- Mike Jones vs. Dairo Esalas
The new kid on the block made his first appearance inside the Grand Old Lady of North Broad Street as welterweight prospect Mike Jones annihilated Dairo Esalas in two rounds in front of a packed house of 1,327 at the Legendary Blue Horizon.
Jones, 144 pounds, of North Philadelphia, one of the hottest prospects in boxing, tried to "walk Esalas down" in the first round, then looked like a kid in a candy store when Esalas became aggressive in round two.
After a brief exchange along the ropes, a right hand to the chin dropped Esalas, 145 1/2, for the first time. When Esalas got up, he slowed Jones down with a right to the temple--but just briefly.
The two men traded punches, but it seemed as if Esalas was firing spitballs at a battleship (as the late Howard Cosell once said). A left hook to the temple deposited Esalas in his own corner.
A 25-second interval to replace Esalas' mouthpiece only prolonged the inevitable. Jones drove Esalas back to the ropes and dropped him with a double left hook for the third time at 1.56 of the round.
For Jones, 25, it was the first defense of his North American Boxing Association (NABA) title. He came into the match ranked No. 11 in the world by both the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF), and No. 22 with the World Boxing Council (WBC). He is 17-0, 15 K0s.
Esalas, 35, who took the match on five days' notice after Larry Mosley, of Los Angeles, called in with a back injury, slips to 31-16, 25 K0s.
In other bouts on the card: Super bantamweight hopeful Teon Kennedy, 121 pounds, of North Philadelphia, overcame a severe cut over his right eye from a head butt and a third-round knockdown to pound out an eight-round split decision (76-75, 75-76, 79-73) over lefty Andre Wilson, 118.5, of St. Joseph, MO. Kennedy now is 12-0, 5 K0s; Wilson 11-2-1, 9 K0s; lefty Kaseem Wilson, 146.5, North Philadelphia, scored a unanimous eight-round decision (78-74, 79-73, 79-73) over Martinus Clay, 165.5, Norristown, PA, welterweights; Dennis Hasson, 170.5, Kensington, earned a unanimous six-round decision (59-55, 60-54, 60-54) over Garrett Wilson, 169, West Philadelphia, super middleweights; Rod Salka, 136.5, Bunola, PA, out-worked Victor Vasquez, 135, North Philadelphia, over six rounds, lightweights. All three judges had it 60-54; Jamaal Davis, 153.5, North Philadelphia, earned a unanimous six-round decision (59-55, 60-54, 60-54) over Clarence Taylor, 153, Wilmington, DE, junior middleweights; Luis Esquilin, 128.5, and Derrick Bivins, 125, battled to a four-round draw in a match of North Philadelphia rivals. Scores were 39-37 Bivins, 40-36 Esquilin, 38-38.
(Photo courtesy of www.phillyboxinghistory.com)