Welterweight Booth wins by decision

No one would have guessed Clarence Booth was making his professional debut Saturday night at the Ritz Ybor.

In his undercard bout on the Rumble at the Ritz boxing event, the welterweight stood toe-to-toe with Tommy Jones of Naples, eventually collecting a unanimous-decision victory.

Both came out with a fast pace, but Booth was able to fight through the burst and take control with his length, rapid jab and punishing power shots.

The final 10 seconds may have been the best action of the night as the two unleashed a furious bevy of punches.

Booth scored 40-36 on two scorecards and 39-37 on another.

The main event featuring Marcus Willis and Carlos Garcia was not complete at press time.

In the co-main event, super middleweights Emil Gonzalez (5-5, 3 KOs) took a split-decision victory against Hudson's Brian Chiary (10-8-1, 2 KOs).

For most of the six rounds, Gonzalez was satisfied allowing Chiary to come after him, then connecting with potshots and circling away from danger. Despite the slow pace, that strategy worked.

Meanwhile, Chiary's corner wanted him to work from a distance, and for a time that worked. Chiary scored several times with his 1-2 shots to the head.

In the opening bout of the night, heavyweight Curtis Harper (1-1, 1 KO) took a technical knockout victory against David Loy (2-1, 1 KO). Harper landed a sneaky left hook flush to Loy's face, opening a cut above his right eye and dropping him soon after. Although Loy beat Max Parker Jr.'s 10-count, he didn't responded when Parker asked him to come forward. Parker stopped the fight at the 2:10 mark of the first round.

Jessy Cruz (4-3-1, 1 KO) didn't have any issues collecting a unanimous decision victory against Jonathan Hernandez (1-2, 1 KO) Saturday night. Cruz controlled the pace for the bulk of the four rounds and did a solid job of changing levels, avoiding Hernandez's shots.

Tampa's Lamar Davis (5-3, 1 KO) earned a unanimous-decision win against Sean Bennett (2-1, 2 KOs). In the final round, Davis opened the round with a straight left, Bennett weathered that, landing a left hook to the head and changing the tide of the round.

Several times it appeared Davis, whose legs weren't fully beneath him, spit out his mouthpiece, forcing the referee to stop the action and provide a break.

Belleair's Justin Jones won his debut with a technical knockout against Zack Kuhn (1-1-1, 1 KO) after the match was stopped at the 2:30 mark of fourth round.