Koval the latest KO victim, dramatizes Kushner’s "Premier"
By Mike Indri
Retired Boxers Foundation
May 24, 2006

NEW YORK - The large crowd which squeezed it’s way into the Hammerstein Ballroom came to see their fighter, New York’s own Shannon Briggs. Fighting back in his hometown as the main event, in his promoter, Cedric Kushner’s, initial showcasing of his newly formed Gotham Boxing, Briggs delivered in dramatic fashion!

Shannon Briggs annilated another opponent tonight. This time the unlucky guy was Chris Koval who didn't survive past the third round. Impressive win by Briggs!   Photo by: Richard Maldonado

Taking on a tough and game, yet doomed, Chris Koval, Briggs started early with a deadening jab which had the outclassed fighter from Youngstown, Ohio, puffed and red about the face before the end of the first round. With Koval taunting the physically imposing Briggs and yelling "you can’t hurt me", Briggs continued pounding away at his hapless foe. While Briggs tipped the scales at 273 lbs., and will need to get that weight down when he takes on more challenging opposition, he looked solid and was boxing well. It was apparent that the night would end soon for Koval, as by the end of round two the Buckeye fighter was bruised and bloodied.

In round three Briggs began pounding away at Koval, who wasn’t talking or taunting any longer, just looking to survive. Hurting and frustrated, Koval amateurishly spit towards Briggs, who hammers away and staggers the fighter. More Briggs punishment sends his crippled foe to the deck.

Now incensed and smelling the kill, Briggs bludgeons a severely wounded Koval and drives him to the deck with a resounding thud for the second knockdown from the scary two-fisted fury.

Valiantly, yet unwisely, Koval, bleeding heavily from his mouth and entire face, is allowed to continue by referee David Fields. Briggs keeps hammering away as the bell comes to the rescue.

In the corner the ringside physician advises not to allow this carnage to continue and referee Fields obliges, giving Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs a very impressive third round technical knockout victory, improving his record to 47-4-1 (41 KO’s), while Koval drops to 23-3 (18 KO’s).

Afterwards a happy and proud Briggs gave notice to the rest of the heavyweight division that he was ready for all takers. "He (Koval) was a tough kid, I was surprised he took my shots so well in the first round," stated the new USBA heavyweight champion who added, "I’m staying busy and fighting every month - we are looking to get Klitschko in Madison Square Garden by October or November!"

In the night’s co-feature bout, St. Paul, MN native Matt Vanda fought Martinus Clay, from Wilson, NC, in the "fight of the night". Clay earned his "magnificent" nickname and a surprising eight round majority decision victory against the heavily tattooed and tough as nails Vanda. With neither fighter giving an inch for the entire twenty four minutes of pure action, Vanda appeared to control the action early, while Clay simply refused to be denied and never stopped throwing punches.

Clay appeared to get hurt in the first round, as well as the last round - and was forced to hold on numerous occasions throughout the grueling and entertaining contest. Vanda, now 34-2 (21 KO’s), has nothing to be ashamed of with his effort, but Clay, perhaps the finest 12-12-1 fighter out there, truly earned this career defining victory.

On the Cedric Kushner Gotham Boxing undercard:
"The Premier" was opened with a six round female light welterweight bout. From round one’s opening bell it became obvious that Cynthia Jones was in way over her head against New York’s Chika Nakamura, at least skill-wise. Nakamura, trained by Hall of Fame great Carlos Ortiz, out boxed the thoroughly overmatched Jones en route to a shut out unanimous decision victory, (60-54 by all three judges) improving to 4-0 (1 KO). Jones, fighting out of Miami, survived on guts and toughness, while dropping to 1-7.

In a hard fought six round battle of young heavyweights, White Plains, NY native Tony Grano managed to remain unbeaten against Brooklyn’s Rodney Ray, by way of a unanimous draw, as all three judges saw the bout even. Grano learned a good lesson about not doing any body work, as well as getting caught with too many uppercuts; while Ray was formidable enough to stand up to the heavier handed Grano, who is now 4-0-1 (4 KO’s). Ray’s record stands at 3-3-1 (3 KO’s).

Noriko Kariya dazzled the crowd with an impressive showing of boxing skills and movement in the second female bout of the evening. Unfortunately, two of the only people within the arena who didn’t think that Kariya did enough to win the fight were judges Larry Hazzard Jr. and Glen Feldman, which meant the tough luck super bantamweight boxer had to settle for a split decision draw.

Not taking anything away from the gutsy performance of Kariya’s opponent Amanda Knight (now 1-0-1), who was fighting in her second pro bout, but Kariya appeared to handle her Miami native foe handily and proved to be the more athletic and better trained fighter. Hazzard Jr. scored it 39-37 for Knight, while Feldman saw it even; judge Tom Schrek felt Kariya, now 3-1-1, earned the win, with his 39-37 scorecard.

Undefeated heavyweight hopeful J.D. Chapman, coming off his recent self-assessed "unimpressive performance" on ESPN2, put in an equally unimpressive outing against forty year old Edward Gutierrez in a ten round snore fest. Chapman, who handed Gutierrez his first pro defeat in the Illinois native’s last bout (12/15/05 via unanimous decision) managed to come away with another unanimous decision win. Chapman, fighting out of Mansfield, Arkansas upped his record to 23-0 (20 KO’s), while Gutierrez, who won over the crowd with his gritty effort, slipped to 15-2-1 (6 KO’s).

With the recent influx and competitiveness of New York boxing, Cedric Kushner and his Gotham Boxing will have to be able to produce better quality shows if he wants to stay successful over the long term.

The Clay - Vanda fight was well worth watching, and Mr. Shannon Briggs sent all the New Yorkers home very happy with his savage knockout win.

Also the ballroom was overflowing with boxing stars from days gone by. Those in attendance highlighting the night were: all-time greats Emile Griffith and Roberto Duran, big-time heavyweight contender Mr. Renaldo Snipes, Mike Tyson foe - in and out of the ring - Mitch "Blood" Green, Carl "The Truth" Williams, perennial NY golden gloves champ Mark Breland and the birthday boy himself, New York’s beloved champion Hector "Macho" Camacho. Seeing all these great fighters only made the good night of boxing even better.