Sunday Feb. 22, 2009

Boomerz Boxing Club from London hosted a 11 bout card at Branch 24 Victory Legion in London on Sunday afternoon to the 300 boxing fans in attendance. The great Dr. Joe Falleta from Hamilton was the ring side doctor. Bill Hardy the Chief Official with Brodie Boone, Shawn Barclay, Marilyn Taylor & Sherry Boone acting officials. Timekeep was "Dez". Announcer, who did an outstanding job was Ben Laxton. The canteen was well served & the volunteers did a great job. There is a lot of pressure that goes into making a boxing event successful. It usually ends when the night ends.

Old School from Hamilton was there again with their boxers but the bout was scraped at the last minute. This is discouraging for the clubs & I don't have the solution. Old School, under the leadership of Charles Biggs trains his boxers for the bouts & to have them cancelled at the last minute is discouraging. I applaud their diligence to realize that it is not done on purpose.

The afternoon showed opened with "Machine Gun" Amanda Beaudin from Hamilton in the 120 lb female division against hometown's Annie Shannon. Annie used her basic skills against the shorter Amanda & Amanda just kept on gunning for her opponent.

In the second bout Destiny's Shawn Murray at 170 lbs challenged Patrick Heenan from Boomerz. These boxers were nicely matched with skill, ability & strength. This could easily be a rematch.

In the 3rd bout, King Street School of Boxing had 2 of their boxers vying for the win. Mike Nugent against Patrick Murphy in the 120 lb division. This had the taller Murphy using his height but Nugent was in their trying to stay inside. Fought hard both lads.

In the 4th bout which was a brawl. Ryan Calhoun from Boomerz against Boone's Niagara Falls Tanner Chambers, 130 lb division. The art of boxing was missed in this bout as it appeared more of a spectator accepted brawl.

A difficult bout was Steve Rainford of Boomerz at 195 against Dave Swash of Hamilton. This was a close bout with Rainford showing a little more power but a little less action. Swash is no push over but certainly used his jab well. This definitely could be a rematch. Rainford showed great improvement over his last bout.

Mike Ghafari from Boomerz in the heavy weight division had an exhibition with James Moore from Sarnia. Mike has been away from boxing for a few years but soon remembered his skills which were needed when battling James Moore. Moore is no push over. He is a nice guy but there to battle. Each boxer showed good skills & kept their power tucked away. They handled each other nicely making this a good exhibition.

Jay McCarthy from King Street faired well in his exhibition with Jung Kim from Loyalist. Jung showed good skill development giving this exhibition a great experience for both boxers. They boxed well together.

The 8th bout was a Master's bout with Barry Cleaver from Boomerz against Richard Sharpe of Destiny. These fellas put on a great display representing the Masters Division with pride. Good bout guys.

The 9th bout featured Ahmad Jamal from Boomerz against Black Eye Brantford's Darren Fletcher in the 165 division. This opened very slow with each boxer playing the counter puncher roll. Action picked up slowly in the 2nd but had a faster pace in the 3rd.

The 10th bout had Juliusz "Caesar" Bunds from Destiny against Don Wonch of Hamilton in an exhibition bout. Juliusz got to use his ring savvy as Don used his unorthodox style to counter. No head hunters in this bout just two guys using this bout as a warm-up.

The 11th & final bout was the Main Event featuring Yordan Mateo back to the ring after a few years absence in the middle weight division against the calm but constant Chris Kelly from Boone's in Niagara Falls. The action in the ring had the fans on their feet. This was a grueling battle. Chris doesn't know reverse & Yordan used his ring smarts to try to avoid being caught in any corners. Tough bout. Crowd roaring. Good bout. Actual points were identical at the end of the 3 rounds. This should have been a draw by points but the judges did their job & declared a winner.