Rowland
Conquers Again in Grand Rapids!
By
Pat Nichols at ringside
Troy
Rowland (12-1, 4 KOs) further entrenched himself as a local
hero to his faithful Grand Rapids throng Friday night at the
DeltaPlex. In the fifth round of a scheduled eight round bout,
Rowland scored a TKO over the resolute but overmatched Greg
Beerman (5-2, 1KO) of Covington, KY. The former Golden Glove
champion has become a constant headliner at the DeltaPlex, and
left his fans eager for his upcoming showdown with Frankie
Randall on July 12th.
Not
known for his devastating power, Rowland repeatedly used a
looping right hand that never seemed to miss the mark to set
up the “punches in bunches” that promoter Gerald Evans
promised before the fight. “That looping right caught him a
couple times and I knew if I could shorten it up I could keep
landing it,” the victor noted.
The
fight opened with both combatants eager to trade combinations,
but by the third round, the cumulative effect of Rowland’s
proficiency had taken its toll. Before the bell ending that
round, Beerman was clearly in trouble and the crowd had
reached a fever pitch. Throughout the fourth, Beerman seemed
content to hang on as Rowland’s hand speed slowed the
Kentuckian’s aggression.
After
enduring more punishment in the fifth, the bloodied Beerman
had had enough, prompting his corner to throw in the towel.
FightNews had a chance to catch up with Rowland after the
fight to discuss his most recent success.
“I’ve
been working on my uppercuts quite a bit and was landing them
real good tonight. This was one of my top performances. I had
him hurt a couple times but I didn’t think he was ready to
quit so I decided to fight a smart fight.”
In
a featured undercard bout, former Grand Rapids amateur
standout Ramon Guevara improved to 2-0 (2 KOs), flooring Jamal
Khan at 2:15 of the first stanza. Khan, who made his debut
Friday night, may want to rethink lacing up the gloves again.
Donna
Mancuso (1-0) of Toronto, by way of Grand Rapids, made her
impressive professional debut against a durable Nicole Beard
(1-4) of San Francisco.
Darryl
Cunningham (2-1, 1 KO) of Detroit suffered his first defeat at
the hands of Anthony Russell (3-0, 1 KO) of Los Angeles in a
four round unanimously decided bout. Thomas Hayes (4-1, 2 KOs)
scored a unanimous decision over veteran opponent David Cherry
(6-21, 5 KOs). Reggie Nash fell to 4-3 at that hands of Alfred
Hall (1-0-1) of Jackson, MI. In a stunning change of events,
Jackie Beard (5-3, 3KOs) of Flint scored a devastating
knockout in the third round after enduring two standing eight
counts himself in round two. Karl Hunter (0-4) failed once
again to break into the win column in his fourth attempt
against local pugilist Harold Cutts (3-1).
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