Beamon wows crowd and improves to 5-0 with big ninth-round KO

Dewayne Beamon, 30, wants to compete with the best of them some day.

To get there, he knows he has to work his way up by winning.

So far he’s doing that.

Beamon used his hand speed and mixed in some powerful body shots that led to a ninth-round knockout over Jamaican boxer Rudolph “The Cutting Edge” Hedge at Dorton Arena Friday night.

“It feels good to be undefeated,” Beamon said. “Gotta keep going though. I wanted to end it in the sixth but I ended it in the ninth, so we still have a lot to work on.”

The final blow was a powerful body shot,that forced Hedge to take two steps back, then take a knee.

The referee started counting to 10. When it looked as if Hedge was having trouble breathing, the referee asked Hedge did he want to continue the fight. But Hedge shook his head while trying to catch his breath.

Beamon said as soon as he connected, he knew Hedge wouldn’t get up.

As the referee called the fight, Beamon celebrated and the crowd screamed too.

Beamon, a 5-foot-4, 118-pound boxer from Goldsboro, was the headliner in Friday night’s eight fight lineup. Hundreds of fans filled the arena ready to see the main attraction that was Beamon.

The 10-round bout started out slow with both fighters feeling each other out in the first round. After that, it was on.

In the fifth round Beamon got the crowd on their feet after he unleashed a barrage of left hooks, many of them connecting. But Hedge fought back with jabs and hooks of his own.

“He’s a tough fighter, hard nosed guy,” Beamon said. “We knew that coming in, but I was ready, locked and loaded.”

The longer the fight went on, the more power shots both boxers threw. But Beamon connected more often, to the chagrin of his fans.

At one point in the middle of the sixth round, Beamon pounded his chest and yelled to Hedge to come on. Hedge swung and Beamon blocked it.

Beamon smiled and proceeded to throw a hook to the body.

Despite getting hit with some hard shots himself, Hedge threw some back. That was until Beamon’s devastating body shot landed in Hedge’s sternum.

With the win, Beamon won the Universal Box Federation’s All-American bantamweight title and improved his record to 5-0. He turned pro in August after a successful amateur career, where he finished 48-2.

Six fights preceded Beamon’s fight. Most of them also ended in knockouts.

Relatively unknown, the Universal Boxing Federation is an international professional boxing organization for men and women. It was a established in 2012.

Beamon had gotten a late start in his career in boxing.

His interest in boxing dates to his youth, but his parents, Chester, a pastor, and Loretta, initially disapproved. He played basketball and football in college before becoming a boxer.

Beamon trains at Retro Fitness on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh. There’s a ring in the back of the gym, where he typically spars twice a day leading up to his fights.

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 1:44 AM with the headline "Beamon wows crowd and improves to 5-0 with big ninth-round KO."