St. Vil Win IWBF Welterweight Title

Writer: Mark A. Jones/Photo-courtesy

(AUG 4)   Last night at the Whitehall Athletic Club, Whitehall, New York, as part of a co-main event, Melissa “Little Miss Tyson” St Vil, 142, Brooklyn, NY, won the International Women’s Boxing Federation (IWBF) welterweight title pounding out a ten-round unanimous decision over Sarah “The Knockout” Kuhn, 143, Albany, NY.

The familiar boxing phrase, “Speed kills” has always been a constant in the sport and held true last night as St. Vil, who has a track & field background employed supreme foot speed moving in and out of Kuhn’s range with a two-fisted attack.

After the fourth round, St. Vil became fatigued reducing her movement and punch volume allowing Kuhn to rally winning the fifth and sixth rounds by plowing forward behind her jab and right cross.  St. Vil discovered her second wind in the seventh winning the round as she did the first four landing well with the right hand coupled with effective in and out movement and constantly turning her opponent when in close.

St. Vil slowed down in the eighth and ninth round as Kuhn rallied, again behind her jab and right cross.

With the decision in doubt, the tenth round was fought at close-quarters witnessing the hand speed and combination punching of St. Vil giving her the edge over Kuhn’s single shots.

In the end, the assigned judges favored St. Vil (96-94/96-94/97-93) awarding her the unanimous decision and the IWBF welterweight title. This reporter also scored for St. Vil 96-94 giving her rounds’ 1-4, 7, and 10. With the win, St. Vil improves to (5-1-2, 0 KOs), whereas Kuhn drops to (6-4-1, 1 KO) with the loss.

Promoter: Greg Gross
Venue: Whitehall Athletic Club, Whitehall, NY
Attendance: 350 (estimate)
Referee: Paul Brown
IWBF Supervisor: “Down Town” Leona Brown
Matchmaker: Diana Rodriguez
Reporter: Mark Jones, boxingjones@gmail.com