Fightnews.com Report on Ballroom!

Here is a complete report on what took place at Michael's Eighth Avenue from my writing colleague, "Priceless" Steve Price of Fightnews.com.


Baltimore banger, Ishmail Arvin, trudged his way to a six round unanimous decision victory over shifty Chicagoan, David Estrada last night at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, MD in the Middleweight main event.

The co-main witnessed skillful Welterweight, Tim Coleman of Baltimore boxing his way to a six round unanimous decision victory over Taurus "Mushin" Corbbrey of Bluffton, SC.

When boxing enthusiast think of Baltimore boxing icons, the first names that come to mind are Hasim "The Rock" Rahman and Vincent "The Ambassador" Pettway who both have won world titles at Heavyweight and Junior Middleweight, respectively. Baltimore or B-more as some like to call it, known for its blue collar atmosphere, and tough as nails mentality may have found some new upstarts that may one day bring another championship or two to "Charm City."

Looking to shake off some ring rust after a seven month layoff due to a bad cut over his left eye suffered in a bout in November of 2005, Ishmail "The Arsenal" Arvin, 162 lbs., hoped to make a major splash back onto the boxing scene.

His opponent, David Estrada, 161 lbs., was looking to make Arvin's return an uneventful one.

Both fighters came out in the first round jabbing, with most of the pressure being applied by Arvin.

In the second round a hard right hand by Arvin staggered Estrada who immediately complained to the referee that he was hit behind the head, but to no avail. The blow seemed to affect Estrada's equilibrium for most of the bout. Towards the end of the round, a seemingly overwhelmed Estrada uncorked four consecutive right hands that hurt Arvin at the end of the round.

The middle rounds possessed good action in spurts with most of the damage doled out by each fighter coming in the form of right hand bombs. Some swelling began to form under Arvin's left eye in the fourth round, courtesy of Estrada right hands.

The last round was clearly the best round of the fight with both warriors hurling punches with bad intentions. A left hook by Arvin hurt Estrada and the end looked near. Amazingly, Estrada recovered and hurt Arvin with a hard right hand-left hook combo, warranting cries for more from an appreciative crowd.

However, Estrada's heroics were not enough in the eyes of the judges as Arvin was declared the winner by scores of 59-55, 60-54, and 60-55. PSP scored the contest 58-55 for Arvin.

With the win Arvin's record goes to 13-0-2 6 Ko's while Estrada's drops to 9-7-0 7 Ko's.

Arvin - "I figured that the right hand would be the punch to beat him with, I kept catching him with it. He caught me with some good shots, but I wasn't hurt. I should have boxed more, but I was anxious, because I haven't been in the ring for a while. I haven't been getting enough sparring lately as well. I would like to get back in the ring as soon as possible."

Arguably, the best overall performance of Baltimore hopefuls this night was by crafty Welterweight, Tim Coleman.

Coleman, 145 lbs., came out jabbing and employing a steady body attack on his opponent Taurus Corbbrey, 148 lbs., who was content with dancing and flicking out jabs.

The action picked up in the second round when Coleman, boxing nicely, placed a well timed right hand to the jaw of Corbbrey that rattled the South Carolina boxer.

Coleman continued to display outstanding skills in the middle rounds, landing 1-2 combinations, jabs, and crisp body shots.

Corbbrey came alive in the fourth and realized that Coleman tended to keep his right hand down and began to deliver some left hook counters, one of which stood Coleman up. Coleman recuperated from the blow and boxed effectively for the remainder of the round.

The last round was huge for Coleman as he unleashed every punch imaginable on his opponent, hurting him with a left hook and almost dropping a wobbly Corbbrey with a barrage of punches. Corbbrey gamely fought back and held on to hear the final bell.

Coleman was announced the winner by scores of 59-54, and 59-55 twice. PSP scored the bout 60-54 for Coleman. Coleman's record jumps to 5-0-0 1 Ko and Corbbrey sees his record dive to 4-2-1, 1 Ko. Coleman is definitely a fighter to keep an eye out for in the future.

Coleman - "I was happy with my performance tonight. I need to stop dropping my right hand though. I just came back from camp with Emmanuel Steward and Jermain Taylor, so I was prepared. He was a bigger fighter than what I am used to fighting. Usually when I hit guys my size with those shots, they go. I had to eat before the weigh-in to get my weight higher for this fight. I am moving back down to Junior Welterweight. I want to get back in the ring as soon as possible."

Coach Crawford(Coleman's trainer) - "He had an excellent training camp and he was very. He wants to fight ten rounders against the big boys. He'll continue to grow and learn from the tough fights."

Another Baltimore pugilist who continues to impress in local circles is Tyrell Samuel.
Samuel brought his record to 7-0-0 5 Ko's with an impressive one shot knockout over veteran Margarito Lopez, Philladelphia via Puebla, Mexico.

Margarito may have won the first round of the Featherweight bout by simply staying busier.

In the second round, sensing that Margarito could not hurt him, Samuel stepped up the pace and registered a series of stinging jabs and a serious body attack to the Mexican warrior. A well placed lefthook to the liver by Samuel dropped Lopez hard. Referee Kenny Chevalier reached the count of ten 2:12 of the round with no problem. Lopez falls to 8-16-1 3 Ko's.

In the curtain raising bout, Chris Edmonds, Cincinatti overcame two first round knockdowns to KO exhausted Brandon Artis, Capron, VA., in a Super Middleweight battle. Referee John Gradowski called off the bout at 2:05 of the round. Edmonds evens off his record with the win at 2-2-0 2 Ko's and Artis loses his pro debut.

Scott Wagner was the promoter and Chris Middendorf was the matchmaker.