McGuinness Dominates Grant in Battle of Orangeville

Andrew Fruman has the ringside report from this past Saturday night's show at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.

Logan McGuinness (133) made quick work of Buzz Grant (132), handing out a two round drubbing in the main event of Saturday night’s five bout card at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

The 23 year old McGuinness was just too strong and sharp as he stalked his fellow Orangeville rival from the opening bell, jabbing his way in while unloading a steady barrage of crisp combinations. Grant tried to use plenty of side to side movement, while occasionally looking to counter between McGuinness’ punches but could do little to slow the younger man’s attack.

After establishing his superiority early by bullying Grant around, McGuinness really broke through with a damaging left hook about half way into the opening round. Grant tried to hold on, before firing back only for McGuinness to follow-up by pressing the veteran into the ropes. Another hurtful left hook followed soon after, with Grant again getting pounded along the ropes and by the time the bell sounded, it was abundantly clear the fight would not last much longer.

Grant tried to get on his bike and find some breathing room in the second but couldn’t keep the quicker McGuinness at range and was quickly trapped on the ropes getting battered again. Punishing body shots, uppercuts, hooks, right hands, the kitchen sink, it was all thrown at Grant as McGuinness poured it on. With his back to the ropes, Grant occasionally managed to stick home a counter, but there was no steam on any of his shots and the one way traffic continued for the remainder of the round.

There were some confusing moments as the third round was about to start as Grant remained on its stool, before it was learned the fighter had suffered an injury to his right hand. It was just as well for Grant as the end was coming soon and the early ending saved the 32 year old veteran from enduring further punishment.

With the win, McGuinness improved his record to 12-0-1 and the promising lightweight appears ready for a step up in class next time out.

Samuel Vargas fires off a left hand at Ryan Wagner as referee John Wylie looks on.

In the most competitive match-up of the show, Samuel Vargas (148) wore down a scrappy Ryan Wagner (147) to win a unanimous decision victory in battle of 21 year old welterweights. The aggressive Vargas had his hands full over the first half of the bout as the quicker Wagner did a decent job of staying out of range, while picking his spots to step in with combinations.

The Mississauga based Colombian’s steady - though slow and less than precise - pressure started to pay off in the fourth as he buzzed Wagner early in the round with a clean right hand, and landed a few more good ones before the three minutes were up.

Vargas pressed his advantage in the fifth, battering his rapidly tiring opponent around the ring for much of the session. At times it looked like Wagner might be ready for the taking, but the Orangeville fighter kept battling back and managed to see out the round on his feet.

Wagner made a gutsy stand early in the sixth but had little left in the tank and was soon on the receiving end of more leather from Vargas, who was himself too arm weary to put over a fight ending shot. At the close, it was Vargas moving his record to 6-0 by scores of 59-55 and 58-56 twice. The loss was the first for Wagner after starting his career with a couple of wins.

Light-heavyweight Steve Franjic recorded a victory in his pro-debut, with a second round stoppage of late substitute Horace Hunter.

The 23 year old Orangeville fighter pushed the pace of the bout with a two handed attack and had all the better of the action before dropping his southpaw opponent to a knee with a left hand to the body, followed by a hard right hand. Hunter was further tagged by another right hand on the top of the head while already down, though the blow went unnoticed by referee Edgar Loayza. Hunter was quickly back on his feet but didn’t look too steady and the bout was waved off at the 1:40 mark.

Super-middleweight Phil Rose (166) also won his pro-debut with a third round stoppage of Winston Dann (166) in a messy affair marred by frequent clinches.

Rose looked lively but wild and struggled to get going until a huge overhand right dropped the lanky Dann a split second before the second round bell. It was a heavy knockdown and the London fighter still didn’t appear to have his legs fully underneath him by the time the third round started.

Dann tried his best to survive, only for his troubles to be compounded when Referee Loayza deducted a point for holding. It seemed a slightly harsh call as both fighters had been guilty of the same offense since the start of the bout, though it mattered little as Rose quickly went in for the finish. A flurry of blows sent the reeling Dann staggering into the ropes, and a further follow-up assault resulted in the bout’s second knockdown at which point Loayza immediately called a halt to hostilities. The time of the stoppage was 1:35.

In the show’s opener, Juliusz Bunda (162) improved his record to 2-1 with a fourth round stoppage of Ahmad Selemani (166).

Bunda dropped his Quebec City opponent to the seat of his pants with a right hand in the opening session and scored another knockdown when Referee John Wylie determined the ropes held Selemani up later in the round. Selemani recovered well enough to take the fight to the plodding Bunda at times, though was clearly well behind when a couple of right hands from the Kitchener middleweight sent him down again. Selemani was up fairly quickly, though deemed unfit to continue by Wylie. The time was 1:42, with the visiting fighter's record dropping to 0-3.

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