From The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ – Vito Mielnicki Jr. never really had to come out of second gear to score a shutout decision over Poland’s Kamil Gardzielik in front of his hometown crowd at the Prudential Center Saturday night.

Coming off a draw with Connor Coyle, Mielnicki (21-1-1, 12 ko) was looking for a dominant performance this time out, and showed a lot of poise and control for the full ten rounds, working behind his jab and taking the openings as they came against an opponent in Gardzielik (19-1, 4 ko) who showed little desire to engage, but would on occasion let go of a sharp counter to keep Mielnicki honest. It was a sharp technical performance that had little in common with the fight with Coyle which was much more of a dog fight.

Mielnicki is a swiss army knife, he can do a little of this, little of that. He is also one of those guys who went pro very young and spent most of his career with a lot of eyes on him, and it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. But now at 23, Mielnicki is starting to fine tune and refine his style and fought this fight at a more measured pace. Gardzielik was undefeated but largely untested going in, fighting all of his previous fights in his native Poland against regional opposition, so its tough to tell entirely how much he’s improved since the Coyle fight. Though Mielnicki is already 23 fights in, he is a young developing talent who is way ahead of the curve for a guy his age and has learned a lot on the job. Whether a step up fight or a rematch with Coyle comes next is unclear, but one thing is for sure; Jahi Tucker certainly made one hell of a case to be his next opponent.

Jahi Tucker Digs Deep in Shoot-Out with Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson

The co-main event really stole the night with Jahi Tucker winning a unanimous decision against Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson in an absolute shootout. As in potentially fight of the year (if not month) candidate type of shootout.

The fight had very little feeling out process with both guys working their way into the inside early on. Though fought at a very high skill level, it was largely chest chest with Tucker‘s superior and defense and footwork ultimately being the difference to edge out some very close rounds. In the seventh, Jahi started to land some real head snappers and separate himself from Simpson in the closing rounds to pull it out. 

Tucker (15-1-1, 6 ko), now 22 years old, has also spent his entire career in the spotlight, going pro during the Covid bubble at 17 and fighting the vast majority if not all of his fights on televised platforms. As with any fighter who goes pro that age there’s naturally some growing pains, but it looks like Tucker is really blossoming and coming into his own in the last few fights, punctuated by this performance. In a middleweight division that lacks excitement in the moment, it was nice to see a card headline by two promising local middleweights, who hopefully represent a more exciting future for the division.

• In a polish heavyweight showdown, Damian Knyba (16-0, 10 ko) forced the game and determined Marcin Siwy (25-1-1, 12 ko) to quit on his stool after the 8th round in an utter domination. Knyba used his height and jab early on, but Siwy would manage to close the gap on occasion and make it physical. But Knyba found his rhythm and got better every round, and by the 5th the fight was becoming a beatdown. Knyba, who has always shown the size and skill of a potentially elite level fighter is finally starting to combine the skillset with a slightly more aggressive and hurtful intention, producing one of his most impressive performances to date by breaking a guy down to the body and upping his tempo as the fight went on. Knyba looks ready for a step up fight.
• In his first fight in nearly 11 months, jr welterweight Brandun Lee (30-0, 23 ko) closed the show strong in a dominant unanimous decision over Elias Damian Araujo (22-6, 9 ko) in what was a solid performance but seemed like another lateral career move for a fighter who has struggled to transition from prospect to contender. Personally, I am not quite sure what to make of Lee or this performance, which was 8-rounder in Lee’s 30th pro fight. It was only a few years ago that Lee was going 12 rounds with fringe contenders like Will Madera and Pedro Campa, but struggled in those fights and has not been particularly active since. Theres a lot to like with Lee, but I struggle to see where exactly he goes next, though his skillset would tell you that there are still bigger things to come.
• With a ton of crowd support, Paterson prospect Dwyke Flemmings Jr. (11-0, 10 ko) mugged Demian Daniel Fernandez (15-7, 5 ko) in the early moments of the fight, stopping him to the body in the first round. It was an impressive showing of hand speed and power, albeit against a relatively passive opponent who gave him a stationary target along the ropes. Nonetheless, Flemmings did what he was supposed to do in a strong outing.
• Passaic NJ’s Lisandra Contreras (1-0) stood out in her pro debut, showing glimpses of a young Guillermo Rigondeaux against Montana Weems (1-1, 1 ko), dropping, outboxing and outclassing her tough opponent en-route to a dominant unanimous decision. Contreras showed incredible foot and head movement coupled with what looks like solid power and a well rounded arsenal to overwhelm Weems, who never stopped coming forward and trying. Contreras looks like she has the goods to be a serious player at jr. featherweight in the coming years.
• Staten Island light heavyweight Arjan Iseni (4-0, 4 ko) scored three knockdowns en-route to a second round stoppage over Kaine Tomlinson Jr. (1-1, 1 ko). Iseni boxed beautifully, and despite the quick recovery of Tomlinson Jr. after each of the knockdowns, the referee had seen enough of the mismatch after the third knockdown.
• After an aggressive start by James Willis (6-2-1, 5 ko), Paterson heavyweight prospect Norman Neely (16-1, 11 ko) stayed composed, exploding with a combination toward the end of the opening round that put Willis’ lights out, forcing an impressive stoppage. Neely, a mobile and athletic heavyweight (which more suits the modern heavyweight division) has won three straight fights by early stoppage since his lone stoppage defeat to veteran Rydell Booker in 2022.