BOXING Richardson gains sixth win

The Youngstown boxer stopped Derek Ward in the third round.
CHESTER, W. Va. -- Youngstown super welterweight Durrell Richardson used a series of barrages to stop Derek Ward, a marine from Portsmouth, at 1:51 of the third round Thursday night at the Grande Ballroom of Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Casino's hotel.
Richardson remains undefeated (6-0) as a pro, stopping an opponent for the fourth time.
Both fighters are left-handers, which posed no problem for Richardson, who, instead of being on the move as he had been in previous bouts, was aggressive, scoring more with right hooks and right hand leads.
There was a lot of clinching in the first round when Ward (1-2-1) would throw a wild left and then tie up the countering Richardson, but Richardson scored with right jabs and straight rights through the rest of the round.
Took control
In the second round Richardson took charge of the fight, landing a series of solid rights, one of which sent down Ward for an eight count midway through the round. Then a left hook put Ward down for another eight count, but he got up and survived the round.
He wasn't as fortunate in the next round, which he started by throwing some big swings that he wasn't able to connect. Richardson hurt Ward with a left hook to the body early in the round. Then a barrage of punches had Ward unable to respond and the referee stopped the fight.
"I worked hard and was in excellent shape" said Richardson. "I was setting up my punches well and I should have started to cut off the ring earlier, but it was body shots that paid off for me as they led to all of my knockdowns."
The eighth and final bout of the night proved to be the most controversial, as Edward Vaidez (1-0-1), a bomber from Santo Domingo, D.R., dominated Verquan Kimbrough in a six-round 130-pound co-feature. Kimbrough, from Aliquippa, Pa., was decked in round two and seemed to be befuddled by the constant attack from Vaidez. Several other times he was on the canvas from what were apparent punches, but the referee called them slips and in the sixth and final round Vaidez tagged Kimbrough with a ringing left hook.
One judge voted 58-56 for Vaidez, but both of the other judges voted 57-57, making the verdict a majority draw.
Other action
The other co-feature had Monty Meza Clay (13-0, 9 KOs) stopping Terrell Hargrove at 51 seconds of the seventh round. The upset of the night had welterweight Tony Black (7-3-1) knocking out Jacy Kuhn at the 22-second mark of the sixth round with a snapping left hook. It was only the second loss for Kuhn in 17 fights.
There were three other knockouts on the card. Pittsburgh welterweight Joe Wyatt (19-0, 13 KOs) stopped John Scaizi at 1:54 of the first round, Alphonso "Soldier" Williams (9-1, 7 KOs) stopped Rodney Tatum (8-20) at 1:53 of round four, and cruiserweight Dan Harvison (10-0) won by TKO at the end of round two over Kevin Miller (3-13).