Published: June 28, 2008 11:55 pm            

Unanimous decision keeps Taylor perfect in two fights

Andres Taylor didn’t deliver a knockout, but he did enough to impress the judges and his promoter on Saturday night at Fists of Thunder.

The hometown heavyweight scored a unanimous decision over Kevin Hood in front of an announced crowd of 762 at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.

Taylor (2-0) knocked Hood down in the third round, but couldn’t put him away.

“I came in here for the big knockout at home,” Taylor said. “That’s one of my problems – every time I’m home, I want to knock them out and I start forgetting about the fundamentals. The fundamentals is what knocks them out.”

Taylor won all four rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards, while Hood (5-9-1) won a single round on the third. Making his first fight in his hometown, Taylor sent Hood sprawling to the canvas in the third with a left hook, but the heavyweight from Coatesville wasn’t impressed.

“I really don’t even consider that a knockdown,” Hood said. “He’s OK, but I know I’m better than him. I’m in his hometown; he’s going to get the decision. I’d have to knock him out, and I don’t have no knockouts on my record.”

Taylor wasn’t pleased with his performance, but he’ll take the result.

“I got the win and I’m happy with it,” he said. “I just was hoping I could put a better show on for the fans. I put a good show on, but I grade myself maybe a C.”

Taylor was more impressed with the showing from local fans.

“I’m proud of Johnstown,” he said. “I’m glad they came out to support it and showed their love, because I love Johnstown and I’m glad they love me back.”

Michael Acri, who promoted the fight, said the show did well enough to bring another fight card back to the Flood City in the future.

“The gate, we did well with the Johnstown fans, but I don’t think we were helped by Thunder in the Valley,” Acri said. “The bikers apparently didn’t come as strong as we thought. Maybe if we had the whole month of July by ourselves, we might have done better. There were at least 800 paid, which is equivalent to the last show in Johnstown, which I believe was in ’03.”

Jesse Lubash (7-0) of Pittsburgh won a unanimous decision over Sam Gibson (1-1) of Elkhart, Ind., in a four-round welterweight bout on the undercard.

“He was strong,” Lubash said. “He had some pop, but I came in and did what I had to do.”

Chris Fitzpatrick of Cleveland picked up a big victory over Anthony Pietrantonio of Youngstown, Ohio, in a four-round light heavyweight fight.

Pietrantonio (4-1) fought to a draw on one card, but Fitzpatrick won on the other two cards – 40-36 and 29-17 – to improve to 2-0 in his young career.

Fitzpatrick said Pietrantonio landed some heavy blows, but that he was confident when the fight went to the judges.

“He’s got a heavy punch, I’ll give him that,” Fitzpatrick said. “I outboxed him and made him look a fool when he kept tripping over himself.”

Ryan Thompson, who Taylor beat in his first professional fight, lost by split decision to Mike Miller of Akron, Ohio. Miller (4-11-2) controlled the action against Thompson (5-6), winning 58-56 on one card and 59-55 on another. Thompson won 58-56 on the other one.

The first bout of the evening was the wildest, with middleweights Jerome Black and Shane Gierke throwing big punches and landing more than a few in a four-rounder that ended in a draw. Black (0-3-1) hit the canvas three times, but none was an official knockdown, while Gierke (2-13-1) finished with swelling under both eyes.

Former IBF champion Paul Spadafora also put on an exhibition fight with fellow Pittsburgher Rod Salka. Spadafora recently had knee surgery but said he felt fine and was happy to be back in the ring, even if it was a long way from a big-time fight.

“Every time I fight, I feel like it’s a world title fight,” he said. “I don’t take anything lightly. Anytime you get in that ring, you can get hurt. I’m a professional. I do my proper training. I put my six weeks camp in and I go at it hard.”

        

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