Professional boxing returned to the state capitol of Harrisburg PA on Saturday night for the first time in over eight years with an entertaining six bout card featuring some of the best up and coming prospects Pennsylvania has to offer. The highly competitive show promoted by Payton Promotions featured the cross state arrival of Adah, PA light heavyweight sensation Tommy Karpency (21-2, 14 KOs) who put on a one round beat down on late replacement Andre "Da Heat"Â Hemphill (10-17-2, 5 KOs). York PA junior welterweight sensation "Stone Cold"Â Stevie Weimer (6-0, 2 KOs) stepped up in class and was taken the distance and captured a hard fought six round split decision victory over tough Philly veteran Julius "Marvel"Â Edmonds (7-10) in the co-feature of the evening.
Pittsburgh fan favorite, Tommy Karpency looked for what was to a career defining fight with Toledo Ohio's Dallas Vargas, but he had to pull out for undisclosed reasons, forcing Payton Promotions to hit the phones desperately looking for an opponent willing to take on the up and coming southpaw light heavyweight. In stepped Andre "Da Heat"Â Hemphill, who was coming in on a two fight win streak and had tested some of the top prospects in the region, including Yathomas Riley, Mark Tucker and Anthony Ferrante.
Karpency knew this now turned into an even more dangerous fight as a loss to Hemphill could seriously damage his run for a world title shot. It was all business for Karpency from the opening bell as he carefully stalked Hemphill with a powerful right jab in the opening seconds. Hemphill tried to slow him down with a few shots to the body. Suddenly the fight changed in a flash as a Karpency left jab and straight right combination connected flush, up top and sent Hemphill to the canvas. Hemphill rose to his feet and went into survival mode. Karpency saw that he was covering up top and his rib were exposed, so he dug a perfectly place left hook under the ribcage. Hemphill spun around like a top, before going to a knee. It was clear that Hemphill had had enough as referee Gary Rosato reached the ten count at 2:12 mark of the opening round.
The jubilant Tommy Karpency who raised his record to an impressive 21-2, with 14KO's, spoke on the fight changes afterward. "We trained for a more straight ahead boxer in Dallas Vargas, and he was moving pretty good, but I knew if I put together some shots to the body I could finish him because he took the fight on short notice. You always want to go downstairs with guy on short notice."Â said Karpency. "It was great crowd; especially since I am not from around here (Adah, PA is several hours away from Harrisburg). I am just glad everyone came out to watch the show and I am thankful for the fans that came out to see me and made the it a success."Â
