Huge Head Todd and Jeff Osborne Jr

Thanks for all the emails, phone calls, and test messages. I really appreciate all the well wishing. I am finally starting to feel back to semi normal and hopefully good as new in a few weeks. I hope to get up our year end rankings and awards over the next couple of days.

Todd

I have not been able to maintain this site due to poor health and injury. I apologise for the last week and a half of nothing. I found out yesterday that I will need to have surgery today so I am not sure when things will be back to normal.  Thanks for checking in with us and I hope to be back as soon as possible. For coverage of tonight’s show check out the Minnesota Boxing master at MinnesotaBoxing.com

Todd

Opinions expressed in this piece are the authors, I have heard countless opinions on this from those who were at the fights and those who have only seen the video. The crazy thing is, almost everyone saw this a little different than each other. Jason Timlin is going to be joining us as a writer going into the new year, MNBoxingleague.com will be going through some changes we will discuss at a later date.

The Video Is Out!

By: Jason Timlin

Mayhem in the ring, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

Abell vs Butler fight ruled a no contest is on video for the world to see and a few things can be taken from this tape. First off here is the web address you can see the fight, MinnesotaBoxing.com

Instead of dissecting this fight like one normally would I suggest you go straight to the 6:10 mark so you can see the action. The tape shows Abell landing a big left that stuns Butler and Abell charges forward as Butler falls backward to the corner eating 6 straight punches before going down. Next Butler picks himself up off the canvas to take the standing 8 count. The end of the round bell rings but it becomes obvious the referee doesn’t hear the bell. He instructs the fighters to fight. Butler drops his gloves and takes his first step toward his corner. Abell hits Butler with a right hand then looks at the referee! Next Abell measures Butler with a short right, and lands a knockout left hand. Butler falls to the canvas and it’s clear he is out before he hits the floor. At the 6:39 mark of the video the referee starts his count. He makes it all the way to the count of two before his attention is caught by Butlers corner man who has entered the ring and starts to push Minnesota Ice. It becomes clear to a viewer that referee Bobby Burnette did not know the round was over when the knockout took place. It is very unclear if Abell heard the bell. Abell did clearly hear the referee tell them to fight! The decision to call this a no contest was correct because the referee clearly gives instructions to fight because he didn’t know the round was over. I think Butler was still dazed and didn’t pay attention to the instructions given by the referee because he heard the bell and desperately wanted the minute break between rounds.

Now let us examine the second fight in the ring. I’d just like to say that I don’t think anyone should be suspended! All involved knowingly partook in an unsanctioned street fight. I don’t think the commission that oversees boxing in Minnesota needs to take any action. I didn’t see any victims in the video footage. Now that I got that out of the way let us get back to the brawl. Abell’s corner men jump into the ring and a second fight begins. At the 6:45 mark everyone involved in the second fight is in the ring. Punches are thrown and it’s hard to see who is hitting whom. Referee Bobby Burnette is trying to break up the brawl when Abell jumps into the mess. At the 6:51 mark Joey goes over Burnettes back to grab Butlers corner man O’connor. Abell appears to execute the DDT a move made famous by Jake the Snake Roberts of professional wrestling. O’connor suffered a broken ankle and it can’t be seen on the video tape, but if I had to guess it was Abell’s take down that got the job done. That is about all there is anyone needs to see to know about this fight.

I have heard talks about a rematch. How could a rematch happen? It sounded as if the whole crowd was pro Abell. I have also received accounts from some in attendance that the pro Abell crowd was drunk. A promotions team must take this in to consideration. Abell brings in a following who buys drinks at the Target Center price. These are all good things to have! None of Abell’s drunken fans stormed the ring during any of the fighting, instead they just chanted Abell’s name. Butler’s fans, where were they? Were they buying expensive beers all night? Did they even make anti Abell noise after the shots Butler took after the bell? You sure couldn’t hear them! Butler was also down in the first round! How could anyone offer the same money to Butler as they did for the first fight? Why would Butler take less money for a rematch?

Just one last point before I wrap this up. Had almost any other fighter been in the same situation as Abell was in, I think the fight continues. Sure a guy might land three punches after the bell but he probably wouldn’t knock his opponent out. During the round break the referee, and the time keeper would work something out and a decision would be made if a point should be deducted. Abell’s biggest problem was the explosive power he possesses. He put his opponent out cold, rendering him unable to fight on. Most boxers in the state will never have to worry about that happening when they fight. We would all be left to ponder if a point should have been taken away in the first round, had most anyone in the state had been fighting instead.

Fort landing big, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

Cerresso Fort and Javontae Starks to be Showcased in Hinckley!

For Immediate Release

Minneapolis, MN- Midwest Sports Council will showcase two of Minnesota’s top prospects in separate bouts on December 18 at Grand Casino Hinckley.

                Cerresso Fort (8-0 7 ko’s) solidified himself as an emerging prospect on November 13 with a win over Lamar Harris, While Javontae Starks dazzled in his anticipated debut the same night, scoring a second round stoppage over Dan Copp. The two will represent Minnesota on an all prospect card that will feature Shawn Porter, and Fernando Guererro and will be aired on Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation”.

                Fort , 23, hails from St. Paul and will continue his campaign in the middleweight division. After a successful amateur career Fort strung together seven straight stoppages to open his career, and has begun to make a name as one of the state’s most exciting young fighters.

                Starks, 20, boxes out of Minneapolis and kicked off his anticipated pro career on November 13. Starks will likely fight in the 154 lb. division before moving to 147. Throughout his amateur career Starks proved to be among the nation’s elite, and doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon.

                December 18 will provide an opportunity for Minnesota boxing fans to watch two of the state’s brightest prospects box on a major stage.  The card will be rounded out with out with fellow Minnesotans Jeremy McLaurin,  Derek Winston,  and Brad Patraw.

Tickets are listed at $20, $35, $55, and $100 and are available at grandcasinomn.com.

Check out the piece here, BraggingRightsCorner.com

National TV comes back to Minnesota. SHOWTIME’s, SHOWBOX will be broadcasting live from Hinckley Grand Casino December 18. There will be three world class bouts plus many of Minnesota’s risings stars. Jeremy McLaurin, Cerresso Fort, Javontae Starks and others will fill out the undercard of this event. Below is the televised portion.

Andy Kolle and Anthony Bonsante, Photo Courtesy of Walters Photography, all rights reserved

These four names have been HOT after the events of the last 3 weeks. Kolle and Truax have been on a collision course for almost a year now. Kolle has already beaten Vanda, but some of Vanda’s supporters don’t agree. Friday night Larry Sharpe put his name in the mix and wants to be involved with the Minnesota boxing scene, actually calling out Vanda after his victory. I have now seen reports that Sharpe would like to also fight Caleb Truax. Is this fun or what?

Truax (right) Courtesy SnapLocally.com

Here is what I have been told. Andy Kolle wants to fight, and he wants to fight now. I have been told by several sources that Truax would not be able to have a fight with Kolle in a time frame suitable to them due to the cut he suffered in his fight with Kerry Hope. Kolle and his team have made it clear they can not wait around for that fight to happen. This is not to say he doesn’t want it, he wants that fight bad. I also know Truax wants that fight in a big way. My conclusion is that Kolle/Truax will happen but might have to wait until later in the year.

Matt Vanda working the body, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

Kolle and his team have made it clear they would like to beat Vanda a second time. While we have Kolle tops at middle followed by Truax, Matt Vanda has to be right up there. His win over Williams showed a fighter who may be even better than his former self that lost to Kolle in 2007. Nobody fills a venue like Vanda and this would be one heck of a show.

Larry Sharpe, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

Something not talked about would be Kolle vs Sharpe. Like I have said, Sharpe expressed his want to fight Vanda and now Truax as well. Why not Andy “Kaos” Kolle.

Dave Peterson, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

A wild card in all of this could be Dave Peterson. He has called out Vanda, but Vanda has made it clear he wants to stay above 160. Kolle wants to fight at 154, Peterson fights at 154 and is undefeated.

I will be very interested to see who gets their shot at Andy “Kaos” Kolle first.

Arash Usmanee (now 4,0) defeated Boxley (now 5,3) by UD. (39,37/39,37/39,37 Usmanee)

The Fight – December 4^th 2009

By: Laura Zink

Photos by SnapLocally.com

Joey Abell (center) just after final blow, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

It was boxing. All of it: the promise, the grit, the terror, and the chaos. It was a night that no one saw coming.

The fight last night at the Target Center was more than anybody thought it would be… and for reasons that they never thought it could be. But it was, for everything that it was, a night of boxing that will be remembered in Minnesota boxing history forever.

Everything started out normal enough. The show began in a junior middleweight warm-up kick-started by a furious advance from a debuting fighter, Jacob Dobbe, who lost steam after the first round and was soundly out-boxed by a fighter, Saverino Garcia, who already had a pro fight under his belt.

Next, an enormous “Russian Giant,” Boris Shichporenok(6-1), grappled and socked an MMA fighter, Will Gillette (pro debut), as Gillette tried to barrel through the enormous reach, height, and 48 pound weight advantage of his competitor.

“He got 2 bowls of cereal and you only got one!” Gillette’s corner screamed during round one. “Move! Move! You got to make him work…but throw punches, too!”

And though Gillette moved, the “Giant” caught him with two lumbering head shots which sent Gillette flat on his stomach in 57 seconds of round 2. He got up and walked over to his corner, and much to Gillette’s surprise, the ref called the fight….and the crowd thunderously booed in disagreement.

“It’s time to switch the ref!” one member screamed. “The fight ain’t over!”

Then things began to get even more…unexpected.

Tony Lee (left) Courtesy SnapLocally.com

The much awaited pro debut of decorated amateur fighter Tony Lee began with a surprise for Lee which would only be heard from his corner. There was something his trainer did not tell Lee about his opponent, Hector Orozco (1-3).

I didn’t know that he was a southpaw coming into the fight,” Lee said after the fight. “Before the bell rung, I said, ‘He’s a f**king southpaw.’ Excuse my language. I am sorry. I said, ‘Otis, he’s a southpaw.’ And he just said, ‘Use your jab and do what you do.’ Otis knew that he was a southpaw, but he doesn’t want me thinking about it. Otis wants me to fight my fight. He knows that I think too much when I fight southpaws. And before the bell rung I said, ‘He’s a southpaw.’ He said, ‘Do what you do. Do Tony. Do Tony Lee.’ And after the fight, after the bell rung, I was mad as heck at Otis, and he knew it. I said ‘You didn’t say…’ and he was like ‘Hey man! We do what we do. That’s why I didn’t tell you. It’s because we do what we do. People need to adjust to you. It is a one man show…and tonight was your night. Now you know. You can do what you want.’ It was a good fight. He was tough. He was a southpaw. I hate southpaws. He has way more experience than me. It was his 5^th fight and it was my 1^st fight. He beat a guy who was 6 and 0. So I did good.”

His trainer’s surprise worked to Lee’s advantage. Using his remarkable speed and reflexes, Lee soundly out-boxed Orozco, and with a countering quick flash of rights, he even got Orozco down on his knee in the beginning of the fight.

“The first round he threw a wild right hand and I dipped under and hit him with a short right and a right cross and clipped him. It was a flash knock down. I didn’t even feel it go through my arm, but it was enough to put him down. That was a highlight for tonight. The second and third round I threw a few jabs that stung his head pretty good. The fourth round I felt like my hand was hurting. He hit me with a punch that hit my glove, so my hand started dropping, so I kind of gave it to him…I didn’t pick up the steam, but, all in all I dictated the fight and I controlled it.”

And a few more fights in, Gary Eyer (6-0-1) got a surprise of his own when he entered the ring for the battle of the undefeated against Levi Cortez (3-0). Eyer admitted to having no idea that Cortez’s pressure would be so constant…and so challenging.

“I really didn’t think that he was going to be like that,” Eyer said after the bout. “I thought that he was going to be a little bit easier. I thought that I was going to be able to use my reach and that he wasn’t going to be kind of awkward a little bit…I didn’t use all my arsenal…kinda made it hard. He’s good but he was holding a lot. Every time I got close to him, he grabbed me…and I was just trying to score little points, you know, to show that I was doing my best to try to win.”

And did Eyer ever have to work for it. The first two rounds were filled will looping overhand rights from Cortez and barreling tangles which tied Eyer up.

“I was waiting for him to get tired,” Eyer said. “That’s what I thought. I thought that he was going to get tired in a 6 round fight. I thought, ‘he’s just gonna get tired eventually and then I’ll get him.’”

But Cortez didn’t get tired, so Eyer had to use sheer force of will to get through the pressure and the tangles so he could set up and unleash some of his shots. He found his chance in round 3 and shot a left hook through the furious advance of Cortez which sent Cortez to the canvas. But Cortez was not the kind of fighter who would let one knock down count him out, and as Eyer went in for the kill, Cortez tossed overhand shots and barreled in like a torpedo sending the two tumbling to the canvas and wrestling on the floor.

“The left hook, I don’t know how that one happened,” Eyer commented about the first knockdown. “I just threw a hook and it landed good.”

But round 4 was clearly a struggle. Cortez landed a big 1,2 at the beginning of the round which sent Eyer’s head flying back.

“Dance, Gary! Dance!” trainer, Chuck Horton, screamed from Eyer’s corner.

And as Eyer moved, he began to try to time Cortez, but the consistent furious advance sent the timing into a time warp, stifling blows before they could even register. But then, Eyer landed again. In round 5, Eyer gave Cortez a taste of his own overhand right, sending Cortez to the canvas again.

“The second one, I was just like, ‘Ok. I’m not moving my head. I am not fighting as good as I should. This is gonna suck,’ And I just kinda said, ‘Eff it,’ and I said, ‘I’m just gonna time his overhand right with one of my overhand rights and I’m gonna get him.’ And…thank God. And you know, the first time I got him…it took forever to get back in there. It was like waiting, waiting, waiting. I woulda had him out….The second one, I definitely felt, yeah, that ‘you could’ve went down there.’ The first one? I don’t know how that happened.”

And for the sixth round, Cortez, bleeding from a split upper lip and a broken nose, and Eyer, bleeding from the mouth, clashed again and socked it out, Cortez with his overhands and tangling, and Eyer now fighting his way into and out of every advance. With the scent of blood in the air both fighters slammed at each other at 10 seconds out, pounding each other on the ropes until the final bell. And when the unanimous decision was called in his favor, Eyer, let out a sigh of relief, not due to the decision, but because he knew that he had just fought the hardest won fight in his entire career.

“This fight was hard and I just…I’m definitely not cocky but, I will just say that it definitely humbled me,” Eyer commented. “Um…I’m just gonna train harder, and uh…I wouldn’t mind fighting him again.”

“But don’t tell him that I will be throwing two or three punch combos at him the whole time…instead of just one shot….don’t tell him that,” Eyer joked. “I know how to fight him now.”

And then, after the joy and the glory and the fights rolled on, the crowd got a shock that few predicted or were even prepared for. When fans bought tickets to this fight, surely they did not expect to see the end of an era. But in the co-main event, it happened…and all due to the furious hands of Larry “The Razor” Sharpe (23-7). After a seven year pro boxing career, 29 professional fights, and a star-power which inspired a new era in Duluth boxing, Zach “Jungle Boy” Walters retired from boxing after being knocked down and then knocked out in 56 seconds of round one.

Larry Sharpe (right) ending the fight, Courtesy SnapLocally.com

“I didn’t think that it was going to happen that fast,” Sharpe said after the fight. “In my mind I expected that I would bang to the body and apply the pressure and I would stop in about the fourth…that was my game plan. I thought that after I went to the body for the first few rounds that his hands would come down and I’d land some clean up top.”

“I knew that he was a good boxer so I planned to come forward and apply pressure,” Sharpe continued. “I’ve gone 10, 12 rounds the last few years, so going 8 rounds, I wasn’t worried about my gas tank. I just put the gas on early and my plan was actually to go to the body more early on, but he stood in front of me a lot longer than I thought he was gonna and he was there for me to hit so…in training I was practicing going up with my shots because I knew he was a taller fighter…and they were landing. They were landing, and I could tell that he was hurt so I just went in for the kill.”

And if that weren’t enough shock for the fans to stomach, the main event threw everyone into a state of complete and utter confusion. In the first heavyweight Minnesota State Title fight in 32 years, the fight was ruled out after round 1 due to disqualification.  (It was changed to No Contest) After Raphael Butler got soundly rocked by Joey Abell in round one, something truly terrible happened. Just as Butler was pulling away from Abell and dropping his hands at the end of the round, Abell moved in and threw an uppercut and two shots to the head which made Butler go stiff and fall backwards onto the canvas. Dan O’Conner leaped into the ring and began pushing Abell and screaming at him. Ron Lyke jumped into the ring to defend his fighter as cornermen from all sides began storming the ring. Abell, stunned, did his best to try and break up the pile of battling cornermen. And Butler, as he began to awake from the knockout, lifted his head to see the dogpile tumbling out of control at his feet as he still lay on the canvas. And as everyone fell over each other and the fight began to peter out, it became clear that Abell didn’t know that he threw those final devastating punches after the bell. As Butler was getting up, Abell could be seen in his corner mouthing, ‘I didn’t hear it. I didn’t hear it.’ Butler, realizing that Abell clearly did not intend to hit him after the bell, took the mike and put his arm around Joey and telling the crowd, “It was an accident. We are going to do it again.” And the crowd, shocked by the events that had just taken place, resolutely booed and even broke out into a couple of fights of their own. But after the earthquake and the aftershocks in the crowd subsided, almost everyone, from the fans, to the fighters, to the commissioners, and even the employees at the Target Center stood there for a moment with mouths agape, dumbstruck at the events which has just transpired. It was a fight finish which was truly surreal.

But for all that last night was, the fight at the Target Center will not soon be forgotten. For many in attendance last night, that fight showed boxing for what it is: blood and guts. Equally critical in all its circumstances, be they high or be they low, boxing shows us what life looks like when it is stripped down to its most crucial characteristics. Be it greatest glory, the toughest challenge, the deepest upset, or the most unpredictable chaos, boxing makes us focus on life’s biggest moments, and in the most brutal detail, it shows us the things we want to see, the things we don’t…and the things that we just can’t look away from. And that fight at the Target Center last night had it all.