Sammy Vasquez Wins Over Emmanuel Lartey At Pride Of Pittsburgh III
By Larry Snyder
The Western Pennsylvania fans of the Sweet Science witnessed undefeated welterweight Sammy Vasquez (18-0, 13 KOs) take care of business Friday night, and record an undisputed ten round unanimous decision over Emmanuel Lartey (17-3-1, 8 KOs) at Consol Energy Center.
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Judges Dana DePaola scored it 100-90 for the Monessen native, while George Kachulis and Phil Rogers both had it 99-91 in favor of the 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran.
Those in attendance observed that Vasquez used a two-inch advantage in height and a one-inch advantage in reach throughout the bout as he walked Lartey into the corners and threw a right jab that set up his devastating left hand.
According to the statisticians at CompuBox, Vasquez landed 35 percent of his total punches, 237 of 680, while Lartey connected on just 16 percent, 92 of 578.
The evening did see Vasquez’ streak of nine consecutive wins by knockout come to an end. It was the first time in almost two years the “Who Can? Mexican!” fighter did not achieve victory by knockout. His last unanimous decision was May 2013 against Ben Ankrah at the Rostraver Ice Garden in Belle Vernon, Penna.
Lartey, 33, on the other hand was able to come away from the bout still never having been either knocked down or out.
The Pride Of Pittsburgh III’s main event was televised as part of the ShoBox: The New Generation series on the Showtime cable and satellite network.
Showtime had this to say on social media…
. @SteveFarhood on Sammy Vasquez - "He's not on the level of @ErrolSpenceJr or @realworldkidali yet, but by the end of year, he might be."
— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) February 21, 2015
The upset on Friday’s card saw undefeated light heavyweight Craig Baker (16-0, 12 KOs) score a second round TKO over Humberto Savigne, who was ranked No. 3 by the WBC. Baker, 31, combined a flurry of punches that sent Savigne to the canvas face first. The 36-year-old Savigne (12-2, 9 KOs) was able to get to his feet, but staggered around the ring. The fight was stopped by referee Ernie Sharif at 1:58.
The third featured bout from Goossen Promotions saw WBA No. 7 rated featherweight Claudio Marrero (18-1, 13 KOs) score four knockdowns in an eight round unanimous decision over Orlando Rizo (18-6, 11 KOs). The 25-year-old Marrero dropped the 30-year-old Rizo once in round two, two times in round three and one more time in round five. The judges score cards had it 78-71, 78-70, 80-68 in favor of Marrero.
The remainder of the competitions saw lightweight Argenis Mendez retire Daniel Evangelista Jr in the sixth round of a 10 round matchup…Super welterweight Yudel Jhonson claimed an eight round 79-74, 79-73 75-77 split decision over Pablo Munguia…In another battle between welterweights, Bryant Perrella stopped Justin Johnson in the fourth round of a scheduled six rounder…Undefeated 18-year-old Milton Santiago took the decision over Jose Valderrama 60-53, 60-52, 59-54 in a six round super lightweight bout…There was a clash of super featherweights with Gervonta Davis knocking out Israel Suarez in the first round of a six round meeting…Samuel Figueroa captured the judge’s cards 39-37, 40-36, 40-36 over James Robinson after four rounds of super welterweight contest…Kareem Martin stopped Cole Milani in round one of a four round welterweight session in the night’s opening fight.
From The Clipboard: Vasquez’s first fight was a second round TKO April 2012 over Clifford Gregory at the Courttime Sports Complex in Elizabeth, Penna.
The busy fighter defeated six boxers in 2014: Jamar Freeman (TKO) in February; Berlin Abreau (TKO) in February; Juan Rodriguez (TKO) in April; Jay Krupp (TKO) in June; James Stevenson (TKO) in August; and Alberto Mosquera (KO) in November.