12 round unanimous decision earns "Mighty Mike" USBA title
By Mike Indri
Retired Boxers Foundation
March 6, 2008

NEW YORK - In front of a packed house at the Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom, Mike Arnaoutis out hustled and out boxed the usually difficult Harrison Cuello; making what was thought to be a competitive fight, for a regional title belt, into a one-sided boxing clinic.

While the scrappy Greek fighter's humungous legion of proud fans banged their drums, screamed their chants and waved their flags; which turned the capacity-filled building into a sea of blue and white, Arnaoutis's punches eventually turned his Dominican opponent's face into a bumpy red mess.

Quickly establishing himself as the quicker and heavier handed fighter, Arnaoutis was relentless and fought hard for the entire three minutes of every round. Cuello resorted to fighting in spurts, and along with getting bullied and beaten, was only able to win a single round in the eyes the judges, as all three scored this welterweight contest 119-109 for Arnaoutis.

Several times the two fisted attack by Arnaoutis appeared to have Cuello ready to be taken out, but to his credit the gutsy 30 year-old managed to survive.

The dominant victory for Arnaoutis puts the Atlantic City resident back in the win column following two disappointing decision losses; a unanimous decision loss to Kendall Holt last April and the highly debated split decision defeat against Ricardo Torres (11/18/2006), who currently holds the WBO light welterweight title.

Arnaoutis improved to 18-2-2 (9 KO's) with the win, while Cuello slips to 15-6-2 (11KO's).

In the co-feature bout of the evening popular heavyweight slugger Vinny Maddalone needed little time to dispose of Jeff Yeoman, now a winner of three of his last ten bouts. The trip from Lafayette, Indiana must have taken most of the fight out of Yeoman, because it surely did not look like the soon-to-be forty-three year-old boxer (03/23) was in any mood to defy the dangerous native of Flushing, NY. After slipping, sliding and holding to make it through round one Yeoman was dropped to his knees by Maddalone's first solid body punch. A right to the chin sent the now 21-9 (7 KO's) fighter back down to the canvas but somehow a slip was ruled. Never the less Maddalone put a punch of clubbing shots together early in round two and the overwhelmed Yeoman was on his back in a heap and referee Dick Flaherty obviously had seen enough and waved off the mismatch without even bothering to count, at the 2:11 mark. The technical knockout win improved the genuinely likable Maddalone's record to 29-4 (20 KO's).

There was no need for any judges during the Star Boxing undercard as all four of the bouts ended via stoppages.

Curtis Stevens managed to pull himself up off the canvas late in round two, and weathered the storm before finally wearing down seasoned veteran Thomas Reid. Coasting early, Stevens was putting in his usual workman-like effort and driving the forty year-old Tennessee native around the ring before Reid stunned the crowd by hurting the powerful Stevens with a quick left and followed with a big overhand right which sent the young prospect to the canvas. Still dazed and confused Stevens beat the count and luckily the round was over. While still a bit foggy going into round three, the twenty-two year-old Brownsville fighter was clearing up as the moments passed and Reid could only blame himself for letting his chance slip away.

Stevens would regain his wits and forge on. The pounding finally wore down the cagey veteran and a heavy barrage wobbled Reid midway through the eighth and final round. Leaving nothing to chance Stevens continued the pounding and unleashed a vicious left hook, which had Reid unconscious while still on his feet. Referee David Fields had to pry the knockout minded Stevens off of Reid at the 2:55 mark for the TKO win.

Definitely possessing the talent and power, Stevens did not look as sharp or potent as he has earlier. Looking to be carrying a bit too much weight, Stevens appears to be short changing himself battling light heavyweights. Finding the discipline to get down to 165 pounds would make Stevens a better prospect.

Promising Philadelphia welterweight Raymond Serrano, Jr. pummeled a game, yet severely overmatched, Abe Bruno for two minutes and fifty nine seconds before referee Dick Flaherty finally waved off the beating. While proving to be a resilient, big-hearted opponent, Bruno withstood tremendous punishment before finally dropping to the canvas late in the first round. Bruno, who has not won a fight since his 3 round TKO victory over a winless Manuel Bruno (maybe a relative!!) in 1998, and going 0-7-1 since then, struggled to his feet but not before Flaherty's count reached 10. Serrano remains undefeated 4-0 (3 KO's), while Bruno drops to 6-11-4 (3 KO's).

Heavyweight Tim Skolniek, making his pro debut, opened the show in a big way. Getting dropped by his taller opponent, Shawn Mclean from Freeport, NY, in round two, Skolniek came out quickly in round three and crushed Mclean, now 1-2 (1 KO) with a monster right hand that incapacitated his devastated foe. Skolniek picked up the entertaining KO win in the scheduled four rounder.

The knockout of the night belonged to undefeated heavyweight prospect Nagy Aguilera, from Newburgh, NY. Taking on 284 lb. Mike Jones (6-14 with 2 KO's), a late replacement, Aguilera went headhunting early. Looking in better condition than his last NY appearance this past December, Aguilera whistled a pulverizing right hand that nearly decapitated his overmatched, and under conditioned, opponent who was out before he hit the canvas at 1:35 in the first round, of the scheduled six round bout. The very quick handed, powerful and popular "Dominican Dynamite" stays perfect at 7-0, with Jones his 5th knockout victim.

The Joe DeGaurdia, Star Boxing, show filled the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom to its limit, a good sign for NY boxing, especially with a boxing show the night before at the Hammerstein Ballroom, located right downstairs!

Mike Indri can be contacted at RBFMIKE@aol.com.