Liz Mooney walked into the Washington Avenue Armory ring May 17 with an opportunity to move up in the world women’s welterweight boxing rankings.
She walked out of the ring no better or no worse than where she had started.
Mooney the third-ranked woman welterweight fought No. 2 ranked Miriam Brakache to an eight-round draw in the featured bout of Saturday’s seven-bout card at the Armory.
`I think it was a warranted decision. I didn’t do enough to win,` said Mooney, a 38-year-old fighter from Feura Bush.
Brakache got in some good shots at Mooney during the first four rounds, but Mooney came back with a strong effort in the final half of the bout to earn the draw.
`She definitely got her punches off first, and she was throwing them from an awkward position,` said Mooney. `I had to adjust to her style, and I was able to get some punches off later on.`
Though she missed her opportunity to move past Brakache and become the No. 1 contender for the world welterweight title, Mooney was happy with her effort.
`Every time I get in that ring, I’m proud of myself ` win, lose or draw,` said Mooney, who has a professional record of 5-3-1. `I can pat myself on the back.`
Several more local boxers had a chance to shine at Saturday’s fight card, which was put together by Delmar gym owner Rick Sweeney. The bout with the most buzz in the two-thirds-filled arena was between Guilderland’s Mike Farragon and Los Angeles native Khadaphi Proctor. Farragon ` who signed a professional contract with legendary promoter Shelly Finkel and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Productions company last year ` raised his record to 3-0 with a unanimous decision over Proctor in a four-round junior welterweight bout.
`Good fight, tough guy, great crowd,` said Farragon. `At the beginning of every round, I heard (the fans), so that helped me.`
Farragon dominated the first three rounds against Proctor, who was also in his third professional bout. Proctor came back with a strong fourth round, but it was too late to sway the judges’ decisions.
`I thought he fought great,` said Andy Farragon, Mike’s trainer and father. `He came out with a lot of energy, and I was worried he had too much energy. I told him to save something for the later rounds, (but) he didn’t have a lot of energy left at the end.`
Saratoga Springs heavyweight Gary Wilcox made his first appearance in a boxing ring in three years a memorable one as he defeated John Rainwater by technical knockout. Wilcox dominated the first four rounds of the six-round bout before the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round.
`I felt better than I did in a long time,` said Wilcox, who last fought in 2005. `My legs felt great.`
In other bouts, Sean Thompson handed Albany’s Chris Horn his first professional loss with a unanimous decision in their cruiserweight match, Schenectady’s Brian Miller defeated Troy’s Broderick Antonio in a junior welterweight fight and Delmar lightweight Zach Smith won a unanimous decision against Troy’s Rafael Luna in his pro debut. Joe Yerdon fought Rakeem Carter to a draw in their light middleweight bout.
Sweeney said he was happy with the way the evening turned out and is hoping to hold another professional card at the Armory in September.“