Maddalone Stops Guy In Two!

By Scott Shaffer

www.fightnews.com

February 7, 2002

Vinny Maddalone was too big and too strong for Joey Guy on Wednesday night in Yonkers, New York. The muscular heavyweight took advantage of a 31-pound weight differential, knocking down Guy twice before referee Mike Ortega stopped the contest. In front of an audience of his own fans, Maddalone floored Guy with a right in the first round and tried to end the fight immediately. He wasn't able to stop Guy in the first, but he did land a hard body shot just before the bell. Still, Maddalone was unhappy with his performance in the opening round. "I got caught up with the crowd and I started swinging with some wild punches," he said afterwards.

In the second, Maddalone tempered his aggression with a little bit of discipline. Guy, 29-8, went down from a left hook but got up smiling at the crowd. Maddalone soon wiped the smile off his face, battering him into the ropes. Although some of Maddalone's punches seemed to be blocked, Ortega felt he had seen enough and halted the bout. "I'm happy I stayed on top of him and finished him off," he said. Maddalone, 14-0, was scheduled to fight Clarence Goins but found out he would be facing Guy just two days ago.

Although not ready for a world rating, Maddalone, who is trained by Bobby Jackson and conditioned by Scooter Honig, has shown steady improvement in both this fight and his previous one against Craig Tomlinson. Jackson gave Maddalone credit for following his instructions. "In the first round, he tore into the guy but when he came back to the corner, he got his ass chewed out," said Jackson. "He did better after that. In the first round, the crowd had him, but in the second round, I had him."

Cowboy James Coker dropped a six round decision to Derrick Whitley. At 170 pounds, compared to 164 for Coker, Whitley not only looked bigger, but he was able to knock Coker back whenever he landed a solid punch. The first three rounds clearly belonged to Whitley, 16-17-1. The next three were closer as Coker tried to outwork Whitley and was able to land his jab with some success. But Whitley landed an uppercut in the fifth that appeared to hurt Coker and pretty much insured that Coker could not win on the scorecards. Whitley got the nod by tallies of 59-55 and 58-56 (twice).

Coker, 22-4-1, fought just two rounds in 2001, a technical loss to Kassim Ouma. The inactivity didn't help and neither did the the two-weight class jump from junior to super middle. "I thought I won the fight, but there was a little rust showing in there," admitted Coker. Thankfully, there was no hint of the frightening facial swelling that closed both of Coker's eyes against Tito Mendoza in May, 2000.

The evening was a double success for the Whitley family, as Derrick's brother Darren decisioned Gary Carriero in a light heavyweight battle. All three judges scored it 58-56 for Darren Whitley who is now 12-16-5. Carriero drops to 9-12-2.

Other results on the Star Boxing card:
Sam Reese, 4-3-2 WSD6 Damien Rice 6-1-1 (light heavyweights)
Mike Arnioutis, 4-0, TKO1 Lamont Gorum, 1-2-1 (lightweights)
Dex Pejinovic, 1-1, KO2 Pater Kaljenvic, 0-2 (middleweights)