Hollister
’s Kelsey Jeffries has been waiting a long time to get back into
the ring in front of her hometown fans. And on Thursday, at the
Shark Tank in San Jose, the newly dubbed “Ali’i Warrior of the
South Bay” put on a six-round show for the Hollister and Gilroy
faithful as she defeated Leona Brown
(13-16-0) of New York by unanimous decision (59-55, 60-54,
59-55).
Hollister’s Kelsey Jeffries has been waiting a long time to get back into the ring in front of her hometown fans. And on Thursday, at the Shark Tank in San Jose, the newly dubbed “Ali’i Warrior of the South Bay” put on a six-round show for the Hollister and Gilroy faithful as she defeated Leona Brown (13-16-0) of New York by unanimous decision (59-55, 60-54, 59-55).
“This girl, I knew she was tough and I knew she came to fight,” Jeffries said after the fight. “I knew she had been working hard to beat me. She moved around a lot more than I thought she would but my gameplan was working good.”
Jeffries (33-8-0) controlled the bout from the opening bell, holding her ground in the center of the ring as her 4-foot-11 opponent did all she could to get inside and do some damage.
The opening round of the fight saw Jeffries wait patiently as Brown tried to go to the body. Again and again, Jeffries turned her foe away empty-handed, backing her up with stiff jabs until Brown began to resort to locking Jeffries up with holds any time the two got into close quarters.
Early on in the second round, it became clear that Jeffries was in control of the fight. Every time Brown got close enough to throw a punch, Jeffries would back her up with a flurry of short jabs.
The second round also saw a bit of crowd-pleasing showmanship from Jeffries, whose entrance into the arena drew the loudest applause of the evening from the 3,000-plus fans in attendance. Midway through the round, Jeffries connected on a shot to Brown’s midsection and the New York-based fighter lost a crucial piece of her equipment: One of her breast protectors.
The fight had to be stopped so Brown could get re-adjusted and while she was doing so, Jeffries winked to the crowd, cracked a smile and made a joking gesture toward her own chest area, drawing loud laughs and cheers from the crowd.
Jeffries really started to inflict some damage on Brown in the third. She came out working the jab effectively and with just under a minute left in the round, Jeffries connected with a solid right hook that put Brown on the defensive for the rest of the round.
Jeffries was relentless in her pursuit in the closing seconds of the third. With less than five seconds remaining in the round, Jeffries rushed at the retreating Brown and landed a flurry of blows just before the bell sounded.
In the fourth, it was Brown, possibly sensing that the fight was slipping away from her, who came out the aggressor. The opening 10 seconds or so of the round saw Brown throw everything she had at Jeffries. But the Ali’i Warrior looked ready for the assault and easily defended all Brown could throw at her.
The fifth round saw Jeffries open up and begin to really punish the obviously fatigued Brown. On several occasions in the fifth, Jeffries connected with lightning-quick shots to the head.
But Brown rebounded in the final seconds of the fifth to nail Jeffries with a couple of good shots before returning to her corner.
Brown came out firing once again in the bout’s final round, connecting on a couple of early uppercuts when the two fighters found themselves in the corner.
But after going all out in the first minute of the round, Brown clearly began to fade as Jeffries stood up to her barrage of punches.
“I had to be mentally tough tonight, I had to be smart in there,” said Jeffries after the fight. “I thought my way through this one.”
Ring Notes
*Gilroy’s Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and 2004 light heavyweight Olympic gold medallist Andre Ward both made fan appearances at Fight Night. Before the main event, Guerrero and Oakland’s Ward were brought into the ring and introduced to the crowd, where the Olympian took the opportunity to hype his next fight which is scheduled for Aug. 18 at HP Pavilion. Guerrero has yet to schedule his next bout, but his publicist Mario Serrano said the Ghost is “ready to go.”
*Boxing legend Lou Duva and winner of NBC’s reality boxing series “The Contender” Sergio Mora were honored ringside between the second and third bouts.
*On Monday, Kelsey Jeffries earned her firefighter’s pin after finishing fire academy with the San Benito Fire Department.
*Mike Hull, a light heavyweight out of Morgan Hill, made his debut at the Tank against Sean Dalton, another rookie. Hull, decked out in Desert Storm fatigue-color trunks and matching hat, appeared to have more confidence coming into the ring. But Dalton, who had Kelsey Jeffries’ former trainer Rick Melo in his corner, drew blood early in the first round and knocked out Hull 41 seconds into the second round.
