Indy Boxing: Curtis Hill Jr Wins Title; Jeff Camp Stuns With KO

Indianapolis, IN – CBA Promotions treated Circle City boxing fans to a loaded night of fights at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Saturday night August 27th, with the action culminating in Indy’s Curtis Hill Jr. capturing the state’s light heavyweight title. Several Indiana fighters impressed onlookers with their performances including junior middleweight Saadallah Aitammeemi, light heavyweight Ray Lucies, and junior welterweight Andrew Rodgers. However, Dayton, OH southpaw welterweight Jeff Camp silenced the crowd with his explosive second round knockout of veteran Agustin Cicero.

Saturday night also included some impressive performances from several fighters the event’s program indicated were fighting out of Mexico – Altair Tapia, Pablo Sanchez, and middleweights Jose Lavier Guzman and Rafael Garcia.

Hometown favorite Curtis “The Incredible” Hill Jr. (8-0, 4 KO’s) made his entrance wearing his signature gladiator mask, and the crowd cheered wildly as he circled the ring before settling in the corner opposite his opponent Kolmarge Harris (2-17, KO’s) of Lansing, Michigan. After referee Curt Spivey gave the two fighters their final instructions the bell sounded, and Hill quickly assumed control of the fight. Hill landed a jab to the body to start things off, then connected with a short right in a clinch that seemed to stagger Harris. The blow carried Harris into his corner where Hill followed up with a couple of shots before the ref awkwardly halted the action and separated the fighters for some unknown reason.

Once the two fighters resumed fighting Hill landed a left-right hook combination to the body before catching Harris with a big right hook to the head that sent Harris back into his corner. Harris spent the next minute of the fight in survival mode finding himself on the end of several power punches from Hill – both to the head and body. After leaving himself open with some lazy left jabs Harris found himself under heavy fire again as Hill’s pressure sent Harris staggering into a neutral corner where a powerful combination was landed that forced Spivey to step in and wave off the fight. Hill’s corner men rushed into the ring to celebrate their new champion.

The event’s lone Ohioan, southpaw Jeff “The Nightmare” Camp (2-2-1, 2 KO’s), returned to the Hoosier state still looking to avenge a 2015 unanimous decision loss to Elkart, Indiana’s Andrew Rodgers at the Tyndall Armory. Camp faced a significant experience disadvantage in the match up with Agustin Cicero (7-11-3) who entered the fight with nearly 80 professional rounds. Camp opened the first round with an efficient attack, seemingly keeping Cicero at bay with his quickness, and near the end of the round while backing up he dropped an impressive check right hook on Cicero during one of the few moments the Indiana fighter tried to press forward. As Cicero made his way to his corner after the bell, his trainers told him he could not continue to wait and not be first against the less seasoned opponent.

Camp started the second round looking more comfortable as his right hand was noticeably lowered compared to his stance in the first round. In the locker room Camp said the hand was lowered because he caught on to Cicero’s timing in the first round, his feints confirmed the same mistakes he noticed while watching footage of Cicero, and he believed holding the hand near his waste would eventually bait his opponent into range for power shots.

At 37 seconds into the second round Camp followed up a double jab with a sharp straight left that smashed into Cicero’s left temple area. The crowd went completely silent as Cicero fell backwards into the ropes before being propelled forward into a face-first fall to the canvas where he laid motionless. Referee Curt Spivey immediately signaled the fight was over and motioned the medical staff over to check on Cicero’s safety. The explosive combination notched Camp’s second consecutive knockout victory.

Rafael Garcia vs. Guy Packer: In middleweight action Guy Packer (5-44-2) of Battle Creek, MI employed every crafty trick in the book to discourage and disrupt Rafael Garcia’s attack. Packer held Garcia’s glove that was opposite the ref throughout all six rounds and continuously complained to ref Tony Gray that Garcia was illegally using his head on the inside – in between he mixed in some jabs and shorts hooks. Garcia began finding an opening for upper cuts as he fully took control of the fight in the fourth round. And, he finally followed his corner’s instructions to extend his combinations to the body into four and five punches in the final two rounds. The result was a unanimous decision for Garcia, winning 59-55 on all three cards.

Pablo Sanchez vs. David Buggs: A really entertaining four round welterweight fight went down between Sanchez (8-1, 5 KO’s) and Buggs (1-1). Buggs started out very active in a fight that had a very brief feeling out portion. However, Sanchez quickly established himself as the more effective puncher on the inside, and with each ensuing round Buggs relied more on holding and staying on the outside. Buggs landed a left counter hook early in the third round that staggered his opponent, but Sanchez maintained his punch output and accuracy throughout the balance of the fight, hurting Buggs twice in the final round. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Sanchez.

Jose Javier Guzman vs. Vance Garvey: Garvey (9-47-6, 6 KO’s) relied on his 342 rounds, per Boxrec, to last through 6 rounds of middleweight action with Guzman. Garvey spent the first minute of the fight totally flat-footed, hiding behind a high guard and it looked like Guzman would soon pound away for a knockout victory. Guzman maintained a steady work rate for all 6 rounds equally placing blows to the body and up top, and as the southpaw Garvey eventually fired off his jab it looked like Guzman might get the knockout when he connected with three big overhand rights in round three. Guzman closely followed his corner’s in-fight instructions, and earned himself a unanimous decision as all three judges scored the fight 60-54.

Ray Lucies vs. Darryl Madison: Ray Lucies of Lafayette, IN improved to 4-1 with a solid four round performance against Darryl Madison. Madison pressed forward all night but usually found himself unable to capitalize with any significant punches once he got inside. With the exception of being caught by a big lunging left hook by Madison at the top of round two Lucies fought well backing up, placed his jab nicely, and connected with the left hook to set up a knockdown in round three. Lucies convincingly controlled the action losing a round on one judge’s card, and closed the fight out with a big fourth round marked by a pair of big left hooks.

Andrew Rodgers vs. Thomas Amaro: Rodgers collected his fourth win by knocking out Amaro at the 2:37 mark in the first round. Rodgers’ speed advantage led to a pair of counter right hooks for the first two knock downs, and his quick in and out movement enabled him to land another right hook up top for the knockout.

In other four round action Benjamin Dobbs use his reach advantage to avoid southpaw Desmond Jackson in an active first round, but once Jackson started out round two slowly Dobbs stopped Jackson with a left hook to the body. Junior middleweight James Brown retired on his stool before the third round, giving Saadallah Aitammeemi a TKO victory. In the event’s opener Michigan native Jessie Addison stopped light heavyweight Terry Deante at the 1:59 mark of the third round in his debut. Featherweight Altair Tapia sustained a nasty cut above his left eye in the first round before lacing Cameron Cain with powerful upper cuts, overhand rights and flashy looping shots from both hands to earn a unanimous decision.

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