Baltimore Prospects Win in Woodlawn!

Undefeated Baltimore, MD middleweight Tony “Cyclone” Cygan registered an eight-round unanimous decision over James “The Heat” North of Weston, WVA in the main event at Martin’s West in Woodlawn, MD.

Despite being the shorter of the two boxers, Cygan was able to repeatedly get inside North’s longer reach. Cygan landed numerous left hand leads and right crosses. North proved to be a crafty veteran as his side-to-side movement helped him stay in the contest, but he wasn’t as active with his punches as Cygan garnered a victory in his first eight-round encounter.

“He was hard to hit at times,” Cygan said. “I wasn’t angry but I had a tough time sticking to my game plan at times.”

Judge John Gradowski saw the bout 77-75. Judge Bill Holmes scored the contest 78-74 while Judge Malik Waleed scored the bout 79-73. My unofficial scorecard, I guess,saw a totally different bout. I saw Cygan pitching a shutout at 80-72.

Cygan raised his record to 9-0, six KO’s. North’s record falls to 7-9-1 with two KO’s.

I talked to Cygan and he said he wasn't totally upset with not getting the knockout. That just won't happen all the time. Cygan did what he wanted to do for the most part in there and went on to win. Good performance.

In the co-feature bout, undefeated heavyweight “The American Dream” Mike Dietrich of Baltimore made short work of Urbandale, Iowa’s Mike “Mini Van” Van Meer with a first round TKO.

Dietrich easily found a home for his left hand as he landed numerous left uppercuts and hooks against his overmatched opponent. Dietrich dropped Van Meer three times – all with left hands – before referee John Gradowski stopped the contest at 2:55 of the first.

Dietrich is now 7-0, three KO’s. Van Meer is 1-2, 1 KO.

In other bouts on the card, Pasadena, MD super middleweight Mike “The Persecutor” Paschall won a gutsy six-round unanimous decision over Don “The Wildman” Schrock of Middletown, OH.

Paschall was able to control the bout through the entire six-round bout despite suffering a broken right hand during the second round. By the fifth round, the right hand was virtually useless. However, Paschall’s movement and ring generalship carried him to a relatively easy win, his first six-round victory.

One judge did call it close, however. Judge Kenny Chevalier saw the bout 58-57. Another judge, John Gradowski, said Paschall pitched a shutout at 60-54. Judge Don Risher saw the bout 59-55, the same as I did.

Paschall is now 7-0, two KO’s. Schrock is now 2-3, one KO.


Baltimore heavyweight Jed “The Punisher” Phipps scored one of the more impressive victories of his career as registered a sixth-round TKO over Dan “The Mean Machine” Whetsel of Toledo, OH.

Throughout the fight, Phipps was trying to land a big right hand. Phipps repeatedly used his jab to set up that right hand.

Finally in the sixth, Phipps landed the right hand that stuns Whetsel and sends him to the ropes. Phipps landed repeated blows that force referee Bill Holmes to stop the contest at 2:04 of the round.

Phipps is now 16-3, nine KO’s while Whetsel is 6-5-1, three KO’s.

Toledo, OH’s “Devastatin’” Devin Vargas lived up to his nickname as he starched Albert Newberry of Ottumwa, IA in the first round of a heavyweight bout.

Vargas, the captain of the 2004 United States Olympic Team, wasted no time after he deflected Newberry brief onslaught. Vargas caught Newberry with a short right hand and dropped him.

Seconds later, Vargas landed a crushing left hand that stiffened Newberry and sent him to the canvas with a sickening thud. Referee John Gradowski immediately stopped the contest at just 30 seconds of the first. Newberry lay on the canvas for about five minutes before he was able to leave the ring under his own power.

Vargas remained undefeated with the victory. His record stands at 7-0, four KO’s. Newberry falls to 3-2, two KO’s.

In the opening bout, two Maryland cruiserweights – Eddie “Lightnin’ Diablo” Otts of Salisbury and Derek Sierra of Silver Spring -- fought to an entertaining four-round draw.
Neither man was able to gain his first pro victory during the bout as they traded punches with equal success. Otts is now 0-1-1 while Sierra is 0-3-2.

Baltimore Pro Boxing, headed by Jake Smith, served as promoter for the bout. The matchmaker is Josh Hall.

A few observations:

1. It has been a boatload of fun watching the development of guys like Tony Cygan, Mike Paschall and Mike Dietrich. Cygan and Paschall, especially, have truly developed into prospects that people REALLY need to watch out for in 2006.

When you add Cygan, Paschall and Dietrich to names like Mike Ricasa, Russ Shifflett and Adam Bloom, plus those like Ishmail Arvin, Maxell Taylor and Cory Cummings, the Baltimore side of the Beltway has things really cooking.

2. If this performance is any indication, you may want to throw Jed Phipps' name back into the mix. This latest performance was I thought, Phipps's best that I have seen in his career. He had the jab working on this night and, although he still got caught more times than he should, he still put on a solid performance.

There is some serious talk about a possible matchup between Mike Dietrich and Jed Phipps. Both guys REALLY want this bout and it could happen sometime in May.

3. If that bout does happen, it will be because Jake Smith and Josh Hall made it happen. Right now, Jake Smith is the man when it comes to promoting in Baltimore.

I will get into this situation in detail later on, but suffice it to say, Smith has stolen a lot of thunder from Scott Wagner and Ballroom Boxing at this stage.

4. I said this a couple of posts back, but it bears repeating. The Maryland State Athletic Commission has done an outstanding job this year. 17 pro boxing cards this year; no other part of the Beltway came close. Just an outstanding first class job by this commission. We are very fortunate.

That was the last boxing card of the year for the Beltway. In the next couple of weeks here, I will be looking back at 2005 along the Beltway as well as what I feel lies ahead for 2006.