[Ringside by Pattee Mak]
On March 9, 2012, the long awaited bout that had so much buzz between professional boxer and hometown favorite Dustin Reinhold of Fall River, Massachusetts fought a tuff 4 round fight against Jose “YAYO” Ortiz of Springfield, Massachusetts at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. Finally the story can be told.
Round 1 and 2, Reinhold dominated the rounds. Beginning of round 3, both fighters came out swinging. Towards the end of Round 4, Reinhold and Ortiz had an accidental headbutt, which resulted in a cut over the right eye of Reinhold. The referee stopped the bout for a short period of time. At the same time an over zealous Ortiz waited in the corner and yelled out to the crowd “Let’s Fight!!”. The fight continued and it went the distance. All three Judges scored the fight 40-36.
Reinhold increased his record to 5-2-0 and Ortiz decreased his record to 4-7-1.
Before the fight I spoke to Ortiz and asked him how he felt going into the fight. He stated “I feel excited and I can’t wait to fight to get my grove on in the ring”. His cornerman, Ray Graceski (1-0-0) stated “Ortiz is ready to turn his career around”.
Also on the card of “Who’s Next?” Big Six Entertainment presented the following bouts?
The 2004 U.S. Olympian Jason “Big Six” Estrada of Providence, Rhode Island vs “Diamond” Dominique Alexander of Topeka, Kansas headlined the main event entitled “Who’s Next?”. Estrada won by KO, Round 2, 1 minute, 29 seconds.
Rich Gingras vs. Adam Harris. Winner Gingras, Round 2, 1 minute, 3 seconds by KO.
Kali Reis vs. Marva Dash. Winner Reis by UD. All 3 judges scored it 40-36.
Joe Gardner vs. Rameil Shelton. Winner Gardner by UD. Judges scored it 39-37, 39-37 and 40-36.
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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.
