By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — “I love it here,” said Daniel Sostre of Highland following Friday night’s Catch a Rising Fist professional boxing card at Monticello Gaming & Raceway.
Sostre, known as “The Hudson Valley Kid,” remained undefeated in four fights in Monticello after scoring a unanimous decision over Mario Hayes of St. Petersburg, Fla. in their six-round welterweight clash on the program in front of 743 fans.
All three judges at ringside scored the bout 60-53 in favor of Sostre.
Sostre, who shuffled his feet and fists in the style of the legendary Muhammad Ali after the final bell, gave his performance “an eight or eight-and-a-half” on a scale of 1 to 10.
“I threw some good punches,” he said.
Next up for Sostre (7-0, 3 KOs) is a fight in July against undefeated Tommy “The Razor” Rainone.
Friday night’s main event was an eight-round bout between Zuri Lawrence of Wappingers Falls and Darrel Madison of Central Islip for the New York State Heavyweight Championship.
Madison won unanimous decision (77-75, 77-75, 78-75) to claim the title and improve his record to 10-1 with 3 KOs. Lawrence’s record dropped to 23-14-4.
“The fight was ugly,” said a very disappointed Lawrence moments after the bout concluded. “There was a lot of grabbing and holding.”
When he was asked to rate his performance on a scale of 1 to 10, Lawrence replied by saying it was “a five.”
Another Hudson Valley fighter, Tim Skolnik (1-0, 1 KO) of Kerhonkson, was to have fought Tyrone Smith (5-5-2, 2 KOs) in a heavyweight match. But Smith, a Boston police officer, was called in to work and the bout was scratched from the card.
However, four other scheduled bouts went on as planned.
In a four-round welterweight fight, Henry White Jr. (3-2, 2 KOs) defeated Broderick Antoine (2-6, 1 KO) by majority draw. Two judges scored the fight a 38-38 draw, but the third judge had White ahead, 39-37.
In a four-round women’s featherweight bout, Ronica “The Queen” Jeffrey (2-0) won a unanimous decision (40-35, 40-35, 40-36) over Lucia Larcinese, who was making her professional debut.
Jose Guzman (2-3-1) prevailed by unanimous decision (40-35, 39-37, 40-36) over Lindberg Freeman (0-1) in a four-round lightweight bout.
Cory Cummings (16-2, 12 KOs) won a unanimous decision (59-55, 58-56, 60-54) against John Douglas (6-13-3, 3 KOs).