By ERIC BENEVIDES
Sports Writer

LINCOLN — When it was Lance Whitaker's turn to take the podium and speak to the media at Thursday afternoon's press conference for his heavyweight bout against Jason "Big Six" Estrada, all he had to say was, "I do my talking in the ring."

When Whitaker finally stepped into the ring for Friday night's 10-round main event of the "Heavy Hitters" show at the Twin River Events Center, it turned out that Estrada did all the talking.

In a fight that didn't offer much excitement, it was Estrada, a Providence native and member of the '04 U.S. Olympic team, that provided the majority of the action in securing an unanimous-decision triumph over Whitaker before a large gathering and an ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" audience.

Whitaker (32-5-1) boasted a five-inch height advantage over the 6-foot-1 Estrada and a large 84-inch reach that helped him record 27 knockouts, but on this night, he had little answers for his opponent's hand speed and quickness in the ring and was on the losing end of 98-92, 98-92, and 97-93 scores.

"My hands were just too fast," added Estrada. "By the time he was getting his (hands) out there, I was slipping them or I was getting mine's out."

While Estrada raised his record to 12-1 (2 KOs), Whitaker lost his third fight in his last six appearances. The 35-year-old Van Nuys, Calif. product has seen better days in his career, winning the NABO, NABA, and WBC Continental Americas championships in his late 20s and early 30s, and came to Rhode Island hoping that a triumph over Estrada would get his career back on track.  

"I trained extra hard for this fight because I knew this guy was going to come to fight," offered Estrada. "This is one of his last hurrahs and he was trying to get back into the game by beating me, but I wasn't going to let that happen. But I have to give it up to him. He came to fight, and I'm glad he came to fight because that brought the best out of me."

Estrada needed to be at his best because of the bout being televised on ESPN2. He landed some good combinations to Whitaker's body and potent uppercuts to his head and was clearly in control of the contest.

Whitaker, whose best rounds were the sixth and seventh, didn't display his mammoth reach and tried to do the bulk of his damage with his jab, but he only connected with a few shots.

"That's why I was so hyped for this fight," Estrada said about the nationally-televised fight. "Every time he landed a shot, I let him know that it was nothing. I wanted to put on an impressive performance (on ESPN2) because (people) say there's no (heavyweight) prospects coming up. But I'm right here, and everytime (people) doubt me, I keep showing them that I'm here."

The fight of the night came in the co-feature in the form of a TKO by talented 21-year-old cruiserweight Aaron Williams of Las Vegas, who improved his record to 17-0-1 (12 KOs) by stopping former NABO champion Andre “Tombstone” Purlette (40-3, 35 KOs) with 10 seconds remaining in the second round.

Williams, a nine-time national amateur champion, dominated the first round before dropping Purlette with two right hooks midway through the second. Purlette recovered from the shots, but was unable to respond to a barrage of punches thrown by Williams, forcing referee Richard Flaherty to step in and mercifully halt the action.

The top bout on the undercard saw Providence light heavyweight Joey "The K.O. Kid" Spina raise his record to 22-1-1 (15 KOs) by escaping with a split decision over Quebec Boxing Council champion David Whittom (10-6-1, 6 KOs).
Spina was declared a 58-56 and 57-56 winner by two of the judges, but the other judge deemed Whittom a 57-56 victor.

Both fighters were busy from start to finish and landed a significant amount of punches, but the different in the bout came in the fourth round when Spina sent Whittom to the canvas with a left hook. Had it not been for that knockdown, the bout may have ended in a draw.

In the other undercard action, Lowell, Mass. flyweight Isander Beauchamp of Lowell, Mass. upped his unblemised record to 5-0 (2 KOs) and spoiled the pro debut of Rob Bell of Flint, Mich. by posting a second-round TKO. Beauchamp knocked down Bell twice before sending him to the mat for good with a right hook with 19 seconds left in the round.

Andrey Nevsky of Clinton, Mass. (5-0, 3 KOs) also remained unbeaten by beating Fitzgerald Johnson of Ashboro, N.C. (1-4, 1 KO) in their four-round super middleweight bout, as Nevsky won handily by three scores of 40-35. And Henry Mayes (7-5-1, 4 KOs) of Baltimore came away an unanimous-decision winner in his six-round light heavyweight bout with Lowell, Mass.'s Joey McCreedy, narrowly winning by scores of 58-56, 57-56, 57-56.