Written and Photos taken on a Nikon D3100 by Tyler Polk
Integrity Fighter Management and Conn-Greb Boxing Gym's Summer Slam brought another night of boxing to the Carnegie Library of Homestead for the first time since November 2017.
The first fight of the night was a super middleweight clash between Latiss "No Love" Norman (3-3) and Darryl "Dreamking" Bunting (3-5-2) gave a spirited start to the show. Norman lived up to his nickname. He brought the fight to Bunting early, with good early shots that caused him to stumble and accidentally wrestled down his opponent in the clinch.
Bunting would recover to end round one and would put on a better showing in round two with each man firing salvos in the corner. As the fight wore on in round three, Bunting would complete his comeback in the third round. After a strong start to the third for both men, Bunting gets a nice combo on Norman's body, knocking him down.
Referee Ernie Sharif called for the bell, giving Bunting a TKO victory at 2:25 in the third round.
The second fight of the night was between welterweights Danny Rosenberger (5-7-4) and Justin Johnson (6-20-6). This fight began with both men trading shots and picking spots. After a good shot by Johnson, the two fighters touched gloves with acknowledgment of "good hit" in round two. Afterward, the match got a little chippy.
In round three Johnson was given a two-point deduction by referee Chris Riskus for illegal contact on Rosenberger, frustrating him. Both men exchanged words to end that round. In round four a Rosenberger shot was viewed as a pushdown. The bought ends with both men jawing after the bell while getting their gloves removed.
Both men fought evenly throughout the fight showing why they accumulated many draws throughout their careers. However, the point deduction would cost Johnson, as Rosenberger won by decision with scores of 39-35, 38-36 and 40-34.
Next up, lightweights Kell Smith (1-2) and Edward Hatler (1-0) went to battle. Smith got off to a good start, Hattler matched him step for step with an even round one.
In round two, Smith was staying active with Golden Gloves winner Tika Hemmingway telling him to "Turn Up!" In round three, Smith took heed to her words, "Throw what you want, have fun!" He got a couple of good shots, but Hatler stays the course, giving him a chance to win in the final round.
The fourth round was again, mostly even. Smith made some moves, one of them being an excellent overhand right shot to Hatler. Hatler answered back, but it wasn't enough. Smith won the bout by decision, with the judges scoring 39-37, 39-37, 40-36 in his favor.
During the intermission, PA Announcer Matt Antonucci allowed Hemmingway and Travis Clark speak a few words to the crowd. Amateur boxing national champions Cruz Cunningham and Maximus Ruiz were honored for their accomplishments.
Our first title fight of the night was for the ABF Continental Super Bantamweight Championship. Oleg Dovhun (8-0) looked to defend his title against Vincent Jennings (6-7-2). It was a fight that showed the champion's ability. Dovhun fired more shots throughout the contest. The men in the corner of Jennings wanted the challenger to step up.
Anytime Jennings would manage to make some offense; it would be answered back by a Dovhun combo. Another story in the match was Dovhun's movement and boxing. He was frequently getting his opponent into the corners and on the ropes with ease. He had the most dominant performance of the night. Dovhun would get the victory in this fight, with the judges scoring the bout 80-72, 80-72, and 79-73.
Ryzimmeon Ford (1-0) and Shawn Rall (0-2) was a lightweight bout scheduled to go five rounds. Ford seemed like he wanted to make a statement tonight. Wearing black and white cow-spotted gear and coming out to the popular "Old Town Road Remix" by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, he certainly embedded himself into the mind of the crowd.
Both men came out swinging early, but Ford connected with a left jab to the body of Rall, knocking him down. It had the crowd buzzing about as loud as the bass of his walkout music. Referee Chris Riskus ruled the fight a TKO, giving the second official stoppage of the night at 1:27 in the first round. The moment of the night for sure belongs to Ford.
Our final title fight of the night was for the ABF Continental Cruiserweight Championship. Lyubomyr Pinchuk (10-1-1) looked for his third title defense against Johnnie Langston (7-0). In Pinchuk's corner was former two-time IBF Cruiserweight Champion Steve "USS" Cunningham. His fifth fight in 2019 certainly was a thriller.
Both fighters would trade blows in the first two rounds, connecting on punches that got the crowd on their feet early. In round three Langston connected a hook to Pinchuk and a few combos, but the Ukrainian would soon get on his horse with an answer through combinations that had the crowd stirring. The crowd called for a knockdown, but the round ends with cuts under the eyes for both men.
Round four Pinchuk would continue his attack, due to their contrasting stances Langston was headbutted accidentally. Referee Chris Riskus noticed that Langston was affected by the headbutt and gave him a short break to get his bearings together.
When the fight continued, Pinchuk went for the body, bu Langston sticks through the round. Between the rounds 5 and 6, there were rumblings that Langston wanted to end the fight. He had swelled from the headbutt on one of his eyes, impeding his vision.
He also seemed tired out by Pinchuk's attack, at one point taking a short reserve with his hands down on the ropes in round five. Despite all the issues, he remains in the fight and has a solid crowd popping performance in round 7 setting up a helter-skelter championship round.
Both men, especially Langston, goes for broke in this round. It resembled rock em' sock em' robots the way these two would give and take through the round.
Langston certainly dug deep, finding a second wind through exhaustion and a lack of vision out of one of his eyes. Pinchuk, however, had enough shining moments getting the decision 76-76, 77-75, 77-75 to retain his championship.
The final fight of the night was a heavyweight bout between Mike Manna (3-1) and Randy Wachacha (0-1). Manna will be donating his purse to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. You expect fireworks anytime you see the word heavyweight, and that is exactly what we got.
Wachacha came into this fight with size on his side. Manna usually fights at cruiserweight and attempted a more boxing approach compared to his usual slugging style.
The size was the determining factor as the bigger Wachacha attacked like a grizzly bear, forcing his opponent into the corner and getting a knockout with a two-hit combo. He would clinch the fight soon after with another knockdown, earning the victory with a TKO 2:16 into the first round.