For Maddalone and Moore, victories are nothing to celebrate

This certainly wasn’t the way either Vinny Maddalone or James Moore wanted to return. The two Queens fighters left the ring victorious last Thursday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom, but they were far from impressive.
Maddalone, a heavyweight from Bayside, was last in action seven months ago when four-time world champion Evander Holyfield knocked him out.
Maddalone (28-4, 19 KOs) stopped Jason Barnett via a seventh round disqualification in the main event, yet didn’t necessarily do so impressively.
“It was an ugly fight,” he said. “I was really trying to knock this guy out, but my timing was off.”
Ugly is the perfect adjective to describe the contest. Early in the first round, Maddalone and Barnett traded heavy leather and in typical Maddalone form, a slugfest ensued. Towards the end of the first round, Maddalone absorbed a tremendous right hand that backed him up against the ropes.
“That was a wake-up call,” he said.
As the bout continued, Maddalone dropped Barnett (9-6, 4 KO’s) in the second round from a right hook to the body. Later, Maddalone, a Holy Cross product, sustained a severe laceration over his left eye from a head butt. Maddalone has a lot of scar tissue on his forehead and eyes. The scar tissue opens up every time he fights. Bleeding profusely is standard protocol.
“Blood to me is like you throwing water in my face,” Maddalone said.
In the sixth round referee Eddie Cotton deducted two points from Barnett for head butts that he deemed intentional. At the 1:48 mark of the seventh round, Cotton disqualified Barnett for another head butt.
“He knew I had him hurt and he was just trying to survive,” Maddalone said.
Moore, the Irish middleweight from Maspeth, did not fare much better. He pounded out a workmanlike six-round decision over Chad Greenleaf, but found tough sledding against the awkward southpaw. He won comfortably on all three scorecards - two judges had it 60-54 and a third 59-55 - but the scoring didn’t adequately reflect one of the worst outings of the Irishman’s pro career.
Greenleaf, (10-8-1, 4 KO’s) though limited in his skill-set, managed to exploit Moore’s flaws. He forced Moore (13-0, 9 KO’s) to retreat backwards by applying pressure and fighting at angles.
“To tell the truth, I trained for an orthodox fighter,” Moore said afterwards. “I found out that he [Greenleaf] was a southpaw this morning. It’s been some nine months or so since I sparred with a lefty.
“I was trying to lure him in,” he added, “to land a big right hook but he didn’t fall for it.”