Cherry Bomb Outpoints Rhodes in Tangle War at the Sands
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent- Ringside
Bethlehem, PA (June 29th, 2016)– In them main event of an eight bout card at the sands Events Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, promoted by Premiere Boxing Champions and King’s Promotions on USA Fox Spots, Edner ‘Cherry Bomb’ Cherry survived an ugly brawl to win a unanimous ten round decision over Haskell Rhodes in a crossroads bout, which will perhaps determine the next super featherweight world title challenger.
Cherry, 35-7-2 with 19 knockouts, Wauchula, Florida from Nassau, Bahamas, got outboxed by Rhodes in the first round. Rhodes opened with a big power shot to the head, and put Cherry on the defensive. From round two on, Rhodes changed his game plan and tried a new tactic, bull rushing Cherry to get inside while swinging. Cherry neatly grabbed the left arm of Rhodes whenever he came in, and held him down. It looked like Rhodes was causing all of the holds because he started them. After the bout, Cherry stated Rhodes hoped he would get lucky and catch cherry off guard, but Cherry did not let that happen. Thus hundreds of holds took place, making way for a hard night for veteran referee Gary Rosato, who coolly let the bout play out. Cherry looked better in the eyes of the judges, as Rhodes was initializing all of the entanglements, while cherry just wanted to fight.
Cherry threw more blows, 487 to Rhodes 420. However Rhodes landed more punches, 101
to 97 by Cherry. The scorecards told a different story. Rhodes felt he won the bout. His
plan to get inside by bull rushing did not work. It was a strange looking bout difficult to
score. Controversial decision. Cherry, the winner, is in line for a super featherweight world
title shot by winning this crossroads bout. The bout was fought at lightweight. Rhodes, an
Oklahoman from as Vegas, Nevada, fell to 23-2-1 with 11 knockouts.
Result: Edner Cherry Win 10 Haskell Rhodes, Lightweights (Main Event)
Scoring: 98-92, 97-93, 97-93 Cherry. Referee: Gary Rosato
In the preliminary bout to the main event, Omar ‘Super O’ Douglas of Wilmington, Delaware, went to 17-0 with 12 knockouts, with a seventh round knockout of Alexei Collado, now 19-2 with 17 knockouts, Miami, Florida by way of Havana, Cuba.
Collado, a Cuban defector by way of Ireland, used a sneaky tactic to get the attention of Douglas. Douglas seemed to be outworking Collado. However, Collado was consistently landing a number of wicked body shots here and there. It because quickly clear Collado’s 17 knockouts during his career were the result of extreme hard work, breaking his opponents down. Douglas, observing this, switched tactics from power head shots to a consistent body attack. Collado, who liked to dish it, couldn’t take it when Douglas went after the body from the fifth round on. By the end of the sixth round, Collado, reeling from a liver shot, was in trouble. A flurry of body shots dropped Collado to one knee, where he was counted out by referee Shawn Clark.
Result: Omar Douglas KO 7 Alexei Collado, Super Featherweights (2:51)
Referee: Shawn Clark
Sands Events Center Boxing Undercard
Referees: Gary Rosato and Shawn Clark
Milton Santiago Win 8 Osumanu Akaba, Super Lightweights
14-0 Philly prospect Santiago win a hard fought rough scrap over 43 bout veteran Akaba.
Antonio Russell Win 6 Rudolph Hedge, Super Bantamweights
7-0 Washington D.C. prospect Russell, with nose injury, outworked track runner Hedge.
Chris Colbert Win 6 Antonio Dubose, Featherweights
In battle of unbeaten prospects, Brooklyn’s Colbert outworks Philly’s defensive Dubose.
Mykal Fox Win 6 Jose Valderrama, Welterweights
6’4” tall 10-0 Maryland prospect Fox beat up on short but tough journeyman Valderrama.
Victor Vazquez Win 6 Seifullah Wise, Super Lightweights
Philly boxer 4-2 Vazquez not to be confused with 19-11-1 Philly lightweight Victor Vasquez
Eric Newell Draw 4 Randy Easton, Heavyweights
Surprise! 3-9-1 journeyman Easton in best shape of career, used a ‘throw a punch and hold’ strategy. Newell, 266 pounds, stood in front his foe and didn’t move the whole bout.
Former World Heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, WBA World Welterweight champion Keith Thurman, super welterweight contender Julian ‘KJ Rock’ Williams, and former Pennsylvania light heavyweight champion Dhafir smith were among those present at ringside.
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