Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love is known for having a great boxing history, great fighters, and yes, their amazing cheese steaks. There is also that good old Rocky statue that you must visit at least once in your lifetime. After stopping by my favorite spot for a great cheese steak, I headed to the 2300 Arena for what promised to be a great night of Philly boxing.
The 2300 arena was formerly a freight warehouse, is located in South Philadelphia and it holds about 1,300 people. On this night, Amir Mansour (21-1,16 KOs) and Joey Dawejko (14-3-2, 7 KOs) would square away in what promised to be an exciting Heavyweight fight in front of a packed house.
There has been some bad blood between both fighters heading into their anticipated bout, and now the stage was set for both combatants to settle their differences in the ring. To everyone’s surprise, the first round of their 10 round bout was fought cautiously. Mansour pressed the action but didn’t commit too much, and Dawejko played the role of the counterpuncher, using his very good defense and movement to avoid Mansour’s power. In round 2, Mansour suffered a cut due to a headbutt which prompted him to fight with more urgency for the rest of the round. In round 3, Dwejko also suffered a cut above his nose due to an accidental headbutt. The cuts were bad but not severe enough to cause a halt to the bout.
Mansour picked up the pace in round 4 and seemed to be the busier fighter for the remaining of the rounds. He seemed to hurt Dawejko in a few instances but never really stepped on the gas to go for the kill. In the last rounds, Mansour heard the pleads of his corner and pressed the action, forcing “The Tank” to fight in reverse and evade danger.
Dawejko must have felt Mansour’s power early on and decided he didn’t want to engage in a war with Mansour. In the last rounds, Dawejko seemed to run out of gas and his lack of activity ultimately cost him the fight.
In the end all judges saw it in favor of Mansour with scores of 96-94, 98-92, and 97-93.
Undercard Results
6 rounds – super lightweight
David Gonzales (5-0-1, 1 KO) vs Ryan Belasco (18-6-3, 4 KOs)
58-56 Gonzales – 57-57 (draw)
8 rounds – Middleweight
Jessie Nicklov (24-5-3, 8 KOs) vs DeCarlo Perez (13-3-1, 5 KOs)
UD – 79-73 Perez
6 rounds – super welterweight
Tommy Ayers (2-4, 2KOs) vs Ismael Garcia (7-0-1, 3 KOs) lands a solid right hook knocking Ayers down – although he survived the 8 count the ref stopped the bout in the 1st round at 2:06
6 rounds – welterweight
Nathaniel Rivas (5-1, 2KOs) vs Kevin Womack Jr (7-0-1, 2KOs ) wins with a TKO in the 1st round 1:24- ref stops the fight
Womack cornered Rivas continued to punish him with punches until the ref waives off the bout.
4 rounds – lightweight
Edgardo Torres (2-3,2 KOs) vs Gang Yong Kim (3-1)landed a solid right hook – sent Torres to the canvas in the 1st round
Judges’ scores 40-35 x 3 Gang Yong Kim UD
