The Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY was again host to the International Boxing Hall of Fame "Fight Night", one of the many activities taking place during the annual Induction Weekend in nearby Canastota. Besides a capacity crowd of over 1300, many former and current champs of the boxing world were in attendance. Legends such as Carmen Basilio, Jake LaMotta and Marvin Hagler joined current champs Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright and Cory Spinks in thrilling the crowd with their presence. In the first bout of the evening, Mike Marrone of Vero Beach, FL KO'd Rodney Collins of Buffalo, NY 2 mins. and 30 secs. into the first round. With legendary trainer Lou Duva in his corner, Marrone sent Collins to the canvas with a hard left. Although a bit unsteady, Collins made the eight count, but was immediately hit with combos, causing the ref to stop the bout. Marrone improves his record to 2-0, with Collins dropping to 2-9.< d>< r>
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The evening's second bout pitted Philadelphia's Jason Burrell (2-2-3) against Deandre McCole of Akron, OH (3-8-1). The rather uneventful four round light heavyweight bout ended in a majority draw. Judges scored it 39-37 McCole, 38-38, 38-38. In the co-feature event, heavyweight Shannon Miller of Troy, NY defeated Harold Rodriguez of Ft. Myers, FL due to disqualification early in the fourth round. After repeatedly being warned about low blows and having two points deducted in round three, another low blow six seconds into the fourth, prompted ref Dick Pakozdi to disqualify Rodriguez, who drops to 4-8. Miller remains undefeated at 10-0.< d>< r>
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In the night's main event, lightweight contender Victoriano Sosa of the Dominican Republic, looking to come back from a TKO loss in February to Miguel Cotto, took on late replacement Marteze Logan of Covington, TN. The first few rounds of the bout showed neither fighter in real control of the action, but by round five, Sosa gradually took control, as Logan's pace slowed. Sosa went on to claim victory in a ten round unanimous decision, with the judges scoring it 99-90, 96-94, 97-93. Sosa improves his record to 38-4-2 and Logan's goes to 13-9-1.< d>< r>
Jeff Julian is a documentary photographer whose boxing related photographs are included in the collections of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY, the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, KY, and numerous boxing personalities. His boxing photos have been published in various websites and magazines such as THE RING, BOXING DIGEST, and PEOPLE MAGAZINE.
