• Submitted by: lena campos
• Sports
• 11 / 19 / 2012

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Rain delayed the outdoor action, but not before heavyweight Trevor Bryan announced his arrival as a potential contender


Angelo Santana admitted he had a slight case of stage fright in the early moments of his first national televised fight Friday night, but it didn't take long before the Cuban defector showed the Showtime audience that he was ready for a title shot.

In a battle of young, undefeated lightweights, Santana, a powerfully built southpaw, knocked out the taller Juan Garcia with a four-punch barrage at 1:41 of the fifth round that left the crowd at Gulfstream Park gasping and Garcia's girlfriend crying from her ringside seat.

Santana, 24, who defected from Cuba five years ago to reunite with his girlfriend in Miami, improved to 14-0 with 11 knockouts, while a bloodied Garcia of Holland, Mich., fell to 13-1.

"When the fight started I was nervous because I needed a few minutes to compose myself,'' Santana said. "But I had my people here. … This performance says it all. I proved that I'm ready.''

Santana was the star attraction of the five-card event promoted by the inimitable Don King, and afterward, Showtime executive Gordon Hall said Santana, "is a star.''

Santana's jitters dissipated like the clouds that drenched the outdoor ring atop the fountain where the horses walk in, when in the second round he lived up to his 'La Cobra' nickname with a lightning-quick left-handed counter that sent a shocked Garcia flying to the canvas.

Another knockdown early in the fifth set up the final flurry of blows that signalled Garcia's end and sent Santana to the top of ropes in celebration.

"I came looking for my fight but he was the one in a hurry,'' Santana said.

The other televised fight was also entertaining as Miami favorite Joey 'Twinkle Fingers' Hernandez earned a hard-fought 10-round unanimous decision over cagey veteran James 'Shotgun' Hernandez.

The welterweight bout featured point deductions, head-butts and low blows. But Hernandez, 28, landed 170 punches to 114 for Winchester 34, of Greensboro, N.C., including 47 more powerful blows.

Hernandez, also in King's stable, had the crowd chanting, "Joey, Joey,'' throughout the fight, particularly when he registered the lone knockdown of the fight in the fourth round with consecutive lefts.

"He stepped on my foot,'' said Winchester, who dropped to 15-6. "It's cool. It's his crowd but his crowd now respects me.''

Hernandez improved to 23-1-1 and was happy to survive a wild 10th round that had both fighters raining blows on each other.

"I would've like to throw more combinations but he often leads with his head so I was being mindful of being head-butted,'' Hernandez said. "I did what I had to do. Now, it's time to go on to bigger things.''

Just like several brash heavyweight fighters before him, Trevor Bryan has enough confidence and personality to give himself a nickname of the 'American Dream.'

Bryan earned the moniker by putting his opponent, Hassan Lee, to sleep with a ferocious overhead right to the face at 1:45 of the third round of a scheduled six-round bout.

In the rain-delayed third bout, Bryan's childhood friend and housemate in Pompano Beach, Amir Imam, made it a clean sweep for the Albany pals. He unleashed a flurry of punches on game opponent, Tony Walker of Cincinnati, before the referee stopped the junior welterweight fight at 2:59 of the second round. Walker was slowed by an inadvertent head-butt.

"I out-toughed him and I outskilled him,'' said Imam, 22, who improved to 5-0. "I got the stoppage and that's all that matters.''

Stacy McKinley, who once trained former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, said it was love at first sight when he saw Bryan fight five years ago. He also trains Imam and several other fighters out of Gold's Gym in Deerfield Beach.

"I offered him $50,000 to turn pro at that particular time but he turned me down to go to college [Marquette] and try out for the Olympics,'' McKinley said. "He has good punching power, a good chin, has a heart and isn't afraid to fight.

"They're two of the biggest prospects I've seen in years. Imam is probably on the same level as Sugar Ray Leonard, those type of guys.''

Bryan hurt Lee, 37, in the first round with a clubbing left hand to the head, followed by another left and right combination. Fighting with his mouth open and hands down, Bryan ended the onslaught in the third with a long right that snapped his opponent's head back into the ropes before crumpling awkwardly to the canvas.

"What did I tell you, my strength comes from my jabs,'' said Bryan, who improved to 5-0 with four knockouts. "I'm here to prove something; I'm the American Dream.''

In the second fight, Ukraine heavyweight Oleg Platov, 29, dusted off two years of inactivity by the second round when he kayoed journeyman Harold Sconiers of Clearwater with a left upper-cut at 1:46 to improve to 30-1 (24 KOs). Platov sustained cut under both eye from head-butts, but was undeterred.

"He walked right into it,'' said Platov, who said his inactivity stemmed from a disagreement with his promoter.

Source: Sun Sentinel.com