Buchanan Wins By Unanimous Decision; Mitchell Scores Sixth-Round TKO in DC!

Capitol Heights, MD super middleweight Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan won an eight-round unanimous decision over Norfolk, VA's Bobby Jordan, Jr. to capture the vacant WBF All-Americas Super Middleweight title in front of an overflow crowd at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC.

Fighting for the first time since his NABF/NABO title loss to Andre Ward in February, Buchanan looked like a different person as he showed hand speed and accuracy along with tremendous ring generalship, controlling the pace of the bout from bell to bell. Jordan landed some shots, but they came late in just about every round after Buchanan had done most of the damage. Buchanan landed almost every punch imaginable and while he didn't knock Jordan down in any round, Buchanan was in complete control of the contest. All three judges (David Jordan, Steve Rados and Wayne Smith) said Buchanan pitched a shutout, 80-72.

Buchanan is now 18-2, 12 KO's while Jordan falls to 6-2-1, two KO's.

The co-feature saw perhaps the best performance of undefeated Brandywine, MD heavyweight Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell who scored a demonstrative six-round TKO over veteran Jermell "The Truth" Barnes of Rochester, NY.

Many in the packed house came to see Mitchell as the heavyweight sold 400 tickets. Mitchell's fans were not disappointed as the Golden Boy Promotions signee showed everything in his arsenal, especially a solid jab and right hook. Mitchell built on his performance round-by-round until the sixth round, where he landed a 15-punch barrage that forced the stoppage of the contest at 1:12 of the round.

Mitchell is now 14-0-1, nine KO's while Barnes is now 18-23-2, four KO's.

Also on the card, Oxon Hill, MD light heavyweight Alexander "The Great" Johnson won a four-round unanimous decision over Otgonbayer Daivii of Arlington, VA. Johnson turned a relatively close bout into a rout with an impressive final round. Lloyd Scaife said Johnson pitched a shutout at 40-36 while judges Rados and Smith scored the bout 39-37. Johnson is now 8-0, three KO's and Daivii falls to an even 3-3-1, one KO.

Laurel, MD heavyweight "The Big Ticket" Dwayne McRae bounced back from his first pro loss and won a four-round unanimous decision over "The People's Champion" Jonathan Felton of Stafford, VA. McRae stayed on the offensive long enough to win his third bout over Felton. This was the first contest between the two to go the distance with judges Scaife, Rados and Smith scoring the bout 40-36. McRae is 5-1, three KO's while Felton slips to 6-19, five KO's.

In a solid four-round contest, Newport News, VA middleweight Jeremiah "The Bounty Hunter" Wiggins won a tough majority decision over DC's Antonio Walls. This was a great give-and take bout where both men landed solid shots. In the first round, Wiggins landed a combination that caused a standing eight-count on Walls. However, the DC native fought back and landed some great shots in the second round. Wiggins, however, was able to hang on to the victory. Judge Scaife saw an even bout at 38-38. Judge Rados saw Wiggins pitching a shutout at 40-35, while Judge Smith saw Wiggins winning 39-37.

With the win, Wiggins remains undefeated at 6-0-1, three KO's while Walls falls even at 2-2, one KO.

The opening contest saw the long-awaited pro debut of DC heavyweight Abodurin "Bo" Akinyanju who scored a first-round TKO over fellow debuting DC boxer Damian Richardson. Both men came in with solid amateur pedigrees-Akinyanju was a two-time national champion while Richardson was undefeated in 28 bouts. Akinyanju outweight Richardson by more than eighty pounds (293-209) and Akinyanju used his weight and strength advantage to batter Richardson all over the ring until the bout was stopped at 2:06 of the round.

Babie Girl Productions, headed by Cassandra White, served as promoter. The matchmaker was Jack Crider.

Tonight, I had double duty as reporter and father at the show, so I didn't have the opportunity to do a Post-Fight Wrap-Up (had to get the kids to bed) so here are some:

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS: After a number of shows where Babie Girl Productions head Cassandra White showed she was a good promoter, tonight she proved she is a GREAT promoter. For the second consecutive card, White gave her fans the fighters that they wanted to see. At Howard University last December, White pulled off a brilliant coup bringing in Kreshnik Qato to a crowd full of Albanian supporters to see Qato defend his WBF Middleweight title. Coincidentally, Qato made the second defense of the WBF of his title in Germany tonight.

Tonight, White and her staff outdid themselves. Anytime a promoter is forced into having to turn people away because the venue is too full, that promoter has laid serious groundwork for the cards to come. More than 100 people had to be turned away from the Washington Convention Center tonight and the venue was full of very enthusiastic fans who came there to see the action and not just to be seen. The Center was rocking all night long.

White has learned from the growing pains she suffered early on in her pro career and she has shown the entire Beltway area that boxing is still a viable enterprise in the Nation's Capital.

By the way, I do not know the full story of what happened to the proposed bout between Seth Mitchell and Bert Cooper. Apparently, Mitchell's promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, pulled the plug on that bout. I don't want to say anymore on this without hearing Golden Boy's side of things, but this affected White greatly as she emotionally attempted to explain what happened to the fans tonight.

As far as the performances go, if Henry Buchanan looked the way he did tonight against Bobby Jordan when he fought Andre Ward, he may not have won that bout, but it would have been a much tougher contest. Buchanan looked like he did early in his career -- fast and accurate. I'm not surprised he didn't knock out Jordan because Jordan is very tough, but I was a little surprised it was as easy as it seemed. Buchanan just outworked and was a lot faster than Jordan.

Seth Mitchell was the fighter of the night, in my opinion. Mitchell beat a tough veteran in Jermell Barnes who has been in the ring with quality cruisers and heavies and Mitchell took care of business. It was his best performance of his young pro career.

It took almost the entire four-rounds for Alexander Johnson to figure out the awkward style of Otgonbayer Daivii, but once he did, he let a serious barrage go that put a nice punctuation mark on the contest.

I was happy to see the third Dwayne McRae-Jonathan Felton bout go the four-round distance. McRae stayed on offense throughout and didn't get tired late in the bout like he did during his first pro loss in Westminster back in July. As far as Felton is concerned, there were no antics and Felton fought a clean bout, albeit in survival mode most of the way.

We have been blessed along the Beltway to see some outstanding four-round contests in 2009 and the Jeremiah Wiggins-Antonio Walls bout joins that list. Both guys fought their hearts out. Despite the disparity in the judge's scores, when ring announcer Discombobulating Jones asked the fans if they wanted to see a rematch, the response was one of the most positive and vocal I've heard in quite some time. I think we'll see a rematch.

If Abodurin Akinyanju continues with the power he showed against Damian Richardson, he will put a lot of folks on notice early. Once he learns the pro style, it will be very interesting to follow his career. By the way, Akinyanju and Richardson bring the total number of Beltway Boxers making their pro debuts this year to 23. I can't remember this many boxers starting their careers in a single year.