, 4 KO’s) took on Jerry Butler (7-5, 7 KO’s). In an equally matched fight, ultimately it was the scorecards that would decide on Draw. The scores would read 59-55, 58-56, and 57-57.

Not to be outdone by his brother, Kenny Galarza (7-0, 7 KO’s) won in convincing fashion over Canadian fighter Sebastien Hamel (10-14-4, 1 KO). The fight was stopped after the 2nd round as Galarza would win the fight by TKO.

Anthony Woods (6-10, 2 KO’s) endured everything that Danny O’Conner threw at him during their bout. O’Conner put on a clinic in hard hitting during the 4 round contest. By unanimous decision and a score of 40-36, 40-36, and 40-35, O’Conner took the victory and with it remained undefeated as a professional Jr. Welterweight.