BOXING ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE

September 1995  

RING RESULTS


McNeeley exhibition highlights Foxboro card

FOXBORO — Raceway — In his last New England appearance before his fight with Mike Tyson, Medfield's "Hurricane" Peter McNeeley boxed a three-round exhibition with sparring partner Garing Lane in the main event of this collection of four-rounders.

Though it was as uneventful as an exhibition is supposed to be, it did bring the July 4th weekend crowd to life. When it was over, McNeeley grabbed the ring announcer's microphone and yelled, "Tyson, I'm coming at you, baby."

The seven fight (plus the exhibition) card was held to cover training expenses for McNeeley's fight with Tyson. T-shirts bearing the image of McNeeley, standing in victory over a fallen Tyson, with the saying "Tyson is out!", were sold to raise money for the Special Olympics. Many would say the picture is wishful thinking, but McNeeley trainer Beau Williford responded, "I'm wishing."


MANAGER VINNIE VECCHIONE WITH BOXERS MIKE CULBERT AND PETER McNEELEY
Manager/Trainer Vinnie Vecchione (left) poses for a photo with boxers Mike Culbert (center) and Peter McNeeley, who headlined his June 30th card at Foxboro. McNeeley will be taking on Mike Tyson in a highly anticipated fight at Vegas' MGM Grand casino in August."

In one of the featured real fights, Massachusetts junior middleweight and USBF welterweight champion Danny Phippen, 147, of Whitman KO'd Hartford's Nelson Echiveria at 1:28 of the third round, with neither title at stake. Phippen, who was on antibiotics after stepping on a nail at work earlier in the week, punished Echiveria for two rounds before knocking him down twice in the third, once with a left to the head. Phippen improved to 18-0 (15 knockouts); Echiveria fell to 9-7.

State middleweight and super-middleweight champ Mike Culbert of Brockton, cruised to a four-round shutout over Hartford's Greg Cadiz. Culbert, the southpaw, landed plenty of punches but Cardiz has shown great durability as of late, and he was never off his feet. Culbert is now 17-2 (10 KOs) and, after the fight, he expressed a desire to fight WBC Continental America's champ Dana Rosenblatt.

Holbrook's Mike O'Han, coming off a loss to WBF cruiserweight titleholder Bobby Crabtree, needed just one punch to kayo Springfield's Jose Luis Feliciano. Just 28 seconds into the bout, O'Han (17-4, 15 kayoes) landed a left hook to the jaw and the fight was over.

It was a rough night for the Santiago brothers of Providence, with both Alexander and Javier suffering first-round knockout losses. Alexander, 212, sumo-wrestled Richie Melito, 210, of Queens, NY for much of the first round, until Melito (11-0, 10 KOs) caught him with a short right. He went down and the count of 10 was reached at 1:01.

Javier, 220, was knocked around the ring for almost two minutes before Boston's Chuck Livingston, 240, picked up the TKO victory. There were no knockdowns. Livingstone improved to 11-0 (all knockouts).

Dave Hamilton, 165, of Hanson, Mass. picked up a second-round TKO over Hector Rodriguez, 160, of Springfield. Winging a left hook, Hamilton floored Rodriguez, and referee Bob Benoit didn't even bother counting, stopping the fight at 1:10. Hamilton upped his record to 4-0 (3 KOs).

In his pro debut, Jason Yarosz, 195, of Dedham kayoed Brockton's Dick Smith, 200, at 2:58 of the first round. Yarosz dropped Smith on the canvas twice with body shots. Yarosz, a New England amateur championships finalist last winter, has sparred with McNeeley for the past two years.

Promoter — Bill Salisbury, Rising Star

Attendance — About 1,300.

At Ringside — Steve Tobey.

06-30-95

See also:   McNeeley Is On A Mission   [The Brockton Enterprise]

This story appeared on pages 42-43 of the September 1995 Boxing Illustrated.