Integrity Fighters Management promoted one of the better club shows in recent Pittsburgh memory Saturday night at the beautiful Carnegie Library Music Hall in Homestead PA just south of downtown Pittsburgh. A large enthusiastic crowd, evenly matched fights and this amazing venue left the estimated 700 in attendance in agreement that boxing is back in the Steel City.
In the Main Event Reading’s unbeaten 5-0 (4KO) Shakeem “The Lion” Hodge could not stalk crafty Pittsburgh middleweight (7-0) 3KO Gerald “G5” Sherrell. Throughout the 6 round contest Sherrell turned and punished the heavy handed Hodge with left hooks, while sticking to his mid range assault. In the 3rd, Hodge landed a looping right hand that caught the back of Sherrell which issued a verbal warning from referee Chris Riskus. In the 6th, Sherrell dropped the Reading challenger with a vicious left right hand combo. Hodge beat the count and tried to rally, but Sherrell’s movement and relentless combos backed the Reading slugger into the red corner where he unleashed a vicious assault. It was shocking that the referee didn’t stop this, then a right left hook combo dropped Hodge who crumpled to the canvas. The ref began an unnecessary count as the fight was over, but the ringside Doctor ran in and stopped the action. Sherrell moves to 8-0 (4KO).
Braddock’s ‘Lethal’ Leemont Johnson managed by Derek Gionta, won a unanimous decision against (6-2) Eric Govan from Maryland. Johnson’s jab and activity was the difference maker in this fight. Govan rallied for moments in the 4th, but it wasn’t enough to sway the judges who all had it for Johnson. Lethal Leemont climbs to 5-0 (3KO)
In addition to Sherrell, Integrity prospects Oleg “Ukraine Pitbull” Dovhun and Lyubomyr “The Demolition Man”Pinchuk both got KOs. The appropriately named Pitbull mauled New Orleans Joseph “Ice” Cole from ring post to ring post. Despite the onslaught, Cole swung for the fences and missed the elusive Dovhun. After 2 knockdowns, the ref had seen enough at 1:37 of the 4th. Dovhun moves to 4-0 (2ko) while Cole drops to 1-4. (1KO).
Lyubomyr “The Demolition Man” was too much for wild swinging 20 fight MMA veteran Mike “the boogeyman” Bogner from Sandusky Ohio. Bogner, who resembles a leaner John Belushi, swung wildly caught air and was countered by the powerful Ukrainian. The stoppage came at 1:52 of the 3rd. The hard puncher Pinchuk climbs to 4-0 (3KO) while Bogner gets his first pro loss and goes to 0-1-1.
Youngstown’s (1-3-2) won his second fight in a row with a decision over (1-0) Bobby “the Butler Kid” Osterreider in an excellent backyard brawl.
Pittsburgh Debut Llewelyn Mcclamy defeated fellow debut Dib “The Wolf” Kaddah from Cleveland by decision.
Pittsburgh debut Rich Cantolina defeated Iowa debut Mike Randolph at 1:27 of the 3rd round.
In a spirited exhibition to kickoff the show, popular Pittsburgh fireman Sam ‘the Butcher’ Suska took on battle tested 54 fight amateur Jarrell “Ronin: the Masterless samurai “ Brackett. These 2 got the crowd going with their non stop phone booth fighting. Suska landed the big shots on Brackett, who applied constant pressure and through relentless punches from bizarre angles.
By Shea Smith