Fight Results from Portland Expo
Portland, Maine - November 9, 2019
Local favorite Russell Lamour, Jr, 17-3, 9 KOs, thrilled the packed Portland Expo November 9th with an exciting 3rd round stoppage over Buenos Aires’ Diego Marocchi, 18-5-1, 14 KOs in the scheduled 8 round middleweight main-event. The Argentinian started fast, moving just outside the much taller Lamour’s range, looking for counters, but showed early on that he did not have the power to keep Lamour off. Settling in for the second round, Lamour began to take advantage of his superior size and skills, with accurate jabs and body shots. By the third, a clearly out-gunned Marocchi went down twice and although he beat the count, he was clearly ready to be stopped when his cornerman threw in the towel at 1:40.
In the scheduled 8 round co-feature, talented Jr Lightweight prospect William Foster III picked up his 11th win over Baltimore’s Jahmal Dyer, 9-3, 5 KOs. The New Haven, CT native showed incredible poise and accuracy dismantling his determined opponent. Seconds into the first round, Dyer landed a clean left hook to the temple that briefly rocked Foster, who looked clearly hurt. It did not take long for him to regroup, however, as he soon found his range, picking his spots and winning the round. Taking over in the second, Foster used hand speed and combination punching, punctuated by a fast, clean left hook he was able to land at will throughout. After a warning for a few low blows, referee Mike Ryan deducted a point from Foster, evening the round on the score cards. In the third round, however, Foster came out with a vengeance, picking Dyer apart, landing to the head and body, eventually finding his way through the defense and hurting Dyer, eventually sending him to the canvas with a barrage of clean punches. Referee Ryan called a halt to the bout at 2:54. Foster is anxious to continue to step up his competition, and feels he’s ready for the next level of opposition.
Returning to the ring after a horrendous work accident in which his leg was badly mangled by heavy equipment, Super Welterweight Casey Streeter, 10-1-1, 4 KOs, looked impressive clearly outworking 15-5 Miguel Angel Suarez over 6 rounds. Suarez started aggressively, loading up with looping right hands and counter hooks, but it was the cool, straight forward boxing and tight defense of Streeter that dictated the flow of the bout. Referee Melissa Kelly deducted a point for excessive holding. Suarez visited the canvas a total of 3 times in the bout, somehow surviving the many body punches that wore him down. He was determined to finish, but lost a lopsided unanimous decision, no surprise at 59-52 twice and 60-50 once.
West Forks, Maine’s Brandon Berry, 142 lbs, won a wild brawl with Grove, Oklahoma’s Jimmy Roach, 139 lbs with an impressive 2nd round TKO. Roach, 5-3, 5 KOs came out smoking, throwing bombs from the bell, trying to end the fight early, but the pace proved to be too much for him, as he tired by the last minute of the round, giving Berry, who clearly possessed the better skills, a chance to even things up. In the second, Roach looked clearly spent, barely able to avoid anything fired at him from Berry who sensed that he could end things when he chose, which he did, landing 11 unanswered, clean punches, prompting referee Mike Ryan to call an end to the evening for Roach at 1:40. Berry improved his record to 16-5-2, 11 KOs
Highly regarded as an amateur, Josniel Castro, 152 lbs, looked impressive in his pro debut stopping the ordinarily durable Leonardo Ladiera, 155 lbs, in the second round with a perfectly placed left hook to the chin. Ladeira fought gamely in the first round, losing but competitively, showing tight defense and the ability to snap off clean shots when the openings presented themselves, but a wide left hook, thrown at the same time as a tight left hook from Castro, corkscrewed him to the canvas in the best knockout of the night at 2:45 in the second round. Fortunately, he was up and congratulating his young opponent within moments.
In his pro debut, Uzbakestanian Zukhriddin Makhkamov, now fighting out of New York, easily handled late substitute Darren Gibbs, 1-7, outclassing the game Gibbs for a round before closing the show at 2:45 in the second round with sharp combinations after backing Gibbs to the ropes. With an outstanding amateur background, superb conditioning, savvy management with veteran Jack Stanton, and standing 6’2” at light heavyweight, Makhkamov looks even at this early stage to be the real deal.
Opening the evening in an amateur bout, Portland Boxing Club’s middleweight Wade Faria looked sharp, clearly out-pointing the more experienced Erik Fonge of Lynn, MA. Faria controlled each round with accurate counter-shots and won a unanimous decision.
The special guest for the evening was Hall of Famer trainer and ESPN color commentator Teddy Atlas who came to Portland and donated his time to support the non-profit Portland Boxing Club in its annual fundraiser.