BOXING Chris Koval, Boone beat the Johnsons in battles at Gray's

Koval is 23-2, while Darnell Boone is 7-3-1.
By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CLEVELAND -- Local fighters Chris Koval and Darnell Boone opened and closed a five-bout card with very resounding victories Friday night at Gray's Armory.
Koval showed awesome punching power in stopping Carlton Johnson at 1 minute, 46 seconds of round one, and Boone, in the six-round main event, scored an upset with a majority decision over previously undefeated Ronny Johnson of Cleveland.
Boone (7-3-1), dubbed "The Diesel" and co-managed by trainer Jack Loew and Jim "Tank" DiCioccio, battled uphill against Johnson (6-1). Boone was awarded compensation as Johnson came to the weigh-in at 1731/2 pounds, five pounds above the agreed on 168-pound super middleweight limit.
Johnson the aggessor
In the first round Johnson was the aggressor, using a good four-punch combo as he was taking the fight to Boone, who seemed to be content to counter and flurry. In the next round, even with Boone punching well, Johnson went to flurries at the end of rounds to catch the judges' eyes.
Boone, being exhorted on from his corner, began to turn the fight in round three as he worked a solid right off a hard left jab, but still he was laying back on the ropes beckoning Johnson to come to him.
In the fourth round there wasn't any doubt that Boone was the harder puncher as he tagged Johnson with a solid left hook and a looping right that seemed to take a little away from his opponent's attack.
In round five Boone began to force the fight using a good left hook off of a popping left jab and having a big punching rally.
In the final round he was the aggressor taking the fight to a countering Johnson.
The judges voted 58-56 and 59-55 for Boone, and one judge voted 57-57.
Picks up action
"I am learning as I go and possibly conserving energy at the wrong times, but tonight each round was better for me," said Boone. "I knew I had to start picking it up after the second round so I started to fire my right behind my jab and began catching him with good shots."
Johnson's reply: "I thought I won the first four rounds and one judge only gives me two rounds. Go figure that one out."
The opening fight between Chris Koval, of Austintown, and Carlton Johnson of Donora, Pa., had a dynamite opening with Johnson throwing big shots, but Koval let the opening attack pass, pumping his left jab at his 274-pound opponent and blasting him with right uppercuts to the body.
An overhand right dropped Johnson for an eight count and then a big barrage of rights and lefts sent him down again.
He just survived the 10 count rising up at nine, but the referee decided he had enough and stopped the fight.
It was the 18th knockout for Koval (23-2).
"I noticed when I came out [Johnson] was very slow, so I worked him to the body and then caught him with a looping right," said Koval. "I connected on just about every jab I threw and then I worked him with a lot of shots and even though he beat the count, I knew the fight was over."
Johnson fell to 15-13.
Power
"Chris showed some big time punching power," said Koval's manager Pat Nelson. "He came in strong after a near four month layoff and was as devastating as he has ever been.
"This was a good tuneup for Chris because we are in negotiations for a late January USBA heavyweight title fight with Shannon Briggs which will be either in Florida or Arkansas," added Nelson.
In two other heavyweight four-rounders Norman Otis Mills (5-2-1) from Cleveland won a decision over David Cleage (3-7) from Columbus, and David Polk (10-5) from Akron decisioned Demetrice King (9-12) of Flint, Mich.
A female heavyweight fight had Alicia Battle from Cleveland (2-0) win by TKO after round two over Tiffani McAdori (0-1) from Akron.