LOCAL BOXING 19 Tri-County titles decided in K.O. Drugs

Mooney's Miranda Spottleson and Struthers' Stephanie Sahli won female titles.
COLUMBIANA -- Humidity in the Columbiana High gymnasium didn't stop the competitors from working hard in 19 K.O. Drugs Tri-County title bouts last weekend.
In the female bout opener, Miranda Spottleson from Mooney High tagged Leetonia's Chelsea Esenwein with good body shots and stinging combinations to win a lightweight title.
"I basically just throw punches at just about every opening I see," said Spottleson.
In the last bout of the night, Warren Kennedy's Derek Wagner stopped Caleb Crowl from Lisbon after the first round ended.
Girard's Robert Randall won the upperclass heavyweight championship with a very aggressive three round attack against Salem's Travis Smith.
Crestview fighter wins
In one of the better fights of the night, Frank Papania from Crestview won the super middleweight title, gaining a split decision over Girard's Paul Perry.
Niles junior Nick Marchese won the upperclass middleweight title in the shortest fight of the night by stopping his opponent in the first round.
In an upperclass female welterweight title bout, Stephanie Sahli from Struthers won a hard-fought decision over Ashley Jackson from Lisbon.
The combination of the humidity and the fight brought on an asthma attack to Sahli before the decision was announced and as she sat on the ring to regain her breath, Jackson was the first to come to her aid and remained with her until she was able to stand.
Jim Neopolitan from Struthers beat Liberty's Jarrod Reynolds to the punch in winning the underclass super heavyweight title.
"I worked him up and down and tried to be first as much as I could," said Neopolitan.
Bill Bowden from South Range after winning the heavyweight crown with a hard fought decision over Derek Hedrick from East Liverpool, said, "My left jab and my straight right were the difference in winning the fight for me."
Best of underclass
The underclass did feature the best of the Columbiana area boxers.
Lightweight Jimmy Nelson from East Liverpool decisioned Eric Bohr from Fitch, then Josh Hertel from Columbiana won the super welterweight crown working a series of combinations over Brian Fiorentino from Niles.
Columbiana's Mackie McGarry and Dwayne McGraw from Toronto had decisions go their way to win the super middleweight and cruiserweight titles. McGarry had a big second round when he scored with jarring shots that was a difference for him and McGraw used quick combinations to gain his verdict over Donivan Stevens from Struthers.