Farah Ennis patiently pummels Lares in Atlantic City!

Farah Ennis wins NABF Title / Philly Keith Sports - Paul Dempsey

On November 19. 2010 at Harrah’s Resort & Casino in Atlantic City, Farah Ennis (17-0, 11ko’s) of Germantown scored three knockdowns en route to a 7th round stoppage win over Victor Lares (15-5, 4ko’s) of Corpus Christi, TX – which earned him the vacant NABF Super Middleweight title.

Lares has a couple of decent spurts but overall was no match for his younger foe who took his time to find the right spots to operate. Ennis stayed on the outside for most of the opening rounds and then accepted Lares challenge when the Texas native decided to go for broke and get inside. It turned out to be a mistake for Lares as he got dropped in the midst of putting forth his best work somewhere in round 5.

Ennis turned up the heat in round 7, dropping Lares with a hard looping right – a shot that gave the referee no option but to call a halt to the battle.

In the co-feature, “The Gentleman” Chazz Witherspoon (28-2, 20ko’s) of South Jersey scored a stoppage win over Alexis Mejias (11-6, 5ko’s) of Paterson, NJ.

The undercard was extremely one-sided as Super Featherweight Keenan Smith (3-0, 1ko) of Philadelphia, PA, Light Heavyweight Lavarn “Baby Bowe” Harvell (7-0, 3 KO’s) of Atlantic City; Super Middleweight Joel De La Paz (6-0, 4 KO’s) of Atlantic City; Joey Tiberi (2-0, 1 KO) all won.

Farah Ennis goes for Gold in Atlantic City!

Team Ennis / www.phillykeith.com

All of a sudden, Philly boxers are becoming kings of the regional title. United States championships, North American titles, the Inter-Continental belt & more, we have a stake in all of them. On November 19, 2010 at Harrah’s Resport & Casino in Atlantic City, Farah Ennis (16-0, 10ko’s) of Germantown looks to add his name to the growing list of local boxers who have achieved status as the best in their weigh class in a certain geographical area. In his first out of town main event, “The Quiet Storm” will take on Victor Lares (15-4, 4ko’s) of Corpus Christi, TX for a scheduled 12 rounder for the NABF Super Middleweight title.

It is a virtual shoe-in that Ennis will bring home the hardware and add to the growing collection of titles won within the Ennis camp. More importantly, the winner of this match will receive a top 15 rating in the world, inching that particular person towards the types of fights that will get their name out there on a national level. Ennis has recently caught the eye of the suits at ShoBox – who recently added his name to the list of up and coming prospects at 168 lbs. It is widely expected that Ennis will prove once again that the lower to mid-range type of opponent is no match for his talents. After this – it is about that time someone puts Farah on TV!

Derek Ennis wins a classic at The Blue Horizon!

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photo by Kenny White - April 2, 2010 – It’s been an interesting week in the City that Loves you Back.  Nationally, Philly was put on the hot seat – again. This time we were the focus due to internet phenomenon branded as a ”flash mob”. With instances of kids wilding out on South Street and randoms joining together to stand still for a whole three minutes at 30th street station all taped and posted on YouTube – people from all spectrums of the arena couldn’t wait to chime in on what they thought were the possible reasons behind these pointless acts.

 Locally, Mayor Nutter and city technology head Allan Frank officially entered the city into the running as a potential testing grounds for Google’s upcoming high-speed gigabit network project.  In an attempt to lure the internet giant to our turf – Philly has been temporarily rebranded as “The City of Googley Love”.  If selected, Philadelphia would take on a unique project that intended to offer unheard of bandwidth capabilities that in theory could make Philly the Silicon valley of the east coast. This would attract businesses, create jobs, improve schools and give unprecedented internet access to anyone with a laptop.

Under the radar of mainstream media, Germantown native Derek “Pooh” Ennis (21-2-1, 13ko’s) turned in another Fight of the Year candidate at The Legendary Blue Horizon.  Coming into the night, just about everyone in the know thought that the he reigning 154 lb USBA Jr. Middleweight champion would be involved in a “stay busy” fight – one that would keep him fresh until his first official defense of the title that he won in this same building in November of last year.

Fights Return to The Blue Horizon April 2, 2010…

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Boxing returns to the Legendary Blue Horizon this Friday night but I must say – this card was very poorly constructed. Step it up Elbaum – these tickets are expensive!

In the main event – Philly’s lone headliner Derek “Pooh” Ennis (20-2-1, 13ko’s) will face last minute sub Jose Adelaydo Gonzalez (13-6-1, 11ko’s) of Garden City, Kansas in a 10 round non-title bout. Ennis is the USBA 154 lb champ and many are anxiously awaiting for him to defend the title. Manager Moz Gonzales says that multiple attempts were made to attract a USBA top 15 opponent but were unsuccessful due to issues with purse request, IBF approval or previous obligation. Team Ennis hopes to get back at it in about 6 weeks after this match. Gonzales has pulled off some last minute trouble in the past. Two years ago he stepped in on short notice to give the then undefeated Jason LeHoullier fits. For his effort he received a draw in a match everyone said he won.

In the co-feature, undefeated Light Heavyweight Farah Ennis (12-0, 6ko’s) will take on Frankie Santos (17-8-4, 8ko’s) of Puerto Rico for an 8 rounder. Santos was originally scheduled to box Derek Ennis but will now jump up two weight classes to face the rising prospect.

Bryant Jennings takes on John Bolden in a four rounder Heavyweight contest.

A lot of fall outs, a lot of changes on this card. Then again – these are the times when you get surprised with s good card so who knows what to expect…

Farah Ennis wins in Maryland!

On June 19, 2009 Germantown’s Farah Ennis (11-0, 5ko’s) went to Salisbury, Maryland to put his spotless pro record on the line and won an 8 round unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Bobby Jordan (6-1, 2ko’s) of Virginia in what turned out to be the evenings most competitive two-way contest.

It pace was slow and steady in the beginning as both seemed to be conserving energy for the first 8 rounder of their career but after round 4 these two got at it. It was close down the stretch but Ennis clearly took the final two rounds, combating an aggressive Jordan with movement but also staying in the pocket when the time was right to land stiff combinations upstairs. Ennis also showed some chin as he was hit cleanly more than once but never appeared to be in trouble.

Ennis continues make his case as one of the best young fighters coming out of the city. You can judge for yourself by coughing up $5 and going to www.prizefighttv.com where you can watch this entire card.

April 2009 Philly Top 10 Pound for Pound Lists!

Discuss at http://phillykeith.com/fightforum/index.php?topic=729.0

photo by Mike “Teek” McGuigan

It has been a while since I put together a Philly top 10 list and in that time it is still pretty obvious who is #1 in the town, that would be B-Hop. But in the past year there has been a lot of activity amongst the rank and file who made moves to get to the top. Some succeeded, some failed, some have rebounded and others are on their way.

This time around I give you two lists. First is a national Philly top 10 pound for pound which gives my ranking to those from this area who are either champions, within title contention or TV fighters. These guys are all over the world and are known industry names.

The next list is themed “21 & Under” ranking the Philly pros with 21 pro fights or less. These fights can take place anywhere in the world. This list tracks the activity of the young pros who seem to be on their way to making big moves in the boxing circuit within the next few years. These rankings are based on pro performance and potential, not solely on amateur career.

This was done as a replacement for the local top 10 list that ranked boxers competing within city limits. There was just not enough activity to compile one. Take a look and feel free to send any feedback to me via email.

http://phillykeith.com/nationaltop10April09.htm

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you can email Philly Keith at keith@phillykeith.com

Go to www.phillykeith.com for up to the minute info on the Philly boxing scene