War of the Warriors

BY HERB SMITH

A focus of Onix Rodriguez's latest training camp was improving his footwork to throw the left hook. The results of the hard work were on display on April 12.

The southpaw from Scranton's Irish Boxing Club repeatedly strung Cameron Reid with left hooks over the three-round amateur bout to earn a victory on points in front of 650 at War of the Warriors at the Holiday Inn Scranton East.

With Rodriguez trying to establish the jab in the first round, Reid slipped in and landed a right to the body. Rodriguez answered with a left hook upstairs and then scored with two left hooks to the body. The pair then traded shots with Rodriguez landing a short left hook upstairs. Reid answered with a right hook and a straight right hand before Rodriguez came in and landed a combination near the end of the round.

Reid displayed plenty of speed and caught Rodriguez with a straight right to the chin in the second round. Rodriguez landed a left hook and then feinted a right and landed a big left hook upstairs.

“When the other guy is quick you have to put traps in the way,” Rodriguez said. “Act like you're going to throw your jab, move your feet a little bit, make him think that you're going to throw something and then throw something else. Just run him into traps.”

Rodriguez scored with more left hooks in the third round to earn the victory.

“We've been working on it the whole camp, working on moving with my jab more, move my feet with my punches because I used to keep my foot back and stretched out so now I was able to hit it more,” he said. “It makes me proud because I know how hard I've been working in and out of the gym.”

Start with the jab

Zack Venesky leaned on his strong jab to open up opportunities in earning a win on points over John Phelan in front of 650 at War of the Warriors at the Holiday Inn Scranton East on April 12.

The former Valley View and Rutgers football standout who trains at the Irish Boxing Club went to his jab early in the first round and then followed it with a straight right hand. Phelan tried to move in and Venesky answered with a right upstairs and then a right to the body.

“You want to establish the jab because you set up everything off the jab,” Venesky said. “Just find your openings when you're using that, see what's there and kind of pick him apart with that.”

Phelan came storming out to start the second round but Venesky maintained control and landed a left and right to the body.

“Gene (Reed) does a great job with his coaching saying just fight your fight essentially so when he's coming at you, you're looking to counter when he's getting real aggressive,” he said. “So that's opening up the uppercut for me at times, some of the body shots and the overhand right.”

The overhand right started to connect more in the third round. Venesky first doubled up the jab and then followed with a right. After a right hook to the body, he landed a strong right and then, with Phelan backed against the ropes, he scored with another right.

“That's one of those punches that I'm looking to hit him with, really get in there with that,” he said.

Thunder rolling

Jayden “Thunder” Aquino improved to 2-1 with a victory on points over Nehemiah Mickle in front of 650 at War of the Warriors at the Holiday Inn Scranton East on April 12.

The 11-year-old from the Irish Boxing Club brought his big cheering section to its feet with a couple of big left hands. He started jabbing in the first round and Mickle answered with a short right hand. Aquino then landed a left-right combination near the end of the round.

Aquino scored with a good straight left in the second round and Mickle answered with a big right. Aquino again answered with a left.

“It was very exciting,” Aquino said. “It felt very good. The crowd gave me adrenaline. It was crazy but at the end of the day I got the job done and got the W.”

The pair traded punches in the third round with Aquino backed into the corner. Then Aquino scored with a good straight left and he landed another left that drew an 8-count.

“Now I want to work on my head movement and throwing combinations,” he said. “I was worrying about the right hand so I just want to work on other punches now.”