Teon Kennedy Shines; Majewski Continues
To Impress At Bally’s Grand In Atlantic City

By Tim Donaldson
Photos: "Sugar" Ray Bailey

Just a couple of weeks ago, Teon Kennedy learned that his fight against Lucian Gonzalez was going to headline the June 6 fight at Bally’s. A few friends of mine asked if he was ready to be a headliner, and I wrote at that time that I did think he was ready.

Teon did not disappoint. In fact, I believe that this fight proves that he is ready for bigger and better fights.

Teon, also known as The Technician, showed off his skills. Gonzalez proved to be a tough opponent, never backing down from Teon. In the first round, neither fighter backed down. Both stayed in close and traded punches. But as I have noticed before, Teon is a patient fighter. He never seems to get frustrated, never tries to rush to end the fight early with a knock out. Teon fights with strategy. So many fighters early in their careers seem to be one dimensional. Teon is not one of those fighters. It is evident that Teon works the whole body of his opponent. In fact, he lands the majority of his punches on the body of his opponent.

The effects of this could be seen early in the fight. By the third round, Gonzalez was leaning on Teon’s shoulder. And Teon was easily in control of the round, backing Gonzalez to the ropes. By the sixth round, Teon was clearly in control of the fight. He was chasing Gonzalez around the ring. His body shots had produced the desired effect. Gonzalez was fighting with his hands down, mouth open, and drool coming from the open mouth. In the seventh, Teon caught Gonzalez against the ropes. It looked like he might knock down Gonzalez, but Gonzalez was able to spin out away from Teon. And at one point in the eighth, Gonzalez landed quite a few punches, looking for that knock out. But Gonzalez was not able to change the momentum of the fight. Teon had effectively taken the power away from Gonzalez. Teon won by unanimous decision.


The other great fight of the night belonged to Middleweights Patrick Majewski and Latif Mundy. This fight was a battle between two previously undefeated fighters, and it was obvious that neither wanted to lose. Majewski and Mundy have very different styles of fighting, and I thought, early on, that those differences would be to Mundy’s advantage. But Majewski is a tough fighter that does not back down, ever. That was apparent from the first round when Majewski caught Mundy with a hook to the head. Mundy, who has more of a boxing style and good defensive skills, was able to get away from trouble in those early rounds, even though Majewski kept him moving.

Early in the third round, Mundy seemed to take control of the round, landing several combinations to the body of Majewski. However, Majewski changed the momentum of the fight with a flash knock down. Although Mundy was right up, Majewski seemed to have the psychological edge. He was right back in there, trying to knock out Mundy. Mundy survived that round.

Something seemed to change after that. Mundy seemed to rely simply on his left jab, rarely throwing his right. Majewski stayed aggressive, never backing down from Mundy, even when Mundy would land a powerful punch. Mundy did start throwing the right, but he relied too much on the left for the rest of the fight. In the sixth, Mundy was able to cut Majewski above the left eye. And in the seventh, Mundy landed a series of punches that made Majewski wobble.

It was obvious that neither fighter was going to back down from the other in the eighth. Neither wanted a loss on their record. At one point, Mundy had backed Majewski against the ropes, but Majewski was able to turn the tide back in his direction. Majewski won the fight by unanimous decision.

In the first fight of the evening, Welterweight Ardrick Butler defeated Rashad Bogar. Butler threw cleaner punches, would swing first, and had more style than Bogar. In the third, Butler was able to knock down Bogar. And in a moment that seemed like something out of a comedy movie, Bogar’s trainer hit Bogar with a towel just before he exited the ring.

The second fight of the evening proved one thing. A fighter’s alias should really match what he does in the ring. The fight was between lightweights Luquan Lewis and Osnel Charles. Lewis, who uses the alias Lightning, moved very little in the first round. And he made the mistake of fighting with his hands down. In the second, he came out with several combinations in the opening seconds of the round. But like lightning, his burst of energy was over in seconds. Charles, who goes by Prince of Darkness, was a better fighter and was more in control of the fight.. The one mistake he made was when in the third round he moved himself into the corner and allowed Lewis one of those quick bursts of punches.

The third fight of the evening was between light heavyweights Garrett Wilson and Louis Robinson. Although Robinson had the obvious height advantage, he never seemed to capitalize on it. In the first round, Wilson was throwing three times the number of punches as Robinson. Wilson knocked out Robinson at 2:06 in the third.

Possibly the one surprise of the evening was the decision in the fourth fight between lightweights Jose Guzman and Eliud Torres. This was a close fight from the beginning, but both fighters showed their inexperience throughout the fight. Torres’s arsenal seemed to only consist of wide sweeping rights and lefts. But Guzman never took advantage of the time that Torres was open when he would throw these punches. And Guzman always seemed to let up too fast, never keeping the pressure on Torres. Guzman won by split decision. This was not the surprise. I scored the fight 38-38, so I expected a split decision. The surprise was that one judge saw the fight 40-36 for Guzman.

The fifth fight was between heavyweights John Poore and Jermell Barnes. This fight failed to produce any real excitement. Each fighter had their moments, but neither fighter had any momentum. When the ring announcer read the judges scores and said in favor of … someone behind me yelled Jessica, who was one of the ring girls. Although the judges scored in favor of John Poore, I think the audience had decided on a draw between ring girls Jessica and Victoria.

Three fighters stood out this night. I expect to see great things from Teon Kennedy and Patrick Majewski, and I think Latif Mundy will be back on track by his next fight too.