Iannuzzi, Charles remain undefeated

With special appearances from former super middleweight champion and St. Petersburg native Jeff Lacy and Tampa's welterweight Nate Campbell, it was standing room only at the Ballroom Brawl at the Grand Hyatt Saturday night, where some up-and-coming local fighters gave the crowd its money worth.

In the main event of the evening, Tampa cruiserweight Nick "The Showstopper" Iannuzzi won his rematch against St. Pete's Willie Chisolm in an eight-round bout by unanimous decision, 80-72, on all scorecards.

Iannuzzi (12-0, 7 KO's) used an array of combinations and a strong left-hand jab to keep Chisolm off balance, but also managed to connect a few hard shots. Chisolm (6-6) failed to land a heavy punch due to Iannuzzi's ability to maneuver around his bully-like style.

Tampa welterweight Raymond Charles, trained by Campbell, used a barrage of body shots early to win his six-round bout with veteran Alex Perez to remain undefeated at 11-0. Judges scored the bout 59-55, 60-54 and 60-54.

Charles never hurt Perez, but weakened him with uppercuts to the body, keeping Perez on the ropes for the majority of the fight. The two welterweights exchanged taunts at the center of the ring, which seemed to fuel Charles' attacks.

In a lightweight bout, Sarasota's Adam Jaco defeated St. Pete's Marvin Blair in unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight 40-36. Although the fight involved more brawling than boxing, Jaco backed Blair with a few jabs and landed a few straight punches and hooks to keep Blair at bay.

Pinellas Park middleweight Benjamin Jordan failed to rally any attack against newcomer Kenneth Moody in his four-round bout, unwilling to force any pain on his taller opponent, who won by decision. Jordan seemed hesitant at times and less aggressive than Moody, who attacked Jordan with combinations and wild hooks.

In the most crowd-pleasing bout of the night, Fort Myers' own Marcus Willis and Brooklyn's Jason Thompson fought to a split decision, 40-36, 38-38, and 38-38.

In other fights, newcomer Cordaro Simpkins defeated David Cano by decision in a four-round lightweight fight; Fort Myers junior middleweight Quinton Willis defeated Carlos Aballe by decision.