It was a great night of boxing for the Beltway Boxing area. Keystone Boxing presented their 59th show to the fans in the DMV area. The card was held at the SPHINX Clud in N.W Washington, D.C. Keystone had a nine bout card that was matched pretty well. It started with a couple of early knockouts that ended with a unexpected loss for one of the area fights.
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The main-event of the card featured Marq Johns of Fort Washington, MD taking on Karl Garcia-Rios of Bayamon, Puerto Rico in a six round contest.
This was a tough fought bout. Both fighters came out in the first round trying to establish their jabs and find their distance. It was an even exchange until Marq Johns landed a solid right hand to send Rios to the canvas for the eight count. After that knockdown Rios was able to gather himself to even up the early rounds before taking the slight advantage. Johns was able to bounce back a little, but Rios was able to gain back the momentum. Rios seemed to hurt Johns at the end of some of the rounds which caused Rios to be more aggressive going into each and every round after. It was Rios that had the slight edge in the bout even after being knocked down in the first round. Going into the fifth round is when Rios pretty much solidified this bout. He was able to land a right hand to send Johns down for an eight count. Both fighters came out in the final round trying to close the bout with a solid performance, but the bout was in the hands of the judges. Judges scored the contest 57-55, and 58-54 twice giving Rios the unanimous decision win.
Marq Johns gets the first loss of his career and falls to 6-1-1, (5 KO's) as Rios is now 5-5-1, (1 KO).
Patrick Harris of Hyattsville, MD was in a sixth round contest against Rafael Vazquez of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Harris had to spend most of the time trying to cutoff the ring during this bout. Vazquez was using the entire ring to avoid the shots that Harris landed in the earlier part of round one. Harris was able to get close enough to land more solid shots on Vazquez as the contest entered the late rounds. Harris used left and right handed body punches to open up the opportunity to land heads shots. Harris was able to slow down the movement of Vazquez with those shots to the body and head. This entire bout was controlled by Harris from the start. Judges gave the unanimous decision to Harris with scores of 59-55, 60-54 twice.
Patrick Harris remains undefeated at 6-0, (4 KO's) while Vazquez falls to 1-3.
Forestville, MD's Alantez Fox faced Guilermo Valdez in a scheduled six rounder. Fox opened up the bout by landing an early solid left jab that move Valdez backwards from the start of the contest. Fox was just too much for Valdez, and he put an end to this bout by landing a number of left hands to the body and head sending Valdez to the canvas. Valdez wasn't able to make it to his feet before the ten count. Fox gets his sixth knockout victory at the time of 1:28 of round one.
Alantez Fox improve to 16-0-1, (6 KO's) and Valdez is now 12-7, (3 KO's).
Renaldo Gaines of District Heights, MD faced Stephon McIntyre of Atlanta, GA. This was a six round contest that went the distance. Both fighters spent a lot of time exchanging blows from a toe to toe distance. At times McIntyer had a very tight defense that stopped Gaines from landing the solid shots he wanted to land. Later in the rounds Gaines was able to get through the guard of McIntye and land some looping shots to the side of the head of McIntyre. Those looping shots opened up the guard for Gaines to throw the uppercut. McIntyre used the opportunity to do the same thing to Gaines. The bout was very close until Gaines took a step back and found the distance he needed to use his jab to end the contest with a strong finish. The judges scored the bout 57-57, and 58-56 twice for Gaines giving him the majority decision win.
Renaldo Gaines improves to 7-2, (1KO) while the always tough Stephon McIntyre falls to 2-9-2.
Eric Hernandez is coming off his pro debut just under a one month ago to face Fernando Serrano of Garden City, Kansas. This was a scheduled four round contest that started off with both fighters never using a jab. They were landing hard shots on each other. Things changed in the second round with Hernandez landing a right hand that staggered Serrono. Hernandez tried to use the jab but went away from it again. It was only when Hernandez landed a shot to the head then to the body followed by one more to the head to send Serrano down. The body shot looked to be low, but it was the final shot to the head that made the referee call it a clear knockdown. Sarrano wasn't able to recover from the body shot. The corner of Sarrano was contesting that it was a low blow. Hernandez gets the knockout victory at 3:00 at the end of round two.
Eric Hernandez is now 2-0, (1 KO) and Sarrano is 1-5, (1 KO).
Albi Sadikaj of Fort Washington, MD defeated Santos Martinez of Detroit, Michigan in a four round cruiserweight contest. Sadikaj took his time to wait for the perfect moment to land a hard right handed body shot on Martinez. The shot sent Martinez to the canvas and he was unable to recover. Albi Sadikaj gets his fourth consecutive knockout win.
Albi Sadikaj has a perfect record of 4-0, (4 KO's) while Martinez is now 2-9-1, (2 KO's).
Forestville, MD's Mykal Fox puts on a very solid, technical performance to complete the six round contest against Juan Carlos Castillo of Caguas, Puerto Rico. For the entire bout Fox showed great use of his jab and footwork to land continuous punches on Castillo. The performance of Fox was so solid that he was able to drop Castillo twice in the bout to win by the scores of 60-52 (twice) and 60-53.
Fox is now 7-0, two KO's while Castillo drops to 4-3, three KO's.
Super middleweight Devar "The Warrior" Ferhadi of Frederick, MD. He also spends most of his time in Kurdistan where he attends medical school. Ferhadi faced Julio Garcia of Rincon, Puerto Rico. Ferhadi is known for his solid body work. Garcia landed a few body shots of his own but doesn't have the power on them that Ferhadi has. Ferhadi finished off Garcia by landing a short hook to the head followed with a devastating right handed body shot to make short work of Garcia. Garcia dropped to the canvas and wasn't able to recover when the contest was stopped at 54 seconds of the opening round.
Ferhadi's record improves to 5-0, (4 KO's) and Garcia is now 6-10, (3 KO's).
Shynggyskhan Tazhibay is a junior middleweight from Rockville, MD that moved from Kazakhstan. This was his pro debut where he faced Brad Sustad of Courtland, NY in a four round contest. Tazhibay used the first round to end the fight by sending Sustad down three times. The first two knockdowns came from the right hand, but it was the left hand to the body that finished the bout at 1:36.
Shynggyskhan Tazhibay is now 2-0, (1 KO) while Brad Sustad is still looking for his first win.
(Photos / Flyers created by Ross Molovinsky / Keystone Boxing)
For more information on upcoming event from Keystone Boxing
District Sports Promotions will be hosting their first professional boxing card at the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, MD. This will also be the debut for professional boxing at Maryland's newest casino that opened on August 26, 2014.
Alexandria, VA welterweight "The Baby-Faced Assassin" Yurii Polischuk 6-1-1, (2 KO's) will take on Anthony Prescott 5-5-2, (2 KO's)of Cherry Hill, NJ. Polischuk has been out of the ring for nine months. In his last bout he defeated Benjamin Olinga by unanimous decision in a six round contest to win the Virginia State Lightweight title.
This bout will feature two hometown heavyweights. The undefeated Mike "Silverback" Balogun 4-0, (4 KO's) of Upper Marlboro, MD. He will battle Baltimore, MD's Lonnie Kornegay. The fifteen fight veteran Kornegay will try to pull Balogun into deeper waters. Balogun has never been past the second round. He has KO'd all his opponents in either the first or second rounds. 
