DETROIT – It was The Darkside Boxing Promotions fight night at Detroit’s Masonic Temple-Jack White Auditorium. The night was presented by the ever-contentious and controversial Ron Cameron and his SportsTalk radio show. The scheduled times were blown out, the show starting late and it was obvious the organization was not organized and they had no backup plan.
Fans were not happy that two of the featured fights were cancelled, especially when no explanations were given. Even so, there was a special highlight, but not boxing. Powerful singer Whitney LaShee’ was great, especially her version of the National Anthem.
In boxing, there was a spirited undercard match, in which Chris Franks of Traverse City, Michigan improved his budding pro record to 1-1-1. He did that with a TKO over Canadian boxer, Steve Rainford of London, Ontario.
Chris Franks gave Rainford a nose bleed, and he didn’t let it dry up. Rainford’s corner crew were unable to stem the flow of blood and Franks’ persevering mechanics made it continue. In the third round, the referee only had one possible action, and that was to stop the contest.
Franks showcased a good methodical style, with continued shots to Rainford’s face. Rainford wasn’t happy about the halt to the match – he wanted to continue. After the match, he said, “I wish we could have continued, I really believe we were even at the time.”
Although things didn’t go exactly to plan for the promoters, the Masonic Temple-Jack White Auditorium was a great venue.
Steve Bujaj, the cruiserweight from Brooklyn, New York had a great comeback, in his first fight since his lone loss to Winky Wright last year. This fight took Bujaj to 13-1, 9 of them KO’s, by taking an eight round unanimous decision over Zack Page of Warren, Ohio.
Two boxers didn’t get to fight. Lane Staal, a middleweight formerly out of Grand Rapids and now out of Canton, Michigan, who now trains at the Clark Street Gym in Detroit, remained at 11-1-1, when his opponent didn’t show up.
Juan Goode, the Heavyweight out of Taylor, Michigan, remained at 6-0, after his opponent was a no-show.
Manager Jackie Kallen of Hands on Boxing, coaxed another four round unanimous decision from Dorrell VanHorn, the Detroit super middleweight. VanHorn, now 49, won over Cameron Allen, which took him to to 7-0, with 5 KO’s. VanHorn should now test himself with longer and stronger scheduled fights.
In a light middleweight match, William Hill gained a unanimous decision over Peter Bianca of Toronto, Ontario, in a four rounder. Rick Graham forced a first round TKO over Trav Wilson of Grand Rapids, with a flurry of unanswered 1-2’s. That took Graham, a light middleweight, to 1-4-2.
www.darksideboxing.com
