Friday night at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, ROC Nation Sports holds its debut boxing card with a nine bout show being billed as “Throne Boxing”. The card is the first in a three show deal with Fox Sports 1, and will also feature entertainment from ROC Nation musical artist Fabolous and DJ Mustard. Emceeing the event will be the “Voice of New York”, Brooklyn’s Angie Martinez of Power 105.1 FM radio.
Headlining the nights show are welterweights Dusty Hernandez-Harrison (24-0, 13 KO’s) and Long Island’s Tommy “The Razor” Rainone (22-5-1, 4 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout for the vacant WBC Continental Americas welterweight title. Fighting out of Washington D.C., the 20 year old Harrison took to the pro ranks at just after his 17th birthday. A veteran of over 200 amateur contests, he’s already won the Delaware State and WBC Youth Sliver welterweight titles, and is considered among the division’s top young prospects. He’s coming in off a first round knockout over former three division regional title holder Michael Clark in November.
Tommy Rainone is a well-known fighter in the New York/Long Island area, and the current USBO welterweight title holder. The Plainview southpaw may appear to be beyond his prime at 34 years old, but he’s a durable boxer who’s never been knocked down or stopped in his 28 pro outings. He’s fought multiple times on the untelevised portions of major fight cards but TV time for him has been limited; being one half on the main event in a nationally televised fight card will be a huge motivator. As he stated in an interview with Ringtv, he plans on wrapping up his pro career in the next two years, and beating a top prospect on national television could make those last two years the best of his career.
This looks to be an entertaining match up with both boxers facing their best opposition to date. Both fight in a similar fashion: slick boxers that stay busy and work behind the jab. Harrison has the edge in punching power but with Rainone’s solid chin, this bout will more than likely be a battle of skills that goes the distance.
In another 10 round contest, WBC Continental Americas middleweight champion, Tureano Johnson (17-1, 12 KO’s) faces Alex Theran (17-1, 10 KO’s) for the vacant WBA International middleweight title with Johnson’s belt also on the line. Johnson’s lone defeat came this past April when he faced Curtis Stevens. Ahead on the cards in the final round, he was stopped in the final minute of the bout, with Johnson and others disagreeing with the referee’s decision. He’s since won three straight, the last two coming by TKO.
Theran comes in off a sixth round RTD win, but one bout prior, the former WBA Fedalatin and WBC Latino middleweight title holder was dropped twice by undefeated Arif Magomedov en route to an RTD 3 loss. He’s been past the sixth round on just on occasion.
Welterweights Chris van Heerden (21-1-1, 11 KO’s) and Cecil McCalla (20-0, 7 KO’s) round out the 10 round attractions in a bout for the vacant IBF International welterweight title. Van Heerden is a former IBO welterweight champion coming in on a seven fight winning streak. Among those fights are wins over Kaizer Mabuza, Sebastian Lujan, Matthew Hatton, Cosme Rivera, and Ray Narh. This is McCalla’s first title contest and first scheduled 10 rounder.
Also scheduled on the card are super middleweights Jerry Odom (12-0, 11 KO’s) facing Andrew Hernandez (7-0-1, 1 KO) and lightweight Kenneth Sims Jr. (4-0, 2 KO’s) meets Christian Steele (4-11-2, 1 KO), both bouts scheduled for six rounds.
In four round openers, Dustin Fleischer makes his pro debut against light welterweight Frank Jordan (0-2), Zhang Zhilei (1-0, 1 KO) faces Hassan Lee (5-4, 1 KO), Eduardo Martinez (4-0, 1 KO) and Rigoberto Miranda (0-2-2) square off in a featherweight bout, and light welterweight Wellington Arias Romero (4-0-1, 2 KO’s) meets Lee Kreisher (3-6-1, 2 KO’s).