Saturday Night Upsets! Cusumano Stops Kownacki, Brooks Upsets Truax, J-Rock Falls
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
The weekend of June 23 to June 25, 2023, produced some magical upsets in the world of boxing. A number of noteworthy names fell in major and minor upsets, while others fell in serious matchups, some involving titles.
The once promising career of Adam Kownacki reached the end of the road, when he was upset at Madison Square Garden Theater by Virginia journeyman Joe Cusumano, a fighter who could not go one round with Daniel Dubois in August of 2021. Nonetheless, on the undercard of a seven bout card, Cusumano, 22-4 with 20 knockouts, Danville, Virginia, dropped Kownacki in the first round and never looked back. Cusumano was in fine condition, trained hard for the bout and came in to win, and it showed. Kownacki, 20-4 with 15 knockouts, Brooklyn, New York via Lomza, Poland, who reached 20-0 when he outpunched Chris Arreola over 12 rounds in August 2019 in the CompuBox heavyweight punches thrown overall by two combatants record, lost his fourth consecutive bout.
Kownacki’s losses in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 to Robert Helenius (twice), Ali Eren Demirezen were highlighted by holding a low left hand which made his susceptible to the overhand straight power right hand, right hand counters, and right hook as his defense was lacking. Kownacki has power, but against better moving opponents with good footwork, with equal or superior power, Kownacki continues to get exposed. His 2020 first bout with Robert Helenius exposed his weakness to the overhand right which Helenius found, and since that point others have been quick to capitalize on the weakness. Cusumano found a place for his right hand over the top right away, and continued to head hunt for the opening until he got the forced stoppage. The ringside doctor and referee were concerned at the end of round seven. Trainer Sugar Hill threw in the towel in the eighth round when Cusumano battered Kownacki’s head with the right hand, who was done for the night. Kownacki s best to return to Poland now, and put his now rock bottom career to rest for good.
21-0 Edgar Berlanga of New York City retained the WBO NABO Super Middleweight title with a 12 round decision over 20-3 Jason Quigley of Ballybotey, Ireland. Berlanga knocked down Quigley four times, including twice in the twelfth round. However, for the fifth consecutive time, after starting his career 16-0, Berlanga was forced to go the distance with better opponents, coming off the canvas against Marcelo Coceres, with one scorecard in his bout with Steve Rolls one round from earning a draw. Berlanga went the distance with Rolls, an opponent knocked out easily by Gennady Golovkin in less than four rounds.
On a nine bout Saturday night card at The Armory, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Carlos Adames dealt a huge blow to the career of Julian ‘J’Rock’ Williams, cutting him under the right eye, battering him with power shots, and sending him to his third defeat in his last four bouts.
The bout appeared competitive in the least. Adames, 23-1 with 18 knockouts, Washington Heights, New York by way of Comendador, Dominican Republic, the defending World Boxing council interim World Middleweight champion, already had the bout won on the scorecards when referee Mark Nelson stopped the bout at 2:45 of the ninth round. One judge, Raymundo Perez, had the bout 80-72 with Adames pitching a shutout. Williams trainer Stephen Edwards called referee Nelson a piece of sh#t for stopping the bout. The stoppage could be somewhat controversial, as Williams appeared ready, willing and able to continue.
Adames, who switched from orthodox to southpaw stance throughout the night, told Showtime’s Jim Gray after the bout “I think the referee stopped it [the title bout, at just the right point], because he (Williams) could have really got hurt (if the bout had been allowed to continue into the later rounds). That’s when the referee stopped it-when I hit him (Williams) with those two rights, and if I would have hit him with another one. He would have got really hurt (if the bout had been allowed to continue any longer).”
On the undercard, 25-2 super welterweight BoxRec top 10 contender Erickson Lubin of Kissimmee, Florida, knocked out 20-4-1 Luis Arias of Boca Raton, Florida, at 2:11 of the fifth round for the full 10 count. 7-2-1 Dallas, Texas light heavyweight Burley Brooks, in his first career 10 rounder, ruined the comeback attempt of onetime super middleweight contender 31-6-2 Caleb Truax, Saint Michael, Minnesota, age 39, decisioning him over 10 rounds. Truax, was inactive 30 months, and would have been better offer returning at 168 pounds instead of venturing into the higher weight class.
On an eight bout Saturday night card at Freeport Hall, Dorcester, Massachusetts, three undefeated pretenders got exposed by visiting opponents. Visiting 22-11 Argentine southpaw Bruno Romay, a loser of seven straight bouts, exposed Dorcester’s 11-1, knocking him out at 2:40 of the first round. Also on the undercard, 5-4-1 super featherweight Joshua Draughter of New Orleans scored a six round split decision upset over 7-0 Troy Anderson Jr. of Dorcester. 4-2-2 Mexican super middleweight Alejandro Fugon, fighting out of Palmdale, California, stopped 4-0-1 Bernard Joseph of Dorcester at 56 seconds of the third round.
On the six bout Saturday card at Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, in Davenport, Iowa, on the undercard, rising 2-0 super middleweight prospect Najee West got knocked out by debuting Gilberto Gonzalez of Clive, Iowa, at 1:01 of the first round. West is a middleweight, while Gonzalez lists himself as a light heavyweight. The bout went off at light heavyweight. Do the math.
On Saturday, at Cow Palace & Event Center in Daly City, California, in the main event, former WBC Super Featherweight Continental Americas champion Andy Vences, 23-5-1 with 12 knockouts, was unsuccessful in his fifth consecutive comeback attempt since August 2020, losing to Leonardo Alcala, 22-5 with 15 knockouts, Petare, Venezuela, by eight round decision.
One bright spot occurred on Saturday, at Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona, as 27-0 super middleweight prospect Trevor McCumby knocked out 44-11-3 Argentine journeyman Rodolfo Ezekiel Martinez in the main event in the first round. McCumby is ranked 147th in the world on BoxRec. At least his career still has some positive movement.
In Rostock, Germany, 12-0 Rostock heavyweight prospect Felix Langberg was stopped in the third round by 11-2-1 Larios Kollias, a Greek fighting out of Orebro, Sweden.
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