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MAIN EVENTS DELIVERS, JUSTO SENCION DOESN'T

By Danny Serratelli, ringside

Once again Main Events put on a good competitive show at the RexPlex Sports Complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The card, which was broadcasted by Telefutura, started off with the pro debut of Newark's own Angel Vasquez. Vasquez who has been anxious to get his ring initiation for months, took this fight at 160 lbs. rather than at his natural weight class of 156 lbs. and won via TKO at 39 seconds of the third round over Philadelphia's Charles Young, now 0-1.

Next up came a middleweight bout featuring Bayonne, New Jersey’s Dennis Sharpe, (11-0-1, 3 KOs) in a six round bout against Keith Sonley, of Warrensburg, NY, (3-6-4, 1 KO). This was an entertaining fight; it was tough to tell which fighter had the more deceiving record. Both men traded punches often throughout the bout, but as the fight went on Sharpe took over and won a unanimous decision scored 59-55 on all three judges cards.

Toms River New Jersey’s middleweight Bear Sanders 2-0, 2 KOs, coming off an impressive first round KO over Micky Stackhouse on the Gatti-Ward II undercard, was featured in the third fight of the night against Cuban Andres Filiberto Larrinaga 2-5, 1 KO. Sanders did not look as impressive in this fight as he did in his first two, but he still scored a knockdown in the second round and a sweep on the cards 40-35.

Leading up to the main event Sacramento, California’s welterweight Rogelio Castañeda, (14-8-2, 5 KOs), dropped Wilmington Delaware’s Eliezer Zalentin, (8-1-1, 4 KOs) early and seconds later scored a TKO at 1:37 of the first round. In a battle of Dominicans, undefeated junior middleweight Giovanni Lorenzo, (5-0, 2 KOs), beat Adalberto Jose Marte badly in the first and then scored a KO at 0:28 seconds of the second round. Marte's record drops to 2-9-3.

The undercard was packed with entertaining fights, but unfortunately the 12 round main event for the Continental America’s Lightweight Championship was not as entertaining. The bout featured Eleazar Contreras of Bakersfield, California (18-2, 8 KOs), against Justo 'Sensational' Sención of Washington Heights, New York, (20-2, 12 KOs). Most rounds in the fight were too close to call, leading to the disparity on the three officials scorecards at the conclusion of the fight. It was a split decision scored 116-113 for Sención, 116-112 and 117-111 for Contreras. Even though Sención added popular choice for Trainer of the Year (2002), James Buddy McGirt to his corner, it appeared to most ringside observers that he had lost the fight.

This was another good night of boxing for Main Events and Elizabeth’s RexPlex, a nice venue in which to stage cards featuring many future prospects. Fighter of the Year 2002 candidate veteran Arturo Gatti was in the house, sporting a big cast on the right hand he broke on Micky Ward's head in their second fight. He said he will be ready for Kostya Tszyu by next year, and hopefully the fight will materialize.

Freddie Cadena, a promising junior welterweight scheduled to fight on this card, was dropped due to a hand injury. We also received news on Olympian and super-middleweight prospect Jerson Ravelo. Following an impressive win over George Walton this past October, Ravelo has been sidelined due to surgery on his right hand. He was expected back soon, but we have just learned that he will need more surgery on the wrist, so expect to see him return to the ring this summer, it will be worth the wait.

01-10-03