Thursday, July 25, 2013

50 Cent's Broadway Boxing promotion is a knockout

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has his sights set on moving into the sport of boxing as a promoter and on Wednesday night the rapper's SMS Promotions teamed up with DiBella Entertainment to stage the latest edition of New York City's longest boxing series — Broadway Boxing at midtown Manhattan's famed Roseland Ballroom. SMS is planning to partner with DiBella for future fight nights as well.

50 Cent and one of his fighters Emanuel DeJesus (6-0, 4 KOS)
who won a unanimous decision against Khalik Meminger
Wednesday's show boasted eight fight cards and the house was filled with guest boxers and celebrities.

In the featured bout, returning former world junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (31-2, 8 KOs) outpointed Jamaal Davis (14-10-1, 6 KOs) in an eight-round junior middleweight match-up. Foreman targeted a gaping cut over Davis' right eye to dominate the last few rounds and get the decision.

Foreman, the Belarus-born Israel native, held the WBA championship belt after losing the title in 2010 to Miguel Cotto, suffering a knee injury in the bout. After a two-year hiatus, Foreman is on the comeback trail after earlier success in his career showed promise.

Yuri Foreman continued his successful comeback
Davis, also 32, is a relative journeyman known for delivering tough challenges to more heralded fighters. According to an ESPN report, DiBella is bringing Foreman along slowly. Foreman has since relocated to Park Slope in Brooklyn, and is nearing completion of his studies to become a rabbi.

In the co-feature, non-stop puncher and super bantamweight Heather Hardy (6-0, KO) battered Seattle's Cassie Trost (1-2-1) to a stoppage victory. Trost was a bloody mess early in the fight as Hardy was relentless in her attack, ultimately putting Trost to a knee in the fourth round. The referee stopped it shortly after at 1:34 of the round, getting the popular Hardy her first knockout win.

Hardy (L) looked unbeatable

Up and coming Brooklyn light heavyweight Travis Peterkin (8-0, 4 KOs) carried overmatched middleweight Hector Hernandez, of Yuma, Ariz., the whole six-round distance with a unanimous decision.

The southpaw Peterkin could have gotten his opponent out of there in the early rounds, but the younger and stronger Peterkin seemed content to mix it up. Peterkin landed a straight left often, missing chances to follow it up as much as he could have, but he was still mighty impressive.

Undefeated Peterkin (R) continues to impress

From the quality of the bouts and and the cheers from the crowd, it looks like Fiddy is going to like the NYC fight game.



Photos by Tony Mangia

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