Friday night at The Legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, Cruiserweight Emanuel Nwodo came back after a four month absence to easily outpoint the tough veteran Rayco Saunders.

Nwodo, 201 lbs, had to sweat off four pounds after weighing 205 at the morning weigh-in. The Baltimore native had hurt his hand in February and wanted to box early to get some ring rust off. The thirteen pound weight advantage that Nwodo had over Saunders was very evident as the fight wore on. Every time Nwodo seemed to touch the 188 lb. Saunders he seemed to drive him backwards. Saunders had some moments, his best being in round four when he shook Nwodo with a solid right hand. Nwodo responded in the round by landing a big right, left combination at the end of the round. Nwodo got back to solid boxing in round five. In round six, Nwodo began to stalk more fiercely and landed a big straight right that put Saunders on the mat. In round seven, Nwodo continued to walk Saunders down with the jab. Saunders was in survival mode by circling around the ring. Saunders did manage to land a four punch combination in the last round, but it was way too little and too late as Nwodo won the unanimous decision by scores of 79-72 on all cards. Nwodo is becoming more then a prospect in the cruiserweight division and is now 17-3 while Saunders goes home to Pittsburgh at 14-5-1.

The co-feature was a six round Super Middleweight bout between undefeated Saeed Hawkins, 166 ½ lbs of Philadelphia and the veteran Ron Boddie, 169 ½ lbs also of Philadelphia. This was a classic case between the up and comer and the grizzled vet. The first was a battle of left hooks as Hawkins landed one early in the round and Boddie shook Hawkins with one towards the bell. Hawkins slowly seized control with some solid combinations off the jab. Hawkins kept getting the better of every exchange that Boddie wanted to be entangled with. Hawkins had a solid round four, landing a solid combination against the ropes. Hawkins coasted down the stretch and winning a unanimous decision by scores of 60-54, 59-55, and 59-55. Hawkins stays undefeated at 8-0 while Boddie fights much better then his 15-30-4 record.

The opener was a Cruiserweight bout scheduled for four rounds between the debuting Carlos Sanchez, 181 lbs of New York and Robert Frum, 184 lbs of Akron, Ohio. The was a short fight as both came out swinging wildly until Sanchez landed a hard right cross and left hook to the head that stopped Frum in his tracks. Sanchez continued with a huge barrage and referee Gary Rosato stopped at 2:46 of round one. Sanchez is now 1-0 with 1 knockout while Frum remains winless at 0-4.

The second bout was a lightweight fight scheduled for four rounds between a pair of Philadelphians Lenny DiVictoria and Rami Ibraham. After an uneventful round one, Divictoria landed a big uppercut. Later in the round he landed a wicked left hook that seemed to startle Ibraham, but Ibraham landed a big right hand of his own. Not to be outdone, Divictoria ended the fantastic round with a big right to the head. Ibraham went down in round three from what referee Art Bayless ruled a slip. When Ibraham got to his feet he was extremely dazed. Divictoria jumped on him and lands four huge unanswered punches and Bayless had no choice but to stop it at 2:00 of round three. Divictoria picks up his first knockout in fifth win against two losses while Ibraham drops to 1-4.

Hoang Sang Nguyen, 133 lbs of Vietnam squared off against Mike Salters, 135 lbs of Ashland, Kentucky in a lightweight bout scheduled for six rounds. Nguyen was dominant throughout against the much shorter Salters. The onslaught of punches finally caught up to Salters in round three as he ate a huge uppercut that forced his gloves to scrape the canvas and was ruled a knockdown. In round four, Salters began to swell badly over his right eye. Nguyen landed five punches to floor Salters for a second time. Salters got to his feet and tried hard as he managed to land a leaping left hook. That was to no avail as Nguyen landed three hard body punches to floor Salters for the third and last time as Referee Art Bayless stopped it at 2:54 of round four. Nguyen improves to 11-4 with five knockouts while Salters goes back to Kentucky with a 2-6 record.

In a four round light heavyweight bout, Max Alexander, 174 lbs of Camden, New Jersey scored a knockdown in the fourth round en route to easy unanimous decision over Daphir Smith, 173 ½ lbs of Philadelphia. Scores were 40-35, 40-35, and 38-36. Alexander is now 3-0 while Smith is 13-9-2.

NOTES…In Attendance were former IBF Super Middleweight champ Charles Brewer, Former Middleweight great Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts, Ivan Robinson, and Randall “Tex” Cobb. And Rashim Jefferson