BOXING Show in Salem loses punch, but Kiez Smith wins

The Boardman boxer is 3-1.
SALEM -- It turned out that the only local representation on the Salem Boxing Club's amateur show at the Salem Community Center Saturday night was Kiez Smith from Boardman, who is trained by John Hobart at the Buckeye Elks.
Smith, in a 152-pound four-rounder against Tommy Lawson from the Pro Action Boxing Club of Medina, was in the best fight of the night.
It was Smith's aggressiveness and ability to throw punches at a non-stop pace that won a decision for him in a slugfest despite taking a standing eight-count in the third round.
What made the fight so good was the pace of the action. When Lawson would score with solid rights, Smith would come right back with a smothering attack.
Kept busy
"I tried to keep busy and keep throwing punches and even with good conditioning I tired in the late rounds," said Smith, now 3-1.
Because of a lack of proper credentials and no-shows from some Cleveland organizations, the scheduled 14-bout card was cut to seven.
Every Salem Boxing Club fighter was scheduled to fight a Cleveland opponent, leaving Smith as the lone local competitor.
One of the best fights was a 132-pound open bout between Chris Carter and Miles Hamilton, both from Akron boxing clubs. Carter, very quick with the ability to land right-hand leads and a 2005 Junior Olympic champion, won a close decision over Hamilton, a southpaw.
A battle of 201-pounders saw Christopher Lozano outslug Phillip Golden for a decision in a very quick-moving bout for two big men who never stopped throwing punches. Lozano is from Cleveland's Ray Mills Boxing Club and Golden from Akron's Good Shepherd Boxing Club.
In a female 110-pound bout, Caturah Oliver won a decision over Carla Torres in a quick moving fight between two boxers from Cleveland.
In a 105-pound Junior Olympic bout, Frederick Wilson won a decision over Quenton Copes Jr.. Both are from Cleveland.
The leadoff fight was between 105-pound Junior Olympians Charlie Natal and Cedric Robson, a pair of southpaws, who mixed it up through three rounds. Natal won the decision over Robson, but the decision could have gone either way.
Bobby Plegge, a former standout from Salem who once fought Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini in Warren, said, "I wish we could have had more fights, but what we had was good for the fans and that's what counts."