Manassas Journal Messenger | Robinson rebounds with first-round knockout
By KEITH McMILLAN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Orazio Robinson’s first professional victory came so quickly that those who looked away may have missed it.
Fighting two bouts after Hector Camacho Jr.’s disappointing 10-round victory on ESPN2’s Tuesday Night Fights, Robinson floored Philadelphia’s George Turner with a straight right hand 44 seconds into the first round of the junior middleweight fight.
Turner, who at 29 was 10 years older than his opponent, never made an effort to get up after the punch. With that, Robinson earned his first professional victory.
”Man, I feel like saying I’m going to Disneyworld or something,” he said laughing. ”I feel like I won the Super Bowl. And to win by knockout …”
Robinson, a Gar-Field graduate, had lost his professional debut in a split decision on June 28 at the D.C. Armory.
”I’m happy,” said Robinson’s trainer Willie Taylor. ”He got robbed in that first fight, so now we know we have to be mean. We won’t let no judge take anything away from us.”
Taylor, a Woodbridge resident who trains fighters at Arlington’s Barcroft Fitness and Recreation Center, said he and Robinson had been working on starting off fights more forcefully.
”We were planning on going hard,” Taylor said. ”We’ve been working on power shots the past three weeks.”
Robinson said he just wanted to win.
”I wasn’t trying to go in just to knock him out,” he said. ”If it came, it came.”
The blows came quickly after the opening bell, as Robinson and Turner furiously traded punches over the first 20 seconds of the fight. Just as Robinson seemed to be settling down, he caught Turner with the straight right and ended the fight.
Though it was the fifth of six fights on the night, and though it took place after the ESPN2 cameras packed up, Robinson’s knockout was the first of the evening. Most of the crowd of 1,065 at D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre stayed for Robinson’s bout and acknowledged the knockout with appreciative cheers.
Before the fight, Robinson was announced with a new ring name, ”The Razor,” which sounds like the middle syllables of his first name, Orazio. Robinson was also announced as from Manassas, where he grew up, instead of from Woodbridge, where he lives now. Woodbridge was listed as his hometown during his first fight. He also weighed in at 149 pounds, four pounds lighter than his previous fight.
Turner dropped to 1-9 with the loss. The 154-pounder hadn’t won since a third-round knockout of Lucas Pacheco in his professional debut in June of 1996.
Also on the card, Camacho Jr. won a 10-round unanimous decision over Canadian Bryon Mackie; Durham, N.C. middleweight Marcos Primera won an eight-round major decision over Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Shawn Garnett; Baltimore’s Ishmail Arvin defeated Detroit’s Leon Pearson in a six-round unanimous decision; Greenville, S.C.’s Anthony Powell handed Buffalo, N.Y.’s Henry Humphrey his first loss in six pro fights, and Baltimore heavyweight Jed Phipps TKO’d Toms River, N.J.’s Nevin Neff in the second round of the night’s final fight.