Truax wins State Middleweight title with split ove Kolle

By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2011, Mark Connor


On Friday night, May 27 at the St. Paul Armory Caleb "Golden" Truax won a split decision over Andy "Kaos" Kolle for the Minnesota State Middleweight Championship. Judge Mike Fitzgerald had it 96-94 Truax, Judge Scott Moe scored it 96-94 Kolle, and Judge Denny Nelson called it 97-93 Truax. It was a truly close fight that could have gone either way. The Boxers and Writers Magazine view was 96-94 Kolle, but at least one or two rounds were close enough to understand how they could have gone the other way. This is a fight that cries out for a rematch.

Truax was the immediate aggressor as the fight began, and although Kolle was able to jab his way off the ropes during the first minute of the first round and landed good lead right hooks that caught Truax charging in, he was unable to inflict damage through the second round. Truax kept plugging away, moving his head and landing body shots throughout the fight, many of which Kolle and his corner complained were low blows, but referee Mark Nelson insisted they were merely borderline. While I thought Kolle took rounds 3 and 4 to even the first third of the fight, Jesse Kelley of Minnesotaboxing.com, who was next to me at ringside, thought they’d traded the first, second, third and fourth, Truax winning one round and Kolle winning the other in a progressive give and take rhythm. As each round passed the six foot Truax would begin coming forward with an effective jab over the right hand of 6’-1” southpaw Kolle, also landing an occasional lead right down the middle and digging to the body. Kolle in turn would maneuver into the middle of the ring and continue circling, establishing the right jab or landing the lead right hook, occasionally timing the powerful straight left down the middle to stop Truax in his tracks. Invariably Truax kept coming, though, and Kolle would sometimes trade with him, sometimes cover, and sometimes move, reset and land some shots. He occasionally backed Truax up, but mostly moved throughout the fight. The difficulty in scoring the fight came in deciding at each closing bell whether Truax’s aggression or Kolle’s movement and powerful counters were more effective. The Boxers and Writers view was that Kolle took rounds 5 and 6 while Truax took 7 and 8, then Kolle pulled out the last two as Truax tired. The middle rounds were in fact close, though, as the respective 96-94 scores from Judges Moe and Fitzgerald, the former for Kolle and the latter for Truax, signify.

The two technical surprises of this fight came from Truax, landing the right uppercut—mostly to the body—and utilizing his left hook over Kolle’s right hand to force him to dip his head to the left and into the follow up right hand. He did this not only when initiating exchanges, but also while timing Kolle’s occasional habit of leaning in a little too far with the straight left, capitalizing on the momentum by turning the right hand into Kolle. In the latter rounds of the fight Kolle began landing his own right uppercut, and although a strong argument can be made that he did enough by winning rounds 11 and 12, the final decision suggests the lack of follow up hooks and straight lefts are what proved otherwise.

Abell avenges defeat from years ago, Alfaro proves ready for future

By
Mark Connor

© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor

Armory, St. Paul, MN, Saturday, July 17

Tonight southpaw Joey Abell fought an excellent fight, dominating the first three rounds behind a strong right jab with a punishing straight left hand that found its mark down the middle on nemesis Arron Lyons, who handed him his first loss back in December 2006. As he continued his strong start at the beginnig of the second round he eventually began landing left hand-right hook combinations, along with the right uppercut to the body followed by the hook to the head. By the end of the third round he was landing more uppercuts and hooks in combinations with more measured power, and in the fourth round he opened a vicious cut over Lyon's left eye, prompting referee Mark Nelson to consult Dr. Sheldon Siegal, under whose advice Nelson stopped the scheduled 10 round fight.

In the semi-main event Vicente Alfaro of Hastings, MN defeated St. Paul's Brad Patraw with a second round TKO. Alfaro opened the fight by outjabbing Patraw and backing him up, using great head movement and landing punishing hooks and body blows while throwing an occasional hard right hand. In the second Alfaro's right hand found the mark and his relentless combinations dropped Patraw twice before the finishing flurry caused referee Gary Meezwa to stop the fight. Alfaro looked exceptionally good in this fight, showing he has great potential to rapidly advance in his career.

In the opening fight Marty "Wolfman" Lindquist broke a four fight losing streak with a first round TKO over Frankie Quinn, who entered the Cruiserweight bout with a 6-0 record after not having fought since 1997. Lindquist stalked Quinn, missing often with a wild right hand but dropping him with the one punch when he finally landed it late in the round, following with a mild flury causing Quinn to fall again finally to his knees.

In the second fight Bobby Butters, Jr., whose father is a retired club fighter known for professoinally boxing in St. Paul and the larger Twin Cities through the 1990s, appeared to demonstrate that coming form a boxing family wold propell him by virtue of experience into victory over MMA fighter Travis Perzynski, who was 0-1 as a boxer. But after starting aggesssively with combinations off his fast jab and some good movement and footwork, Butters was careless with wild right hands. Puzynski caught him on the ropes with combinations to the body and head and put him out on his feet, prompting referee Mark Nelson to stop the fight.

José Hilario made quick work of debuting Jr. Lightweight Matthew Brogan of Green Bay. Hilario began with a couple of jabs as he moved to his left and the pair made one clockwise resolution around the cent fo the ring. Brogan looked unprepared for the professional ring, getting caught with a right uppercut that caused him to lurch forward, holding Hilario as he drove im into the ropes. Hilario turned him around and continued whipping looping combinations off of him, not hurting him with most shots but damaging him greatly when landing the right uppercut, which allowed him to land the right uppercut body shot that put Brogan down and won the fight.

Finally, Gavin Quinn, the son of Frankie Quinn, made his professional debut at Jr. Middleweight with a lackluster victory over Ryan Stock. After Stock opened the fight with first round dominance, continuously controlling im with the left jab and landing the right hand and left hook at will, estabishing a large mouse under the southpaw Quinn's right eye. But in the second round Stock began giving the victory away, deciding not to be busy enough to continue his dominance. While in the thrid and fourth rounds Quinn kept coming forward and throwing the majoirty of punches in the fight, his footwork was legthargic and came mostly off his heals rather than the balls of his feet. Stock decided to lean in a corner at one point to just put his hands up and let Quinn punch him willingly, even though most of the shots only landed on Stock's gloves. Obviosly Stock is not Muhammad Ali and if he was attempting the so-called "rope a dope" move of Ali e had no idea what he was donig. He was not in shape either, which probably explains why he only fought in the first round and deciding to go the distance a a punching bag for the remainer of the 4 round fight.

The Patriarch of Minnesota Boxing, Emmett Yanez, at 90 years old

by
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor


On March 3, my boxing coach who taught me to fight at age ten and guided me to national tournaments, Emmett J. Yanez, turned 90 years old. He also trained numerous other Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champions as well as national champions over the years, and he continues to coach amateur boxers today. His most recent champion is Robert Brant, who won the National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight Championship for the second time this year and is attempting to win the USA Boxing Light Heavyweight Championship at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO this week. During the celebration, which took place at Mancini's Char House in St. Paul, I was privileged to read out a declaration from St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman declaring March 3, 2010 Emmett J. Yanez Day in St. Paul, Minnesota. A special thanks to my father, Robert Connor, for advising me to contact the Mayor's office for the declaration.

The text of the declaration in its entirety follows.

Whereas, Emmett J. Yanez is currently a resident of Saint Paul, Minnesota and has lived in the city for nearly 80 years, in addition to having worked for the City of Saint Paul in the Department of Public Works;

Whereas, Emmett J. yanez today turns 90 years old;

Wereas, Emmett J. Yanez is a World War II veteran of the United States Army, regiment 504 of the 82nd Airborne Division that fought to liberate Europe;

Whereas, upon returning to Saint Paul after the war Emmett J. Yanez boxed professionally and eventually became a traiiner of Saint Paul Amateur boxers for more than 50 years;

Whereas, Emmett J. Yanez has developed numerous Saint Paul Golden Gloves and Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champions, City, state, and Regional amateur boxing champions of the juunior Olympic and Open Class age groups, and at least two open class national champions, and he has also trained successful professional boxers in Saint Paul;

Whereas, Emmett j. Yanez continues assisting Saint Paul youth and youth in general as a trainer of amateur boxers in a Saint Paul suburb,

Now, Therefore, I, Christopher B. Coleman, mayor of the City of Saint Paul, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, march 03, 2010, to be:

Emmett J. Yanez Day

in the City of Saint Paul

In Witness Whereof I have herunto set my hand
and caused the seal of the City of Saint Paul to be
affixed this Third Day of March in the Year Two
Thousand Ten.

Christopher B. Coleman, Mayor

Truax defeats Veteran Echols to top Entertaining Seconds Out Cart in St. Paul

By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor

Minnesota’s Caleb Truax took another significant step in his undefeated career Friday night with a unanimous decision over veteran middleweight Antwun Echols of Davenport, Iowa. The fight appeared close throughout, with Truax establishing dominance in the beginning but seeming to fade as the rounds passed. Echol’s persistent body shots on the inside appeared to take their toll, but just when he seemed to cede too much control in any given round Truax would score a significant flurry to turn the tide. The Boxers and Writers Magazine view of this fight is that it was much closer than the judges saw it, but Truax did deserve the unanimous decision. He turned on the pressure in the final rounds, particularly dominating the last two. Echols gave him the challenge that is to be expected from such an accomplished veteran Middleweight and Super Middleweight who has TKO victories over skilled fighters like Charles Brewer and once went the distance with the legendary Bernard Hopkins.

In the semi-main event Blaine’s Jon Schmidt lucked out with a no contest over an accidental head butt over his right eye as Josh Crouch took control in the 2nd and 3rd rounds with effective inside uppercuts and hooks from either side as he switched from the right handed and southpaw stances.

Ismail Muwendo scored a 3rd round knockout over Juan Baltierez in a scheduled 6 round Super Featherweight fight. Baltierez actually looked much stronger than he did months ago when fighting to a draw in West St. Paul. He actually landed some effective jabs that stopped Muwendo in his tracks, as well as good right hands in the first round. He did the same thing in the 2nd, but was neutralized by Muwendo’s strong jab, which was a continuation of the first round in which Muwendo landed cleaner, clearer shots including strong uppercuts and a solid, staggering right hand that established his command of the fight. Muwendo finally found his mark with a left hook in the 3rd round, dropping Baltierez, who rose to be dropped within a couple of more exchanges that ended the fight. Baltierez has potential, but he needs to sharpen up on a lower level of competition before competing with fighters as strong and effective as Muwendo, who has proven his power and potential but will have to tighten up on his defense—including an improvement of footwork and protecting his untested chin—before he steps up his own competition.

Charles Meir of Coon Rapids rose from the canvas after Corey Rodriguez dropped him with a looping right hand during a barrage of punches Rodriguez unleashed in the first round of their 6 round Middleweight fight. Meir did exhibit a high degree of skill in moving around the ring and landing counter shots, but Rodriguez was relentless throughout the fight with his body attack and appeared to be more effective and land more punches. But Rodriquez was dropped in the third from an accumulation of blows after a sneaky shot stunned him, and even though he came back well and was competitive in the last quarter of the round he still gave it away by a 10-8 margin. Boxers and Writers Magazine scored the fight 58-55 for Rodriguez, but apparently the judges were watching an entirely different fight. Denny Nelson and Veid Muiznieas scored it 56-56, while Carl Benson scored it 57-56 for Rodriguez, the total constituting a majority draw.

0-1 Jake Backus exhibited an improved performance in his second fight, a rematch
against 2-0 Super Bantamweight Vincente Alforo of St. Paul. But his effective movement and counterpunching never amounted to effective and punishing blows, and he was caught with a right hand that almost dropped him in the third round, forcing him to grab and hold for survival. At one point he was hurt so badly that his clinching resulted in him accidentally tackling Alfaro, and the round was lopsided enough for him to lose it 10-8. With a majority decision favoring Alfaro, Nelson calling it 39-37, Muiznieas scoring it 38-37 and Benson settling for 37-37, it is obvious that Backus let the fight slip away with his precarious 3rd round performance.

Hector Orozco avenged a technical decision loss from October of last year with a majority decision over Danny Figueroa. Boxers and Writers Magazine saw this fight differently from the judges also, believing Figueroa’s jab and combinations to be more effective throughout. Figueroa slipped well and utilized the ring, and he also fought effectively inside while Orozco continuously came forward. Orozco did look better this time around, though, and his high degree of recent activity has paid off. Nelson scored it 39-37 and Benson had it 39-38 for Orozco, while Muiznieas called it a 38-38 draw.

Abell disqualified for late punch knockout, Walters defeated in 56 seconds

Editor's Note: The result of this fight was officially changed from Disqualification to No Contest. More information forthcoming

By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2009, Mark ConnorBy

Raphael Butler appeared to be in command of the Minnesota Heavyweight Championship fight against Joey Abell as the final 30 seconds of the first round approached. He’d been landing good combinations and winning exchanges, picking apart the southpaw Abell with jabs, hooks, right hands and body shots. He was moving well and slipping well and seemed to be establishing the kind of rhythm that propels a fighter to victory. But then suddenly Abell hit him with a solid straight left hand that seriously stunned him, and then he punched some more and knocked him down. As Butler got up he did what was necessary to survive the round and the bell rang. It clearly rang. There was no mistaking it. Then, as Butler put his hands down and was ready to return to his corner, Abell threw the left again, knocking Butler out. Thereafter a melee occurred when Butler’s trainer, Dan O’Connor, ran into the ring and over to Abell, attacking him, at which time Abell’s corner attempted to protect him. When the incident had calmed down just a bit Abell went to Butler’s corner to tell O’Connor he wasn’t aware the round was over when he threw his last punch. After Butler was revived and had been awarded the victory, he was given the microphone and tried to tell the crowd Abell would get a rematch, but he could barely be heard over the boos.

Before the fighters exited the ring I was able to talk briefly to both of them, although State Commissioners were attempting to block interviews. Just before leaving the ring Abell verified to me that he told O’Connor he hadn’t realized the bell had rung before throwing the last punch, and Butler verified my suspicion, that until getting hit with the first significant Abell left hand he felt he was in command of the fight.

“I thought it was going to be an easy fight,” Butler said in reference to how he’d been doing prior to being dropped.

As disappointed as the crowd was, the disqualification was the right call. Historically speaking, even though the reference is to the amateur rather than the professional arena, the incident reminds me of when Evander Holyfield was disqualified in his 1984 semifinal Light Heavyweight Olympic bout in Los Angelus when he didn’t break momentum and knocked his opponent. Also, Abell showed the same level of class after his disqualification as Holyfield did while representing the U.S. in the Olympics 25 years ago.

In the co-main event Zack Walter of Duluth, MN was overwhelmed by Larry Sharpe of Pine Falls, Manitoba, Canada, who dropped him twice to win by knockout at 56 seconds of the 1st round. Sharpe improved to 24-4, 13 KOs, and when interviewed after the fight he announced to a round a boos from the Twin Cities crowd that he now wants to fight Matt Vanda. “I’d been campaigning as a Junior Middleweight,” he said, “and I didn’t belong there. I’m a natural Super Middleweight.”

The night’s most entertaining fight was the unanimous decision victory of St. Paul lightweight Tony Lee in his professional debut against Hector Orozco of Hopkins. Lee took command immediately with his jab and executed fast combinations. He also landed numerous body shots throughout the fight and in the 1st round dropped the southpaw Orozco with a right hand from an angle the man couldn’t see. Orozco proved tough and determined, though, continuously coming and landing a significant amount of his own punches. Lee pressed on with speedy combinations from angles he was able to create with movement, landing right hands and left hooks against the southpaw stance but also finding the jab consistently and pounding the body. By the middle of the second Lee’s knockout opportunity appeared to have slipped away, and by the end of the third he tended to carry his hand a little low, subtly signifying the weariness creeping into his arms from punching a guy who wouldn’t give up. But before the bell to end the round he pulled his hands back above his chin and went to work with combinations. Lee was significantly less effective in the last round, though, leading me to debate whether he won it. I gave him the nod, as one judge obviously did with a 40-36 final score. My unofficial card agreed with that, but the cards of Denny Nelson and John Mariano were both 39-36, leading me to believe Lee’s fatigue lost the 4th for him in their eyes by a margin of 10-9. Lee showed me his left hand afterwards, which was significantly bruised near the outer wrist, and he said that it inhibited him during the last half of the fight. Orozco faired well enough in this fight, but he took a lot of punches and was in over his head, as he was in his professional debut in 2006 when he lost a unanimous decision to Raúl Gracia, whose corner I was in at the time. It seems to me that Orozco is an exceptional athlete and has potential as a boxer, but he needs to fight some opponents with less skill on whom he can practice new moves and sharpen his combinations and defense. Lee will need more conditioning and another entry level opponent, but should then be able to take the next step and progress steadily.

Boris, “The Russian Giant” Shishporenok, of Blaine (who is actually from Belarus, not Russia) controlled his bout from the beginning against a debuting Will Gillette of Rapid City, SD. The taller and heavier Shishporenok, a southpaw who weighed 280 pounds and stands 6’-5’’, towered over Gillette and visibly damaged him before the end of the first. He consistently jabbed and followed through with hooks and uppercuts after catching Gillette with left hands coming in. Then, in the second round he threw a perfectly timed one-two combination that Gillette walked into, the left hand landing flush and knocking him cold. Shishporonek climbs to 7-1, 6 KOs. He was originally scheduled to fight Travis Walker but the match fell through, and so he settled for this significantly easier challenge.

Lightweight Gary Eyer, Duluth, MN, has to be admired for being courageous enough to enter the arena to the cross dressing singer Boy George’s song “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”. Standing taller than his rough Mexican opponent, Levi Cortes of St. Paul, he took punches all night in a 6 round fight he won by unanimous decision. Apparently the right hand haymakers that Cortes threw were seen by the judges as grazing blows that made some noise and riled the crow but did not actually score, event though they consistently clocked Eyer in the face and visibly damaged him. Cortes took his own share of punches and was cut badly on the mouth, while Eyer was significantly bruised on the lower corner of his left eye. While Eyer exhibited a fair amount of skill he didn’t seem to be landing nearly as many punches as Cortes, nor was he generally effective. He did score two knockdowns, however, one in the third and another in the 5th, and referee Bob Brunette (very unjustifiably, I believe) told Cortes’ trainer, Fernando Ortiz in the corner that if another such knockdown occurred in the 6th he would stop the fight. Actually, when the first knockdown happened Eyer had been taking a pummeling, but he wisely timed a left hook over Cortes’ haymaker right. Eyer was obviously trying to land that punch all night, as was evidenced by his continual lifting of his right foot while moving back to time Cortes coming in. The problem with that strategy is it tended to cause him to lean in off balance and throw his right hand with his back foot slightly in the air, inhibiting him from ever being able to seriously threaten Cortes even after knocking him down. After the first knockdown Cortes wisely clinched very tightly several times and came back strong in the closing portion of the round. The second knockdown resulted in another strong survival response. I would have scored the fight 59-56 for Cortes. However, Cortes must work on a number of things which could have helped him in this fight. The first is to shorten that right hand instead of throwing haymakers, the second is to stop smothering himself and learn to take half steps back or to the side to maintain punching range, and the third is to throw an uppercut. Any one or all of these tools could have helped him tremendously in this tough battle. Eyer’s improvement would start with a good strong jab which was nonexistent in this fight. Nevertheless, Eyer climbs to 7-0-1, 5 KOs.

Tomi Archambault of Minot, ND struggled down three pounds Thursday night to make the minimum 130 pounds to meet the 129 + or – limit for the Featherweight (normally 126 lbs) fight against Coon Rapids’ Ronnie Peterson, 127. Peterson dominated the first round with body and head combinations, hooking well off the jab and making Archmambault miss or catch his shoulders or gloves when returning fire. Peterson began to look physically troubled in the second half of round 2, however, which he obviously lost. His breathing appeared to be inhibited, and, unfortunately the bout was stopped after the second round when he complained in his corner of a shoulder injury. Peterson suffered a significant shoulder injury in his final year as an amateur, which subsequently prevented from him from competing in the National Golden Gloves at the time. Hopefully he will make a full recovery and this incident won’t significantly retard the progress of his career.

Ronnie Peterson’s older brother, Junior Middleweight David Peterson of Mounds View, had absolutely no problem against Silas Ortley of North Dakota, over whom he scored a 4th round TKO. Peterson pounded Ortley’s soft body for three and a half rounds, the North Dakotan falling to the canvas. Peterson was open and vulnerable throughout but Ortley was not skilled or conditioned enough to capitalize on it. In fact Ortley, falling to 4-8, 3 KOs, appeared to have no idea how to handle Peterson, now 12-0, 7 KOs. Peterson’s last outing was a win over Corrie Rodriguez, shortly after which he related to me that he was surprised at how easy it came. Significant training will be required, but he should fight another opponent of that caliber with the intention of taking a step up from there in the immediate future. He has potential, but he’ll never be challenged on this level, or worse—he could get lazy and get caught with an unseen punch against someone like Ortley who has no business in the ring with him.

Junior Middleweight Saverino Garcia, Jr., of St. Paul, got his first win with a unanimous decision over Jacob Dobbe of Minneapolis. Garcia, now 1-0-1, 0 KOs picked up his first win over the debuting Dobbe, who showed a lot of heart and potential. Garcia fights significantly similar to his dad, former Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champion and professional featherweight Saverino Garcia, Sr., who trained in the Petronelli camp in Brocton, MA where he sparred with Middleweight Hall of Fame Champion Marvin Hagler. The willingness to trade blows is apparently hereditary in this case, but the lesser number of years experience are evident the son’s lack of defense. Against a fighter of significantly little experience Garcia started slow, seemingly surprised at Dobbe’s ability to hit him and determination to fight. He clearly lost the first round. He came on by the second half of the second round, though, when he began to find his timing and rhythm. Then he got into the groove and dominated the last two rounds, proving that with a little more conditioning and sharpness he can start dropping opponents on the preliminary fight level. He and his father both said that they know he has a lot to work on and they’re just happy to have gotten the experience as they look to the future.

Abell plans adjustments, Butler stands on skill

By
Mark Connor

© Copyright 2009, Mark Connor

Raphael “the Silencer” Butler, 35-8-0, 28 KOs, and Joey “Minnesota Ice” Abell, 25-4-0, 24 KOs, have been training hard for their scheduled Minnesota Heavyweight Championship match this Friday, December 4. As they wind up training and ready for the 6 o’clock weigh-ins at the Target Center this Thursday night, it makes sense to evaluate their styles and histories, examine their statements about the fight, and come to a conclusion about the possible results.

Both fighters spoke briefly after a press conference at the Target Center on October 27, sharing their expectations for the fight. While Butler confidently insisted that since becoming a professional in 2005 he has improved far beyond Abell’s skill and couldn’t possibly suffer the traumatic defeat he experienced against him as an amateur, Abell argues his ability to knock Butler out. Both acknowledge each other’s accomplishments, though, and also remember what they learned about themselves and each other when they’ve had occasion to spar in the past. The match is significantly dramatic given their extensive knowledge of each other, Butler being from Rochester and Abell from Coon Rapids, and now that they’ve compiled respectively impressive winning records a collision course has led them to what is for both a crossroads fight.

“I guarantee I can knock him out and I know he can knock me out too,” Abell says, “but I mean I’m not gonna put myself in the position to be knocked out and I’m going to go out there every round and fight not just to win the fight but to knock him out because that’s what the fans want to see.”

Abell remembers that when they fought as amateurs he successfully pressured Butler with constant punches, and says that’s the reason the fight was stopped. Butler acknowledges that, insisting a combination of a lack of experience and less than stellar conditioning is what debilitated him at the time. To accurately judge what each is capable of doing to the other today, it is necessary to examine their professional performances, particularly their best and their worst. Abell says there are three or more ways to beat Butler, the first being the pressure he applied to them in their amateur fight nearly a decade ago.

“I’m gonna try that,” he said of the pressure strategy. “There’s probably three different ways of going about this fight. If one doesn’t work I’m gonna switch to another and if that one doesn’t work I’m gonna switch to another. There are many different things I can do.”

Butler believes his superior command of speed and footwork, along with his ability to slip and counter punches, will carry him through the fight and secure victory.

“I feel like I’m talented enough if I get in there and I do exactly what I’m supposed to do,” he explained, “there should be no way Joey Abell should be able to beat me.” Butler didn’t go into great detail about his strategy, but it can be deduced from his statement referring to his skills in relation to Abell’s.

“I know I’m faster than Joey, I know that I can move better than Joey, and I actually know that I’m actually more intelligent as far as boxing goes than Joey,” he said. “So that’s why I feel confident that if I do my work in the gym and if I do everything I need to do at home, the fight will be the easy part.”

The work in the gym he referred to will be the key, because everything else he said regarding physical talent is accurate. Butler does move better and is faster than Abell, but conditioning in this fight will be the final determining factor if it is at all close. Butler has had his tendencies to tire in the past, and he will have to eliminate that possibility to accomplish what he is obviously capable of.

“Anybody will tell you that the hardest part of the fight should be your training,” he said, “and if it’s not your training than you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.”

Abell does punch hard and he is strong, and he will most likely be in great shape. His tendency is to hold his chin too high and expose himself dangerously when loading up with the right hook from his southpaw stance, however, and his footwork is slow and plodding. He will have to pressure Butler like he mentioned in October, and if the pressure doesn’t work he’ll have to be able to avoid punches and hit him from angles that Butler cannot see. So long as Butler is in condition and boxing intelligently, however, Abell’s chance of pulling it off will be minimal. But the one factor present throughout the fight will be the possibility of Abell landing a big punch.

As far as Butler’s fight is concerned, he’ll have to make sure to keep his eyes on his opponent to avoid the sneaking shot from nowhere. He’ll have to also counter well and often after he lands lead combinations, stepping to the side instead of just straight back and wallowing on the ropes. He’s had a tendency to do the latter in the closer fights he’s had, and he’s also tired in the past. If he’s not in the best of shape and allows himself to tire, he’ll have problems. But he’s been training hard and sparring regularly with strong southpaw Boris Shishporenok; and his middle has tightened up in the last month. His endurance should be there enough to pull off the victory, but for his own sake he needs to be in better shape than the past. If he’s in really top notch condition it shouldn’t be that hard of a fight. It’s hard to say which Butler will show up for the Friday night contest, but the best guess is that he’ll pull it off one way or another.

Truax Shatters Hope, Kayongo Tops Todd

By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2009, Mark Connor

Caleb Truax shut down a brave bid by Kerry Hope of Wales to break his winning streak for the vacant World Boxing Foundation (WBF) International Super Middleweight title at the St. Paul Armory last Friday night, November 20, while Mohammed Kayongo may have resurrected his career with a 4th round knockout of Welshman James Todd for the WBF Intercontinental Welterweight title. Although the Truax-Hope contest was much more competitive, both victors were dominant throughout their respective contests.

Hope pressed the fight immediately in the first round, and although it was close and Truax was competently composed while moving around the ring in an attempt to establish his rhythm, I thought Hope won the round 10-9 because of his effective punching and aggression. Truax took control of the fight from there, though, and I had him winning every round except the 10th. I had the chance to speak briefly with judge Denny Nelson after the fight, and he told me he scored the first seven rounds for Truax, but the 8th, 9th, and 10th for Hope as Truax got tired. I scored the 9th for Hope because Truax appeared to be taking that round off after building such a huge lead, but thought Truax did enough to take the 10th. My unofficial card was 98-92 for Truax, but the official cards were unanimous at 97-93 for Truax. Strategically speaking, it was a near perfect performance for Truax, who handled Hope’s southpaw stance with the kind of precision necessary to succeed as a professional.

Hope fought more on the outside than he has in previous losses when he demonstrated a tendency to give up his natural reach advantage by smothering his power on the inside. He concentrated on keeping his distance and punching behind his right jab from full range in this fight, but Truax was too fast and too elusive for him to dominate. Also, Truax threw a strong left jab over the top of Hope’s lead whenever he was able to step outside Hope’s right foot. More often than not Truax concentrated on the right hand, though, and just when it seemed he was headhunting he’d land a significant shot to the body before coming back upstairs to land a clear shot to the chin. It took until the 4th round for him to cleanly land the left hook after the right hand, but once he did he was able to return to that shot at various critical periods throughout the night. By the 7th round he was moving well throughout the ring and picking his spots to effectively land significant shots. Due to a continued clash of heads in the opening rounds Truax suffered a cut in the corner of his right eye and Hope was cut on the side of his head, but neither injury significantly inhibited either fighter. Hope’s brave and competitive performance justifies his prefight confidence, but his evaluation of Truax’s credentials proved particularly flawed.

“Yeah, his record suggests he can punch,” Hope said the previous night after the weigh-ins, “but he’s fought tin cans if you ask me.”

That was an interesting statement, given that Truax entered the fight with a record of 13-0, 9 KOs, against a list of opponents whose combined win-loss record is 143 wins, 123 losses, and 15 draws, whereas Hope’s previous opponents have a combined record of 126 wins, 467 losses, and 29 draws.

“It’s their job to fight every week,” Hope said of his opponents with hundreds of losses, explaining that they were experienced enough to go the distance with good boxers but that he believed Truax’s previous opponents were not. Nevertheless, Hope has only scored one knockout in his entire 15 fight career, and he must go back to the drawing board after this loss. Perhaps he could climb back to this level with some more work, because he was obviously formidable for Truax, but “Golden” Caleb has taken a big step with this victory and appears poised to improve if he steadily increases his level of competition with the conservative approach that will enable him to continue his progress.

Kayongo opened his welterweight bout with immediate aggression against Todd, loading up with his punches. He jabbed well, but put most of his effort into right uppercuts and left hooks as he continuously moved around the ring bouncing punches off the advancing Todd, who had no idea what to do with him. Todd was cut with a mouse under his left eye by the 2nd round, when he was knocked down for the first time. At 2.35 of the 4th round Kayongo landed a combination that put Todd down for an immediate stoppage, referee Mark Nelson neglecting to count over the fallen fighter. Kayongo improves his record to 15-2-1, 11 KOs. This is Kayongo’s third win in a row since being TKO’d by José Leo Moreno in June 2005. He knocked out Eberto Medina, 2-2-0 in round 4 on April 25, 2007 at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, and won a 6 round Unanimous decision over Alex Perez, 23-30-4 on October 3, 2008 at the Ho Chunk Casino in Lynwood, IL. Todd’s rookie record falls from 2-1-1 to 2-2-1. It remains to be seen if Kayongo, the “African Assassin” can climb back to the level of challenging himself against experienced quality competition to the degree he did before falling to “The Lion Hearted” José Leo Marino.

In preliminary action Light Heavyweight Michael Faulk of St. Paul won a Unanimous decision—38-36, 39-37, 39-37—over Ryan Soft of New Town, ND. Faulk landed cleaner shots in the 1st and 2nd but got caught a bit near the end of the 2nd as Soft came on in the 3rd. Soft feigned pain from alleged low blows in both the 1st and the 4th, but it’s unclear whether anyone in the building saw Faulk land any low blows against him. Soft was able to catch Faulk with plenty of punches but many of his right hands were a little too looping to land flush and do damage, and he also lifted his right foot off the ground at critical moments while punching, throwing himself off balance and many times smothering his power. Faulk, a Southpaw, landed many effective combinations but squared himself off way too much and unnecessarily opened himself up for damage he would have best avoided. Faulk climbs to 2-0 while Soft falls to a perfectly balanced 1-1-1.

Featherweight prospect Willshaun Boxley boxed a very entertaining exhibition to open the night. He was faster, punched harder, and outmoved his opponent while making him miss throughout the fight, although he carried his chin curiously high during his performance. Hopefully he'll be in competitive action again soon so local fans can see how fast he's developing.

There were three Mixed Martial Arts matches between the Faulk-Soft match and the Kayongo-Todd match. While I was interested in them as I watched, I could have just as easily skipped the experience. They were competitive athletes, though, and very strong and tough. They deserve credit for their efforts. In the first bout Derk Abram TKO’d Gabe Wllbridge, in the second Isaiah Mahto won by submission over Jedidiah Jones, and in the third Marcus LeVessuer defeated Bruce Johnson. LeVessuer is particularly impressive.

There are two reasons I would rather not see MMA matches included on boxing cards. One is that MMA fighters are regularly paid in a manner different than boxers, wherein a participant will get a couple of hundred or a few hundred dollars to fight (or many thousands or greater in big promotions), then additional payment of the same amount if he wins. In other words the winner between two competitors on the same level makes double the loser, when in fact the fight couldn't happen without both and the loser may even be the bigger draw. I for one would hate to see any attempt to introduce this type of pay system into boxing. The other reason is that the inclusion of an MMA match necessarily means the exclusion of a boxing match. Seconds Out Promotions impresses me as a sound operation and I believe it to be a positive presence in Minnesota boxing. I understand that prmoting is necessarily a financial risk every time it's done, and I admire anyone who can organize such an event successfully. I just firmly belive the cards are always a higher quality when they are exclusive to boxing, and I worry that inclusion of MMA matches can become a crutch to fill up a card with less expensive competition. The counter to this argument, of course, is that promoters concentrating solely on boxing also must fill the cards with quality matches, and sometimes that is very challenging. More opportunity to explore this issue will present itself as the nature of boxing promotion evolves in the next decade.