Nakash Cruises to a Bloody Win, Improves to 18-0
Dave Brunelli guaranteed victory against undefeated cruiserweight Ran Nakash. The South Philadelphia native said that Nakash's undefeated record was padded with easy fights. His manager Mike Murphy even went a step further.
"I'll be damned if I let a guy from Israel take over the Blue Horizon and on April 3rd the "0" must go," said Murphy in a pre-fight interview.
Well the Israeli sensation not only took over Philadelphia's Legendary Blue Horizon but easily took apart Brunelli, who's face was a bloody mess by the time the referee stopped the fight in the seventh round due to a nasty cut over his right eye.
Nakash, who improved to 18-0 and continues to look more and more like a top-tier cruiserweight, won every round by using quick left hooks and a powerful overhand right. The Israel Defense Force soldier, who traveled to Philly from his home in Tel Aviv, broke Brunelli's nose in the second round on his way to cruising through the first four. Brunelli came out with much more energy in the fifth and sixth, landing a few combinations but he only did so in short spurts.
Nakash continued stalking and eventually opened up a nasty gash on Brunelli's right eyelid, forcing an end to the fight. The TKO win was Nakash's 14th knockout. Brunelli fell to 8-5.
The fight, promoted by Vernoca L. Michael and Blue Horizon Boxing Promotions Inc., was billed as "Italy vs. Israel" and began with a male opera singer performing the Italian national anthem and an Israeli woman draped in her country's flag singing the Israeli anthem. Prefight introductions were even given in both Hebrew and Italian.
After the fight, Nakash hardly gloated about the smack-talking Brunelli, but rather took the high road.
"He's a very tough guy," said Nakash. "You can see that he trained hard for this fight. He took shots that might have put somebody else down. Even with blood and cuts, he kept going."
Brunelli fought most of his career in the heavyweight division at around 225 pounds. For the Nakash fight, he cut down to 200˝ lbs.
After losing, he said he wasn't sure about his future and said he would have to "go back and re-evaluate."
Edmonds Outlasts Robinson
Julias Edmonds let out a ferocious roar and pounded his chest as the bell rung, ending the sixth and final round of his welterweight fight with Tyric Robinson. In a slugfest between two Philadelphia fighters, Edmonds landed the stronger, crisper punches, earning him a unanimous decision and improving his record to 5-3. Robinson fell to 9-4-1.
Slow Start, Big Finish to Cruiserweight Bout
The fight between cruiserweights Julio Cesar Matthews and William Gill started out like a snore-fest with both fighters looking like counterpunchers waiting for someone to make a mistake. In the last minute or so, both guys were standing in front of each other pounding away. Matthews, from Reading, Pa. did enough to win a six round unanimous decision and up his record to 7-0. Gill dropped to 9-22.
Matthews is 39 years old and fought once in 1996 and once in 1997 but didn't fight again until March, 2008 because of a stint in prison. It'll be interesting to see just how far he can climb in boxing before his body catches up to him. Crazy name, older guy with an undefeated record and something to prove… He sounds like a dangerous fighter that some up-and-comers might try to avoid down the road. Just a thought.
Collado Impresses
Queens, N.Y. featherweight Joselito Collado looked impressive in his win against Jason Rorie of Winston Salem, N.C. Both guys stood in front of each other trading so often that there were plenty of times when both fighters actually appeared punched out. By the end, however Collado was simply the stronger man and outlasted Rorie. His six-round unanimous-decision win improved his record to 7-0 and dropped Rorie to 2-3-2.
Fernandez Wins
Philadelphia junior lightweight Paul Fernandez seemed to get stronger and stronger as he put together more and more combinations in his four-round match