Vass stays hot with fight card victory
YOUNGSTOWN — Cardinal Mooney’s Chris Vass is on a roll.
Until he met Vass in the main event of Saturday’s ‘Outside the Lion’s Den’ amateur fight card at Penguin City Brewery, Conner Bollinger of Ellwood City was also clicking on all cylinders, a seasoned boxer with 27 fights to his credit who was looking to extend his win streak to 11 overall.
When the bell sounded on the final bout of the night, it was Vass raising his hand in victory after scoring a unanimous decision over Bollinger in their 145-pound scrap to move to 13-1 overall.
It was Bollinger’s first loss in nearly a dozen outings.
While Bollinger had the edge experience-wise, Vass rode his momentum to victory after a three-round, unanimous decision over Cleveland’s Julian Dolin at Loew’s recent St. Valentine’s Day Massacre card, also held at Penguin City Brewing on Feb. 14.
The 11-bout card also featured wins by locals Lerone Burley and Jordan Gonzalez.
Burley scored a unanimous decision over Jayvon Hayes of Spider Boxing Club in a 75-pound pairing, while Gonzalez won by split decision over Ty Dintonio in their 145-pound match-up.
Three other local fighters were featured on the card with Kingsley Wade and John Davis falling by split decision and Drew Mercer by unanimous decision.
Wade came up short to Meko Darden of Cleveland in an 80-pound coupling, Davis fell to Hakeem Tolley, also of Cleveland, at 145 pounds with Mercer, who was forced to endure two standing eight counts in the third round, on the short end to Lorain’s Omar Mohammed in a 165-pound clash.
In two all-Akron pairings, natives Izayah Miller-Jones and Giovanni Flowers were early victors on the night, with Miller-Jones scoring a unanimous decision over fellow Akronite Maurice Speight at 121 pounds, while Flowers authored a split decision over Jaylen Denson in their 128-pound pairing.
Also hailing from Akron, Dion Corgill earned a hard-fought split decision over Ashtabula’s Dream Hollis in their 80-pound scrap.
Rounding out the card were split-decision victories by Cleveland natives Nick McCall and Xzavier Alpenza.
McCall was victorious over Dan Kunesky of Pennsylvania in their 156-pound matchup, while Alpenza made it four wins for those hailing from Cleveland after defeating fellow Clevelander Alexissio Dilizio in their 115-pound meeting.
RESULTS
121 pounds — Izayah Miller-Jones (Akron) def. Maurice Speight (Akron), unanimous decision.
156 pounds — Nick McCall (Cleveland) def. Dan Kunesky (Pennsylvania), split decision.
128 pounds — Giovanni Flowers (Akron) def. Jaylen Denson (Akron), split decision.
75 pounds — Lerone Burley (Youngstown, South Side Boxing Club) def. Jayvon Hayes (Spider Boxing Club), unanimous decision.
80 pounds — Dion Corgill (Akron) def. Dream Hollis (Ashtabula), split decision.
80 pounds — Meko Darden (Cleveland) def. Kingsley Wade (Youngstown, SSBC), split decision.
145 pounds — Jordan Gonzalez (Youngstown) def. Ty Dintono (Youngstown, SSBC), split decision.
115 pounds — Xzavier Alpenza (Cleveland) vs. Alexissio Dilizio (Cleveland), split decision.
145 pounds — Hakeem Tolley (Cleveland) def. John Davis (Youngstown Golden String B.C.), split decision.
165 pounds — Omar Mohammed (Lorain) def. Drew Mercer (Youngstown), unanimous decision.
Main Event: 145 pounds — Chris Vass (Youngstown, SSBC) def. Conner Bollinger (Pennsylvania), unanimous decision.





