More punches will be thrown than kisses planted this Valentine?s Day when Issouf Kinda faces Jeremy Bryan in the Bronx?
?I don?t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.??Marilyn Monroe
?Wonderful? is what New Yorkers think of junior welterweight Issouf Kinda, originally from the West African nation of Burkina Faso but who now fights out of the Bronx.
More punches will be thrown than kisses planted this Valentine?s Day (yeah, like that?s an unfamiliar scenario) when Kinda faces Jeremy Bryan for a scheduled eight rounds at the Paramount in Huntington, New York.
Kinda, who?ll turn 26 five days before the fight, is a five-year pro (16-1, 6 KOs) who won the vacant New York State junior welterweight title by defeating Luis Rodriguez by unanimous decision in 2012. The Bronxite fought twice last year, stopping Javier Loya by second-round KO in February, and losing to Chris Howard by technical decision in May. Howard, who was ahead on two of the judges? cards, suffered a cut over his left eye from an accidental headbutt, and the ring doc stopped the fight after the sixth round.
A resident of Paterson, New Jersey, Bryan, who?ll turn 28 three days before the bout, is a seven-year ring veteran (16-3, 7 KOs) who fought twice last year, beating Yuri Romanov by majority decision in January, and losing to Amir Imam by second-round TKO in April. His other losses came by way of Vincent Arroyo, who won by eighth-round KO, and Ronald Cruz, who won by sixth-round TKO, both in 2010. Following his loss to Cruz, Bryan didn?t reenter the ring for a full two years, when he beat by unanimous decision Damon Antoine, who?s only won 11 of 67 bouts.
Bryan, who goes by ?Hollywood,? may be better than Antoine, but he?s not good enough to score a win over some kinda wonderful from the Bronx by way of Burkina Faso.
Valentine?s Day? Schmalentine?s Day. Kinda ain?t gonna kinda say it with flowers, but with a knockout by the middle rounds.
How does the old song go? Oh yeah: New York, New York, a wonderful town. The Bronx is up and the Patersonian?s down?
For the count.
