On Friday night, August 22, at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, two new World Boxing Federation (WBF) Champions were crowned in the two main bouts on Thunder At The Forum Round 2, presented by Panda 5 Star Promotions.
In the main event, Chevelle “Fist Of Steel” Hallback proved that she is still one of the best female fighters on the planet, as she won the vacant WBF Womens World Welterweight title in an action-packed and exciting bout against former foe Victoria Cisneros.
Hallback defeated Cisneros by split decision in 2010, but this time she would not leave it to the judges. Both boxers put on a great show, and both showed a lot of determination, but it would be local favorite Hallback who came out on top.
Scoring often with her overhand right, Hallback eventually proved to be the stronger of the two, and as the rounds passed she took more and more control while the usually durable Cisneros began to look vulnerable and unable to fend off her aggressive foe.
After plenty of toe-to-toe action, the end came in round eight when Hallback connected again with several overhand rights to hurt Cisneros, who was no longer able to defend herself and was consequently stopped on her feet before another power-punch could do more serious damage. Official time of stoppage was 1:49.
After a very impressive performance, the new WBF World Champion improved her professional record to 30-8-2 (13), while Cisneros, falls to a very misleading 11-16-2 (4), having been stopped only three times previously.
In the second World Boxing Federation title fight on the card, former world champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley stopped last minute substitute Dedrick Bell in the second round to win the vacant North America Light Welterweight crown.
Corley was originally scheduled to fight David Rodela, but when Rodela pulled out only a few days before the fight, Bell stepped in on one days notice. With victories in his last two bouts, Bell came to win, but just couldn’t cope with the experience and skills of Southpaw Corley.
With a resume that includes a regular who’s-who of the biggest names in the sport, Corley is now 41-22-1 (25) since turning professional in 1996. Bell, ten years the younger man at 30 and a pro since 2009, travels back to Memphis at 12-20-1 (7).
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
