When people think about DC they think about politics and beltway insiders, but few people think about boxing. In a town where everyone that lives within the Beltway comes from outside the Beltway, it’s always refreshing to learn about individuals from the District making waves. That’s why it’s a pleasure to watch the fast-growing boxing career of Dusty Hernandez-Harrison (19-0-0), a DC native of Puerto Rican descent.
Back in May we had a chance to sit down with Dusty to talk about his boxing career, and we’ve been keeping track of him ever since. Right after our interview he defeated Eddie Soto by TKO, and a few months later he fought against Josh Torres for the WBC Youth Welterweight World Championship belt in Madison Square Garden and won by Unanimous Decision.
Over the weekend I had a chance to unwind and sit down Friday night to watch Dusty go up against Tim Witherspoon Jr. (10-3-1) on ESPN Friday Fight Night, a part of ESPN’s Super Bowl weekend tripleheader special event. Dusty weighed in at 146.2 lbs while Witherspoon Jr. weighed in at 146.5 lbs.
From the start of the fight Dusty showed how much of a mature boxer he is by taking his time throughout the first three rounds. Witherspoon (29) who is 10 years older than Dusty came out swinging fast and hard trying to land that big punch for the knockout, but Dusty took his sweet time, working Witherspoon punch by punch.
During the fight I was able to experience ESPN’s new social media feature where you can vote on who won each round on their Facebook fan page. By the end of the third round fans on Facebook had the fight 36% to 64% Witherspoon, but it all started changing in the fourth round when Witherspoon started to slow down and Dusty began picking up speed. This is where Dusty showed how experienced he really is. He knew that Witherspoon had never been past the sixth round and he took advantage of that by holding back until the fourth round when Witherspoon began winding down. Fans had the fourth round at tie of 50% – 50%. But by the fifth round, when Dusty started to land harder body shots and worked Witherspoon down, fans had the fight at 96% to 4% Hernandez-Harrison.
At the end of the either and final round fans had the fight 98% – 2% Hernandez-Harrison, which was in lock with the judges score card of 78-74 in favor of Hernandez-Harrison. This new feature that ESPN has created a more interactive boxing experience for fans, and I, for one, look forward to using it more often as I continue to watch Dusty Hernandez-Harrison’s career take off.
In the end, it was a great fight, and I really enjoyed watching this young star headline a big fight on ESPN.
I look forward to seeing his next fight live.
