Broadway Boxing at the Hammerstein

At the latest edition of Broadway Boxing at the Hammerstein, the
girls outshined the boys.

The men's card featured two of promoter Lou DiBella's usual prospects: Gary Stark and Edgar Santana, but in a night of workmanlike performances it was Atlantan Kimberly Colbert who stole the show.

In the first ever women's bout on the monthly Broadway card, Colbert bested former Hilary Swank sparring partner and local favorite Maureen Shea, of Gleason's Gym.

Colbert, wearing basketball shorts and Jordans with the tag still hanging off, came to brawl. Her wild eyes riled up the Brownsville crew standing ringside.

"She's a crack head."

"She from the hood of the hood."

Wherever she's from, sign her up. Her heavy, straight-arm roundhouses drew the biggest reactions of the night.

Shea hit the canvas in the third, a knockdown that many observers thought should have been ruled a slip. Colbert later insisted it wasn't.

"That's what I'm talking about. Knocking the bitch to the ground."

Shea was by far the superior boxer, and despite the knockdown seemed the likely victor. When Dibella tapped gloves with Shea, one man interpreted it as a sure sign that she would get the decision.

"That's the signal."

He was wrong. Two judges went for Colbert. But if DiBella was disappointed, he rebounded quickly. Perhaps sensing that he had a marketable villain on his hands, the promoter was talking rematch before the fighters could climb out of the ring.





Headliner Edgar Santana, of Spanish Harlem, fought Tomas Berrientes.
Santana fans stood in the balcony, waved Puerto Rico flags and cheered harder than his punches seemed to land. Santana took the unanimous decision.

Gary Stark, the unofficial headliner, brought out the whole Starret
City camp and a good number from Brooklyn. They were loud and hard on
Luis Bolano, who lost the decision. When he went down after Stark
might have touched him low, no one gave him the benefit of the doubt.
"Bullshit, bullshit," sang the chorus.

Tomas Padron isn't on the Broadway card to win, but Padron doesn't
care. He's got heart. His ability to take a punch and hit back isn't
so much dangerous as confusing to up-and-comers. Last month, Padron
disappointed a crowd expecting Pete "Kid Chocolate" Quillin to put him
down. Friday, Padron frustrated Juan Cabrera,who had to settle for
winning by decision.