Popeye Sails to Victory Against Lee
Star Boxing held “Slugfest at the Sun” on Saturday, April 6, 2024. The main event was fan favorite Richard “Popeye the Sailor Man” Rivera of Hartford, CT won by Unanimous Decision against Devaun Lee of New York. Rivera working the left jab the majority of the bout while keeping it near his belt line and timing with his right. By round 5th the pace picked up. There were no knockdowns and typically the fight was not against the ropes. By the 8th, Lee is taking punishment from Rivera and the crowd loved it. Every time Rivera landed a great shot, the crowd took notice. Judges scored the bout 100-90; 97-93; 97-93 in favor of Rivera.
Rivera increased to 26-2-0, 19 Kos and Lee decreased to 11-12-1 6 Kos.
At the end of the bout there was commotion when Lee went over to Rivera’s corner.
During the post interview, Rivera said a prayer in the ring.
Heavyweights Demek Edmonds of Worcester, Massachusetts went the distance against Luis Miguel Valera of Texas. Typically, a back-and-forth bout with each fighters landing considerable punches. During round 1 Valera received the count and that cost him the win since it became a 10-8 round. Not a very fast paced bout. The judges scored in favor of Edmonds. 57-56 – Edmonds; 57-56 – Valera and 57-56 Edmonds. Edmonds increased to 9-0-0, 7 Kos and Valera 4-3-2.
Jacob “Lefty” Marrero of Bridgeport, Connecticut took on converse sneaker wearing Ryan Venable of Virginia. Round 2 Marrero increased the pressure on Venable and unloaded an abundance of punches and Venable took a knee. As the bout continued, Marrero increased the pressure and the referee stopped the bout at 1:49 of round 2. Marrero gets the TKO victory and increased to 6-0-0, 5 kos and Venable 4-20-0.
Super middleweights, Louis Maietta of Bronx, NY had a quick 2 round bout against Erick Alves of Boston, Massachusetts went Maietta unloaded on Alves and he won by TKO victor at 2:02 of round 2. Maietta increases to 4-4-1 and Alves 0-3.
Non-New England Bouts:
Rajon Chance of New Jersey vs. Travon Lawson of Alabama.
Judges scored the bout 77-75 for Lawson; 77-75 Lawson and 79-73 for Chance. Lawson victorious by Split Decision.
Sharif Rahman of Nevada vs. Kijonti David of Louisiana.
Rahman victorious by UD. 40-36; 40-36 and 39-37.
Oscar Bonilla of Bridgeport, Connecticut unfortunately did not fight on this card.
DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, due to having no media area and media was sitting behind the camera man and behind the neutral corner post the visibility of the bout was hard to accurately state.
