By Michael Parente

LINCOLN – The ugly fights, like the one Jason “Big Six” Estrada found himself in Saturday night against Derek “The One Man Riot” Bryant, tend to leave their mark, as evident by the noticeable gash over Estrada’s right eye.
They also build character. After cruising through the first four rounds of the main event on Classic Entertainment & Sports’ “Holiday Havoc” card at Twin River, Estrada persevered through tremendous adversity in the form of a vicious headbutt midway through the fight and held on for a satisfying 80-72, 80-72, 79-73 unanimous decision victory.
Saturday’s card also featured wins by “Irish” Joey McCreedy, Jason “Schoolboy” Pires, Eddie “The Puerto Rican Sensation” Soto and Providence Olympian Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade, but Estrada stole the show with a gritty performance despite barely being able to focus after taking a headbutt to the nose toward the end of the fourth round.
“It was worse than a damn punch,” said Estrada, who improved to 15-1. “I swear I have never dealt with that in my life, but I had use my head, take my time and just back up, get my squint on and go back to work trying to use that jab [to] keep him off me until my eyes cleared up.”
Through the first four rounds, Estrada kept the veteran southpaw off balance with a combination of right jabs and left uppercuts. After the headbutt, which clearly affected Estrada’s concentration, the fight began to shift in the opposite direction.
“You see that dome on him?” Estrada said. “He’s probably about 6-2, but he had a 7-3 man’s head.”
As the pain worsened, Estrada stopped jabbing, which allowed Bryant (20-5-1) to get close and soften up the former Olympian with a series of damaging body blows.
“I was planning more to try to throw my right hand to his chest so he can duck into it, but I kind of got away from it for a second,” Estrada said. “Really, the one thing that changed this fight and changed maybe me stopping him was that headbutt.

“After that, I was trying to focus on breathing and I kept getting these chunks of blood down my throat, so I was trying to work through that. A true fighter works through any adversity. I was ready for it. [My trainers] killed me in the gym. They prepared me for this. It was nothing I wasn’t ready for.”
With each hard right hand from Bryant, Estrada began to stray from the center of the ring and tried to fight against the ropes. Bryant began the sixth by yelling “Come on! Come on!” as Estrada fought his way out of the corner and then landed a clean left that opened a small cut over his opponent’s right eye.
“That type of little thing doesn’t even bother me,” Estrada said. “Actually, the nose bothered me more just for the simple fact I’ve never been hit with a clean headbutt directly to the nose. I’ve been caught with a couple of elbows in a fight where my eyes watered a little bit, but this was actually kind of stunning.”
Showing more poise toward the end of the sixth, Estrada finished with a strong left hook that momentarily rocked Bryant and then turned the tide in the seventh to regain control of the fight.
“He really didn’t hit me with too many clean lefts. They landed, but I’m always rolling and turning,” Estrada said. “A lot of his shots grazed me and he more or less hickeyed my face up.
“I won’t take anything away from the guy. The guy came to fight, but he lost. He lost decisively. It wasn’t like it was a gift. I beat him. I beat him fair and square. I’ll give him one round out of eight.”
Bryant turned into the aggressor toward the latter half of the fight, which forced Estrada to ditch his original strategy of trying to outbox the veteran and let his fists fly with an array of combinations. His performance down the stretch should momentarily silence the critics who suggest Estrada lacks the power to become a world champion.
“I was a little more rough tonight than I usually am, but that was because people question me sometimes because I like to clown people and make them look stupid,” Estrada said. “Tonight, I decided when it gets rough out there I’ve got to show them what I’m made of and I showed them.
“Some of these guys don’t even come forward after getting hit a couple of times, but he came forward. That made me work more. If he wanted to work more, then I had to work more. I wasn’t going to let this slip away.”
Estrada’s next move is still under wraps, though he promises a major announcement is looming on the horizon. Until then, he can take solace in the fact he fought through adversity against a tough veteran and showed the critics he’s more than just a one-trick pony.   
“I don’t know who my biggest critic is,” Estrada said. “It might be some of those internet geeks – those guys who are thugs on the keyboard. These guys that got picked on in high school and elementary school and got their lunch taken – probably some guys I took lunch from – but that’s just the way it is.
“You’re going to have some people that love you and some people that hate you. That comes with the territory. I’m used to it now. I’ve been getting this since I was six when I first started boxing. It really doesn’t mean anything to me. It was a good victory for me. It was a great fight and a great learning experience. If I get hit with a headbutt again, I’ll be able to shake it off even faster.”

The undercard featured Andrade (2-0, 2 KOs) making his Providence debut by stopping Eric Marriott (0-2) 50 seconds into the fourth and final round of their super welterweight co-feature.
Marriott absorbed most of Andrade’s shot, but began to back off in the fourth. After slipping to the canvas early in the round, Marriott got caught with a flurry along the ropes, prompting the referee to mercifully end the fight.
“I wanted to put on a show,” Andrade said. “Everybody’s been waiting for me to fight. They don’t want to see me fight for one round, so basically I just worked my skills and gave the people what they wanted.
“He was a tough fighter. I guess he did a little bit of [mixed martial arts], so they’re probably used to taking a beating in the face. I just worked my jab and hit him with some good power shots. He took them, but after a while I was just wearing him down. That’s the plan – wear him down.”
Andrade tried to work the body, but Marriott protected his ribcage with his elbows, forcing Andrade to work upstairs.
“I’m not trying to hurt my hands on his elbows,” Andrade said. “If I’m going to hit my hand, it’s going to be with a body shot. I was working the straight left trying to go around his elbows and it was working. It was slowing him down, as you could see.
“My whole game plan is to try to let someone know mentally and physically they can’t hang with me. He was probably physically stronger than me, but mentally he didn’t have it, so I kept breaking him down and breaking him down until I broke him.”

Were it not for Estrada, Pires might’ve walked off as the fighter of the night after battling back to beat tough veteran Frank Houghtaling by unanimous decision, 58-55, 58-55, 58-56.
Back in the ring for the first time in five years after training to become a New Bedford police officer, Pires showed some rust early and got knocked down within seconds of the opening round, but he began executing his combinations down the stretch and ultimately took control to secure the victory.
Houghtaling (19-15-5) wound up with a gash on the bridge of his nose and a nasty cut over his left eye as he absorbed substantial punishment over the final five rounds.
“I was surprised [by the knockdown],” Pires said. “I think I was off balance. One I got knocked down, I picked it up and became more aggressive. He’s a tough, strong fighter – exactly what I needed. He gave me a good fight.”

McCreedy won over the crowd earlier in the night with a 60-54, 60-54, 60-53 unanimous decision victory over reigning NABC light heavyweight champion James Johnson. The Lowell, Mass., native improved to 9-2-1.
“We did a lot of different things in the gym this time – a lot of head movement, a lot of jabs, a lot of straight right hands and doubling up with 1-2-3s,” McCreedy said. “That’s basically what I did in the fight. I was listening to my corner. Whatever they tell me, I go in there and do.”
McCreedy put on a show with a series of hard lefts to the head and controlled the fight from start to finish. Johnson (23-30-3) hung tough and refused to go down. The Louisiana veteran looked strong in the fourth, but McCreedy fought back in the fifth and stunned his opponent with an overhand right followed by a left hook to finish the round.
“Everybody who watches me knows if McCreedy is on the card, you’re going to get a show,” McCreedy said. “I will stand there and fight until my heart gives out. You’re going to have to shoot me to kill me. That’s the only way you’re going to beat me.
“That’s just my Irish blood. I come from Lowell, Mass., and in Lowell, Mass., there are a lot of tough son of a bitches out there. No lie. We’ll fight anybody. We don’t care. That’s the type of fighter I am.”
Omar Pena began the night with his first professional victory by dominating Lindberg Freeman (0-2) in a four-round junior lightweight feature. Using his speed to land quick shots and keep his distance from Freeman, Pena (1-0-1) won 40-36 on all three scoreboards.

The Providence native savored this victory after fighting to a draw in his pro debut six months ago.
“I was very anxious,” Pena said. “I went straight to the gym after [the draw]. I was so devastated. I thought I could’ve gotten the win, but, hey, that’s the game of boxing. I worked so hard that I made sure I wasn’t going to make any mistakes this fight. I made sure I was going to do what I had to do, which is box.”
Pena dazzled the crowd in the final round by toying with Freeman and showboating with a flashy style reminiscent of another local hero on the boxing scene.
“I was trying to do a little bit of Vinny Paz right there,” he said. “I remember seeing him doing those little poses and stealing the show, so I try to copy off guys like that.”
Also on the undercard, Soto remained unbeaten at 10-0 by overwhelming lightweight Blake Franklin (1-1) to score a 40-36, 39-37, 39-37 unanimous decision victory.

Soto softened up Franklin with his jab and then began to attack the body with vicious left hooks to take control of the fight.
“My corner told me to work his body,” Soto said. “Every time I hit him, I caught him with a good shot to the body and I saw him start to run a little bit. I heard him scream, so I knew he was hurt. My corner told me to keep working his body.”
The Pawtucket native used his size to his advantage and opened the fourth with a flurry against the ropes to win the round early and end Franklin’s hopes of an upset.
“That’s what happens when a fighter tries to punch with me,” Soto said. “We’ll see who has the bigger punches. I was the bigger guy. I’m undefeated and I don’t want someone to come from out of town and give me my first loss. It’s not going to happen yet.”

Last but not least, Warwick native Keith Kozlin stopped Vincent Robbins (3-8-2) just 2:13 into the opening round. Kozlin had to sit around the entire night and wait until Estrada finished off Bryant before he could fight, but he showed no signs of rust as he dismantled his opponent early to improve to 2-0.
“It was worth the wait,” Kozlin said. “I have to wait until the end of the night to get a win, that’s what you’ve got to do.
“I felt real strong and confident going into the fight. I’ve been working on slipping jabs and countering with the right hand and left hook and staying real strong with the jab, so I just kept going at him with the jab waiting for the opening and I landed a lot of good shots.”

POST FIGHT QUOTES

JASON ESTRADA: “It was a very exciting fight. I faced a little adversity when we banged heads and his head hit directly on my nose. My eyes had to clear and I was swallowing blood the rest of the fight. A good fighter has to fight through adversity. I whipped his ass. He cried like a little girl when I hit him with a jab and opened up a cut over his eye. He was talking a lot. I can’t take anything away from him. He came here, tried his best, and lost. I gave him one round, when I couldn’t see, but it was a good fight and a great experience for me.”

DEMETRIUS ANDRADE: “I’ve been fighting a long time but, fighting at home, I wanted to put on a show. He took some good shots. I established my jab and worked the body. I’ll tell you, he can really take a good shot. I don’t know how he didn’t go down with some of those shots. This was really big for me coming back home from the Olympics. It was important for me to be with my family for Thanksgiving (instead of fighting on a card tonight in California).”

JASON PIRES: “I’d been away five years, two years on the job (as a New Bedford police officer). I needed to get the rust off. I was surprised (when he was knocked down in the first round). I think I was off balance. One I got knocked down, I picked it up and became more aggressive. He’s a tough, strong fighter, exactly what I needed. He gave me a good fight.”

Ringside Extra's

HOLIDAY HAVOC PREVIEW

LINCOLN – Asked how he plans to deal with left-hander Derek Bryant in Saturday’s main event at Twin River, Jason “Big Six” Estrada quickly reminds everyone he’s already faced – and beaten – five southpaws in his young career.
“Not this southpaw,” Bryant shot back.
Nicknamed “The One-Man Riot,” Bryant didn’t travel from Philadelphia to Providence this weekend to serve as a punching bag for Estrada in the main event of Classic Entertainment & Sports’ “Holiday Havoc” card.
“He’s here to kick some ass,” CES president Jimmy Burchfield said at Friday’s official weigh-in at the Providence Marriott.
Estrada (14-1, 3 KOs) has other ideas. The former Olympian is on the fast track toward a heavyweight title shot in 2009 and considers Bryant – a weathered, yet dangerous, veteran with 17 knockouts – another rung on the ladder as he continues to climb the rankings.

“I’ll treat him the same as every other heavyweight,” Estrada said. “We’re going to fight tomorrow and I’m going to win tomorrow.”
Bryant hasn’t fought since January of 2007 after rupturing a blood vessel in his back during a sparring session while training for his originally-scheduled bout against Estrada six months ago. That fight fell apart quickly and Estrada wound up facing Moultrie Witherspoon instead in the co-feature of CES’ “Ring Warriors” show.
Nearly two years since demolishing Joe Stofle in a first-round TKO, the 37-year-old Bryant is ready to pick up where he left off against Estrada. The Philadelphia native enters tomorrow’s main event with a 20-4-1 record, though his knockout total doesn’t impress Estrada.
“Him having a lot of knockouts on paper really means nothing. It’s all about the quality of opponents he’s fought,” Estrada said. “It’s easy to get a lot of knockouts when you’ve fought a lot of bums. That doesn’t concern me at all.
“They all can punch to me. That’s how I take it.”
Since he already studied Bryant’s technique leading up to their scheduled fight in May, Estrada didn’t have to study as much film in preparation for Saturday’s showdown. He has a simple routine for facing southpaws that worked successfully in five of his 14 professional victories, including a unanimous decision against Najee Shaheed in 2005 and another against Maurice Wheeler the following year.
“I just step to my left a lot – a lot of lead right hands,” Estrada said. “Don’t try to overthrow. Throw it right to the chest, because most of the time they duck right into it. The same thing a southpaw does to you, you’ve got to be able to do to the southpaw first.”
With only three knockouts on his resume, Estrada is more of a technical fighter who uses his speed and fast hands to outbox his opponents. To counter Estrada’s strategy, Bryant plans to be aggressive while mixing it up in the center of the ring.
“My game plan is to put pressure on him. He can’t take pressure,” Bryant said. “He’s a little slick – fast hands – but there’s nothing spectacular about him.
“He may be trying to pitty-pat and win off points. He does have power because he has three knockouts, but that doesn’t mean anything if he can win off points. Some fighters like that. We’ll see what happens. He don’t impress me.”
Why not try to beat Estrada at his own game?
“I don’t like going the distance,” Bryant said matter-of-factly. “My face has been bruised up already. I don’t want to get damaged anymore. In all my fights, I try to make it as short a night as possible.”
Bryant also scoffs at the idea that Estrada has figured out the blueprint for shutting down left-handers since he’s never lost to a southpaw. He promises to give Estrada a different look.
“He’s never fought anyone like me. Anybody,” Bryant said. “He might’ve fought Lance Whitaker or somebody like that, but he hasn’t fought anyone like me. He’s still got that little amateur style in him. He’s never seen a fighter like me.”
Asked what separates him from the other southpaws Estrada has fought, Bryant paused for a second and then declared, “I’m more aggressive, I hit harder and I’m quicker.”
Only time will tell. For Estrada, this fight could be a preview of things to come in 2009. At last week’s press conference, the heavyweight prospect promised to make a big announcement following the fight, though he had little to say at Friday’s weigh-in. He plans on doing most of his talking in the ring.
“From what I know, he’s fought a lot of people,” Estrada said, “so it’s just another step for me and it makes me better.”
Tickets are still on sale for “Holiday Havoc” and can be purchased at Twin River or by calling (401) 724-2253 or (401) 724-2254. Standing-room only tickets are now available for $25 apiece. As part of CES’ partnership with Toys For Tots, fans are asked to donate a toy at the event to help make someone else’s Christmas memorable.

HOLIDAY HAVOC OFFICIAL WEIGHTS
Saturday, November 29, 2008 at Twin River Event Center, Lincoln, Rhode Island
Jason Estrada 241 lbs. vs Derek Bryant 225 lbs.

Demetrius Andrade 157 lbs. vs Eric Marriott 162 lbs.

Jason Pires 147 lbs.
vs Frank Houghtaling 147 ½ lbs.

Joey McCreedy 174 lbs. vs
James Johnson 176 lbs.

Eddie Soto 140 lbs. vs
Blake Franklin 140 lbs.

Keith Kozlin 168 ½ lbs. vs
Vincent Robbins 158 lbs.

Omar Pena 130 lbs. vs Lindberg Freeman 133 ¼ lbs.

Rashad Minor 288 lbs. vs Ryan Shay 260 lbs.

PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Jason Estrada: “No more talk, all that is done. I’ve said things and I’ve done all of my talking. Show up tomorrow night for a great show.”

Derek Bryant: “It’s been a while since I’ve been in the ring. I’ve been off almost two years. Estrada’s an Olympian, an up-and-comer. I’m going to put on a good show.”

Demetrius Andrade: “It’s great to be here in my hometown, back from the Olympics. I’m going to show everybody what they’ve been missing. I’m the next super hero; it’s my job to take over.”

Jason Pires: “It’s going to be a great show tomorrow night. There’s a lot of talent – Estrada, Boo Boo and the other guys. It’s a great opportunity for me to comeback. I’ve been away five years. I’m going to put on a show case tomorrow.”