Faragon remains undefeated in ring (with photo gallery)

On the boxing front, Guilderland lightweight Mike Faragon came through with a crisp performance Thursday night, running his record to 14-0, despite going into the ring with an unaccustomed weight disadvantage. (To see photos, click HERE.)

His opponent, Shamir Reyes of Brooklyn, showed up at the weigh-in 7.6 lb. over the 137 lb. limit, a bit of presumption that was not welcomed by the promoters, the state athletic commission or by the Faragon camp.

Since the weigh-in was held at noon on the day of the fight, having been postponed from the previous day because of a snowstorm, there was little time to make adjustments.

A compromise was struck: Reyes would have to lose a pound and a half within the next two hours, which would be 1 percent of his body weight, the maximum allowed by state regulations, and he would be fined a “substantial” amount of money, the money to be added to Faragon’s purse, and the fight would go on.

No one would tell me exactly how much the fine was, but that’s how it played out.

So Faragon faced a rare disadvantage. He usually puts on a lot of weight – as much as 10-15 pounds -- after starving and dehydrating himself for a weigh-in, but this time, with the weigh-in delayed, he weakened himself with the starvation and dehydration without having time to pump himself back up. Reyes, meanwhile, looked beefy and satisfied.

After two hours on a treadmill, Reyes lost the required weight and officially weighed in at 143. Faragon might have put on a pound or two with the cans of V-8 he carried with him and with a light meal. So for the first time ever, perhaps, he weighed less than his opponent, and he might have been a little weaker than normal.

I figured Reyes for a pushover based simply on his disdainful attitude in showing up over the weight limit, and I figured Faragon would give him a whipping. But that’s not how it worked out.

Faragon was quicker and outboxed him, but Reyes was a good counterpuncher off the ropes, where he didn’t seem to mind finding himself, and was hard to hit, as he promised me he would be when I interviewed him a few weeks ago.

In eight rounds of testing and probing each other, neither fighter managed to hurt the other. The decision for Faragon was unanimous.

The fight was held at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, which turned out to be perfectly suitable, and was the main event on a card that began with four amateur bouts and continued with four pro bouts.

It was put on by Pugnacious Promotions, run by Lisa Elovich and Paul Brown, who did another fine job of arranging competitive bouts between local favorites and out-of-town challengers. (The out-of-towners managed two wins.)

For results of the other matches, please see the photos and accompanying captions.

today's events