MONROEVILLE, PA. Pietrantonio wins debut by KO

Two Southside Boxing Club stabelmates split in the amateur bouts.
MONROEVILLE, Pa. -- For the first three rounds of a scheduled four rounder Tuesday night, Anthony Pietrantonio, in his professional boxing debut, appeared to be a sure loser.
His opponent, Mohamed Lamine Keita, with a 3-inch height advantage and a seven-pound weight advantage, was tagging Pietrantonio at will with long range shots. Then the Sharon native, who trains at the Buckeye Elks, went inside in the final round, battering Keita with a series of short punches and dropping him with a solid right to the jaw for a knockout at 1:28 of the fourth round.
The fight was the first of four professional bouts that followed four amateur bouts at the Radisson Hotel ExpoMart. Jim Cvetic of Pittsburgh was the promoter and Pat Nelson was the matchmaker. Pietrantonio is trained by Frank West.
"I think Anthony learned a lot about fighting as a pro tonight and there is no doubt that his conditioning was a determining factor," said Nelson.
Pietrantonio (6-foot, 162 pounds) was elated over his win.
"I knew I was behind and I had to get inside on this guy to get under his punches and then when I started to connect I knew he was tiring, so I picked up the pace," he said.
All three ringside judges had Keita winning the first three rounds.
Amateur fights
Two boxers from Southside Boxing Club split in two of the amateur bouts.
Chris Hazimihalis (6-1) of Campbell won a split decision over Damion Latham from Pittsburgh in a 130-pound three-rounder. Hazimihalis, after being floored in round two, needed a tremendous rally in the last round to pull out the victory.
"I didn't fight as good as I should have and was fortunate to come on in the last round to get the win," said Hazimihalis, "which tells me I just have to work a lot harder."
In a 147-pound four rounder, Poland's Lou Zamudio started fast but couldn't keep up with Pittsburgh's Mark Dailey, and the referee stopped the fight at 1:08 of the fourth round.
"I had him in the first round, but this is really a lesson for me in how much conditioning means as a determining factor in a fight," said Zamudio.