Philadelphia Police Officer Manny Folly Remains Undefeated As Pro Fighter
By Joseph Santoliquito March 31, 2017 at 11:59 pm
Filed Under:Philadelphia Police Department
Manny Folly & team (Photo by Matt Heasley)
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (CBS) — His day job is filled with risk and challenges. His day job carries the omnipresent specter of life and death. It's Manny Folly's night gig as a professional fighter that receives the attention, yet it's his day job as a Philadelphia police officer that merits the real accolades.
Folly drove his record to 10-0, with 8 knockouts, Friday night at the 2300 Arena, when he scored a first-round TKO over veteran Luis Hinojosa (30-11, 17 KOs) in what was supposed to be a scheduled 6-rounder. Folly knocked down Hinojosa three times in the first, two knockdowns came off straight rights that Hinojosa could not get out of the way.
Referee Eric Dali saw enough and waved it over at 2:18 of the second.
Folly appears ready for prime TV time.
"I'm taking my time, I'm not trying to rush anything," said Folly, 25. "I'm going to do whatever my manager, Cameron Dunkin, wants me to do, and my promoter, Chris Middendorf, wants me to do. Cameron Dunkin has been around the sport for a long time and I'm comfortable with the decision that I made by signing with him.
"This was my toughest opponent on paper that I've faced to date. I knew I had to take my time and I did. I had to make my shots count. When you take your time, it shows what happens. It would be great that my next fight is on TV, off TV, before a full house, like tonight, or before one fan in the seats, I'm always going to give my best."
In the main event, Jaron "Boots" Ennis remained undefeated at 10-0, with 8 KOs, with a 6-round unanimous decision over the rugged James Winchester (20-13, 8 KOs) in a welterweight fight. Winchester proved to be a lot tougher than anyone expected, suffering a cut over his right eye, which was streaming blood the last two rounds. It didn't seem to stop Winchester, who kept coming forward, taking shot after shot from the more-skilled Ennis.
The work was good for Ennis, who was in command throughout, but could use the experience in going six rounds against a veteran.
In what was a very entertaining fight, for how long it lasted, was Darren Goodall's 2-round TKO victory over Juan Zapata (4-11-2, 2 KOs) in a scheduled 4-round super middleweight bout. Goodall (5-0, 4 KOs) connected with a left hook that spelled the end of Zapata at 1:51 of the second.
Brandun Lee, a 17-year-old high school senior from Coachella, California, showed some nice promise in a scheduled 4-round super lightweight bout that he could be something when he mowed down Seth Basler, who made the regrettable mistake of making the transition from the mixed martial arts world to the boxing world. Lee (2-0, 2 KOs) stopped Basler (0-1) at 2:12 of the first round. It was enough to make Basler rethink his choice and go back to MMA.
In the first fight of the night, Joshua Jones (4-0-1, 2 KOs) outlasted Dustin Arnold (1-1, 0 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 4-round lightweight fight.