Sports Desk
Saturday night was fight night at the New England Sports Center in Derry, NH with undefeated lightweight prospect “Saint” Nick Molina of Lowell headlining on the “Slugfest” card and out-boxing “The Outlaw” Ryan Venable (2-11) on his way to a 6-round split decision (58-55, 57-56, 56-57).
In the co-featured event, Julien “Black Dragon” Baptiste (3-2, 2 KOs), of Woburn, Massachusetts and Whitman, Massachusetts middleweight Brian Urday (2-1, 0 KOs) stole the show but it was Urday who emerged as the 6-round split decision winner.
Former New England Heavyweight Champion Justin “Crazy Train” Rolfe (7-3-1, 5 KOs), fighting out of Fairfield, Maine, overpowered his Mexican opponent Fabian “El Lobo” Valdez (3-7 (0 KOs) for a second-round win by TKO.
Boston heavyweight Viktor “The Siberian Express” Lobov (1-0, 1 KO) was too big and strong for Andrew Nolan (0-4), flooring his opponent three times en route to a first-round technical knockout victory.
New Bedford, Massachusetts light heavyweight Edet “Papito” Mkpanam (6-0, 4 KOs) returned to the ring for the first time in 16 months against pro-debuting Igor Pessoa. The end of this fight came in the third when Mkpanam dropped Pessoa and the fight was stopped by the referee.
In his pro debut, Providence welterweight Michael Vongsavath, Jr. came out firing stiff combinations versus his Rhode Island rival from Tiverton, John Ferrera (0-3), who went down on the canvas from a left hook in round one. A right uppercut dropped Ferrera early in the second round, visibly hurt and unable to beat the count.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts super middleweight prospect Steve Sumpter opened the show with a second-round stoppage of Kynndale Prather (3-12, 1 KO) in a battle of dueling southpaws. Sumpter kept his perfect pro record intact, improving to 5-0 with his fifth knockout in as many fights as a professional, and he closed the show in style with a single shot to his opponent’s head.
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