Joey Abell/Raphael Butler and Zach Walters/Larry Sharpe Round-by-Round

Good evening, and welcome to Abell/Butler and Walters/Sharpe at Target Center in Minneapolis!  We’ve got quite a complement of media here tonight, which is a welcome change of pace for Minnesota boxing.  It’s 7:20 and the crowd is just beginning to file into the arena, so we might see a little delay in the  start of the show.

• Note to my favorite reader: I left the phone in the van, and I’m not going back out there to get it!
• An announcement has just come down requesting that officials report to ringside.  Let’s get this show rolling!
• Scroll to the bottom of the page to follow along – the fights are listed in reverse chronological order.

Joey Abell (now 25-5 with 24 kayos) loses to (is not defeated by) Raphael Butler (now 36-8 with 28 kayos) by disqualification in round 1 of 10 scheduled.

Round 1

Abell is jabbing and backing up, Butler jabbing and coming forward.  Butle lands the first good shot of the night, a short right hook after Abell missed with a left.  Abell connects with a left hook to the chest of Buter, and a pause…both men fire at the same time, no advantag yet.  Now Butler jumps in and there’s a clinch.  Bobby Brunette breaks the two apart.  both men are circling to their left, and Abell zaps butler with a left.  Butler lands a big right to the head of Abell, Ice bounces off the ropes and moves across the ring.  Abell sticks a hard left into theches of butler, and Butler can be seen saying something…unclear what.  Abell bounces a good right off  the head of Butler, gets  butler backing up, and pounds him into a corner!  butler goes down to his knees, rises slowly, and the men begin punching again after the bell!  NOBODY SEEMS TO HAVE HEARD THE BELL, and referee Brunette isn’t trying to break them up!  Abell clocks Butler with a thundering left hand, Butler appears to be knocked unconscious, and all hell breaks loose – the O’Connor crew storms the ring in protest, Ron Lyke and Jim Maurine go to the aid of their man, and now there’s a huge melee.  Ron Lyke is at the bottom of the pile, and Abell is arching his body of Lyke’s to protect him.

I hope this fight is ruled a no-contest and not a DQ…we’ll have to wait and see.

Ring announcer Dan Cole has announced that Raphael Butler is now the Minnesota heavyweight champion.  I’m not sure this is the case – we need a ruling on whether a title can be won on a disqualification, pronto!

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Zach Walters (now 24-5 with 19 kayos) is defeated by Larry Sharpe (now 24-7 with 12 kayos) by TKO at :56 in round 1 of 8 scheduled.

Round 1

Sharpe comes right out and gets into Walters’ face, cornering Walters and battering him with an extended barrage of hooks and overhanded shots that put Walters down no more than thirty seconds into the fight!  After a mandatory eight count it’s more of the same, and Walters ends up sunken in a neutral corner, red-faced and helpless.  Referee Bobby Brunette stops the bout after just 56 seconds.

Memorable: in his post-fight interview with ring announcer Dan Cole, Sharpe calls out Matt Vanda!

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INTERMISSION…

Ronnie Peterson (now 3-1) is defeated by Tomi Archambault (now 1-1) by TKO due to an injury after 2 rounds of six schedulued.

Round 1

This fight begins tactically, with neither man committing to an attack, but feeling each other out.  As it develops, Archambault looks like the aggressor, but Peterson is comfortable (or seems so) backing up and fighting from a Money Mayweather-like posture.  Archambault traps Peterson against the ropes and pummels him for a good ten or fifteen seconds, but Peterson finally escapes and scoots across the ring.  Archambault may have hurt Peterson there, it looked like a right hook and it left Peterson rubbing the left side of his face.  Now Archambault has Peterson against the ropes again, and lands a long series of grunting body shots before Peterson escapes.  Peterson is not impresssing so far in the first round.  The round ends with Archambault coming forward.

Round 2

Archambault gets Peterson into the ropes yet again, and though Peterson punches his way off the ropes, he doesn’t get away and takes more punishment than he should.  Peterson is a sharp puncher, but seems to be in the habit off walking straight backward to get away from trouble, and that doesn’t work.  Archambault lands his best punch of the fight, a left to the head of Peterson, and peterson retreats again.  Peterson walks backwards into a corner again, but this time deftly executes a switcharoo, putting Archambault into the corner before – you guessed it – retreating again.  Archambault impresses by feinting a left, and when Peterson flinchhes, nailing him with a right from outside his field of vision.  This round ends as the last one did, with Archambault coming forward.

Round 3

This fight has been stopped due to a shoulder injury – we can only assume it’s to Peterson, as no one has said yet.  Archambault has now been declared the winner by TKO.

 

Gary Eyer (now 7-0-1 with 5 kayos) defeats Levi Cortes (now 3-1 with 2 kayos) by unanimous decision (58-54, 57-55, 57-56) after 6 rounds.

Round 1

Cortes throws the first punch, a left jab, and there’s a short lull before both men commence to throwing power shots.  Now another moment of quiet, and Cortes comes in throwing extremely hard right hands.  Eyer counters with at lesast one good body shot that could be heard throughout the arena, and after another lull Cortes charges in with a vicious left that snaps Eyer’s head back.  Cortes comes in and puts his head down, allowing Eyer to get off a monster shot to the body.  Cortes is a beast, throwing hateful punches that have Eyer ragdolling around the ring, but each time Eyer comes back with credible counters that show he’s still game.  Now Eyer tries to lead with a  right, but Cortes ducks it, pushes him into a corner, and nails him again.  Cortes lunges in and lands another snapping right, and Eyer retreats to the ropes, where Cortes flurries again until the bell rings.

Round 2

Eyer lands a good left jab that snaps Cortes’ head back at the start of the round, Cortes comes forward and misses with a right, taking a big left to the head as his comeuppance.  Eyer lands a left, ducks two big shots from Cortes, and lands a hook or uppercut.  Cortes measures, measures, and throws an overhanded right that lands flush to Eyer’s cheek.  Cortes tries the same move again, this time Eyer craftily ties him up and drags him backwards across the ring.  Cortes ducks and charges, and Eyer lands a big counter left.  Cortes’s ragin bull routine might be losing its effectiveness.  cortes connects a right hook to the body froma wide angle, eyer feints a punch and Cortes flinches.  cortes shortens up his hook and lands wit hless powerr.  Cortes jumps in again, and catches Eyer repeatedly.  Eyer backs up into the ropes and there makes a stand, firing back with hooks and uppercuts that make the crowd roar!  Wisely getting off the ropes, Eyer is again retreating while Cortes throws power shots of every variety from every conceivable angle until the bell rings.

Round 3

Cortes is stalking but not throwing for the first twenty seconds of the round.  eyer is moving back and to his left, changes direction, head fakes, and then atacks.  Cortes goes on the attack, eyer steps back and to the right, throws a big left hook , and drops Cortes hard.  Back up after the count, Cortes looks like easy prey, but when Eyer tries to finish him off, Cortes latches on hard and won’t let go until both men crash ito the ropes, and Eyer does a twisting body slam.  Cortes is looking lost, but at just the most desperate moment, lands a big hook that snaps Eyer’s head all the way back.  the two men separate, and referee bobby brunette stops the action so Cortes can be inspected by the ring doctor.  Upon the approval of the ring doctor, cortes comes back out looking for blood.  Cortes lays into eyer with a ferocious extended combination, eyer fires back in turn, and the two go toe-to-toe in the center of the ring for what seems like a full minute!  When it’s over both men are looking rough, but Cortes’ face is covered in blood from the eyes down.  Cortes is landing his leads, but Eyer is countering effectively through the end of the round.  What a round!

Round 4

eyer leads, Cortes lands two effective shots.  eyer may be better off countering.  cortes continues to come forward, suddenly eyer charges and lands one big right.  Cortes gets him back twice, and eyer finishes the encounter with a hard left.  Back to the center of the ring, where cortes attacks but is hit flush witha horrorizing eyer right that sprays blood across the ring.  Cortes is back to stalking, and as he jumps in there’s a sickening thud as the two men’s heads clash.  As the fighters separate, eyer hard a splash of blood on the back of his right shoulder.  No telling where that came from.  Cortes is throwing mostly single shots now, bleedding heavily from the mouth, Eyer waits until there’s five seconds left in the round and then flurries with his back to the ropes.  As the bell rings, the crowd applauds what is developing into a possible FOY candidate.

Round 5

The lips of Levi cortes, I must say, look like punctured and oozing sausages.  Cortes is attacking again, and Eyer seems to be getting tthe upper hand with ferocious counters that would knock a horse cold.  Cortes attacks again and again, Eyer, sometimes eats big power shots, but equally often connects with deathly counters.  cortes is down!  eyer hit him with another counter and his knees buckled – but cortes is up before bobby brunette can count .  eyer pursues cortes into a corner and pummels him, but as the two men meet once again the center of the ring, cortes hits Eyer with three big rights.  Cortes is still pursuing Eyer as the bell rings, round 5 is in the books.

Round 6

Cortes starts the scoring with a hard left-right-left that freezes Eyer momentarily, but Eyer collects himself and resumes countering.  Eyer charges forward with a left and right hook that both miss, and the combatants take a short break.  Cortes is bleeding heavily from his nose.  Cortes , coming forward, lands two straight rights and backs Eyer into a corner, but may be too tired to capitalize – at any rate, Eyer walked out of the corner.  Cortes is coming forward again, but putting his head down, he is hit with a tremendous right uppercut that the crowd didn’t seem to notice.  Two tired warriors are trading, toe-to-toe, an extended flurry like I have never seen before!  The round ends with an exhausted Cortes taking terrible punishment from Eyer’s hooks and uppercuts.

Dave Peterson (now 12-0 with 7 kayos) defeats Silas Ortley (now 4-8 with 3 kayos) by TKO at 1:22 in round 4 of 6 scheduled

Round 1

Ortly throws an alligator-armed right jab to start things off, Peterson lands a soft shot, and Ortlye goes hard to the body three times.  Peterson sees this kid is earnest, and bangs on him for a few seconds, Ortly gets inside and lands big looping hooks to the body and head of Peterson.  Peterson is moving well but punching softly, Silas is a charging bull, but despite all his uncouthness he lands.  Peterson lands a good rigth hook to the ribcage, and Ortley  leans uncomfortably to this right.  Peterson had better use that jab!@  Ortly comes charging in and lands several more winging punches.  Peterson lands three softies and Ortly misses with a big right.  Peterson’s smooth boxing is beginning to show.  Peterson alnds three more body shots without getting touched back, but on his next foray into Ortley’s body, Peterson eats another big hook.  Peterson puts his right out to hold Silas at bay, but Ortley signals bad intentions by throwing a hook at the outside of Peterson’s straightened elbow.  The bell rings with Ortley landing two more hooks on Peterson’s melon.

Round 2

Peterson is trying to be elegant, but Ortley counters his soft hook with a big heavy-handed right that moves him.  Peterson puts his head down and gets caught under Ortley’s armpit.  Ortley sportingly lets him out after throwing just two more punches, and they’re back at it.  Simultaneous punches – a right from Ortley and a Left from Peterson – land knuckle-to-knuckle in mid-air.  Ortley lands another big power shot, and Peterson counters while  moving backwards.  Peterson ducks again, and gets caught in the armpit of Ortley again.  Peterson is landing very soft lefts, then suddenly comes to life, landing three resounding rights to the body of Ortley.  Ortley is throwing with lless conviction now…Peterson lands a big liver punch to Ortley, and Ortley hesitates before taking a knee.  he’s in obvious pain, and looking like a deer in the headlights as Miezwa counts eight or ninee before Ortley rises.  Ortley’s mouthypieces is out.  Now as the bout resumes, Ortley shakes off the effects of the punch and throws a flurry of big shots that may have hurt Peterson.  The bell rings, and as Miezwa steps in between the men, Ortley throws three angry overhanded punches and then makes a challenging gesture at Peterson.  Things just got more interesting!

Round 3

Ortley is looking like the ggressor here, landing several good one-twos.  Petreson ducks inside, and Ortley lands a huge right to the ribcage!  Peterson backs up, and Ortley nails him in the face, drawing out a big “Oooooh!” from the crowd.  Peterson is ahving a hard time figuring Ortley out.  now Peterson gets smart and digs to the body with several big hooks that would hurt a bronze statue.  Ortley is punching down at the larger, crouching Peterson, and peterson is continuing to geo hard to the soft body of Ortley.  Ortley absorbs one too many body shots and goes down on his knees again, but after the mandatory eight count, it’s business as usual.   Peterson, countereintuitively, is going downstairs consistently on his shhortter opponent.  Now ortley catches Peterson with a big body shot as peterson moves backward.  Peterson flurries again as the round comes to a close, and again Ortley goes down from yet another body punch!  Ortley jumps to his feet at the count of nine, and the timekeeper rings the bell as soon as the fight recommences.

Round 4

Despite al the hurting, Ortley comes out game for the fourth.  A lunging hook from Ortley lands on Peterson, Peterson ducks duwon and to the right, and ortley alertly targets his exposed side.  Ortley catches Peterson on the ropes and lands two big shots, and Peterson escapes.  Back in the center of the ring Peterson lands three good body shots, Ortley puts his head down and bulls him backwards into  a corner – both men still punching all the way to the ropes.  Peterson gets out, and as the two reengage catches Ortley with another big body shot, and this time Miezwa waves the fight off immediately.  TKO.

 

Hector Orozco (now 1-4) is defeated by Tony Lee (now 1-0 with no knockouts) by unanimous decision (39-36, 40-35, 39-36) after four rounds.

Round 1

Orozco extends a hand of greeting as the fight begins, and Lee ignores it.  Orozco throws a few sharp jabs to the body to kick things of…there’s a pause in the action – I think that Lee lost his mouthguard.  Upon returning to action lee throws some ineffective but straong-looking hooks at Otrozco.  Lee traps Orozco against the ropes and lands at least two very hard shots to teh head of Orozco, but the two clinch and  have to be broken up by referee Gary Miezwa.  Lee lands a big right to the head of Orozco, and Orozco leans hard into the ropes…is he baiting Lee?  Apparently not, because as Orozco comes off the ropes Lee caches him with another shot that puts Orozco off balance again.  Orozco puts both hands on the mat, and that’s going to be a knockdown.  After the mandatory eight count, the fight resumes with Lee trying unsuccessfully to follow up and end things early.  At the sound of the ten second warning, Lee puts on a flurry that has Orozco reeling, but Orozco is a tough dude and he withstands the storm.

Round 2

the second round begins with Orozco trying to come out aggressively, but a stiff jab puts hm back in his place.  A period of tentative jabbing ends with Orozco landing a rock-hard right hook to the head of Lee.  There’s more tactical boxing with no advantage to either man, then on a clinch Lee lands a right handed rabbit punch that escapes the ref’s notice.  Orozco tries to attack but gets hit with a good two handed coutnerattack from Lee.  Lee is landing loud and hard punches, but they seem to be mostly to the upper arms and shoulders of Orozco.  Orozco shoots out a right jab and gets hit hard with a counter right.  Orozco is coming forward, but lee is getting the better of the exchanges.  Ten seconds to go, and neither man is in attack mode…now Orozco comes lunging forward, but Lee backpedals out of danger and the bell rings.

Round 3

Tony Lee is a fast and artful boxer, but Orozco is a tough buldog, not a chihuahua as his nickname suggests.  Lee lands a good flurry of power shots, but Orozco is unmarked and bounching on his toes.  Orozco shoots out right jab and sits down on a left hook to the body that lands.  Lee, coming forward, misses badly with a right hook.  Orozco comes forarrd and lands a good right, but follows through too far and ends up turning away from Lee.  No counter from Lee.  Orozco tries another right and misses completely.  Lee isn’t a bomber, but his jabs are scoring.  Orozco comes in with fire, but lee gets underneath and flurries with five punches to the abdomen.  Orozco comes back blazing, but can’t score as the round ends.   As he returns to the corner, Orozco is sporting a big, long welt above his right eyebrow.  Head butt?

Round 4

Our combatants touch gloves as the round begins, then both unload all their best shots.  Lee is a more accurate puncher, thus he got the better of that exchange.  Now Orozco is on his toes and bouncing to his right and backwards..Lee is attacking hard, but  now as he lunges in to attack there’s an apparent clash of heads.  based on the position of his head as they met, I’ll guess that Lee got the worst of it.  Orozco is smiling as he attacks, landing a nice right that lands to Lee’s head.  Lee bulldozes lee backwards into a neutral corner but does not appreciable damage, and Lee gets out.  Lee may be losing some speed, and he’s getting caught with  more regularity as a result.  lee lands abig right hand, but Orozco comes bakc hardder and rocks lee!  Lee’s hand touches the mat, but referee Miezwa ruels it a push, not a knockdown.  Not sure I agree.  Orozco, for his part, was offended that as Miezwa  broke the two men up, his gentle push put Orozco off balance, resulting in a butt splat on the canvas.  Back at it, both men are eager but unable to do any damage, the ref breaks apart a clinch just as the ten-second alert is sounded, and the round ends before any  more punches are thrown.

Yevgeniy Shishporenok (now 7-1 with 6 kayos) defeats Will Gillette (now 0-1) by TKO at :57 in round 2 of 6 scheduled.

Round 1

Boris enters the ring to Queen’s masterpiece, ‘Fat Bottom girls.’  He is introduced as a ‘rock solid 280#,’ which may be optimistic.  The two fighters come out with guns blazing, and Gillette briefly traps Boris in a neutral corner, but Boris gets out unscathed.  gillette is landing hard shots to the head and body, fighting from a crouch that might put him too far from Boris to do any real damage, but then he reaches up and lands a righthanded haymaker that snaps booris’s head back.  boris is now coming forward, but gets hit with a hard body shot.  boris catches gillette with a  good shot, but my view is obscured by referee Gary Miezwa.  Boris continues to walk forward.  gillette throws a big looping hook that boris catches with one hand and tosses aside.  Now gillette puts his head down and bulls straight into bori’s midsection, and  the referee has to break the two apart.  A lot of artless feints and head bobs lead up the the end of the first.

Round 2

Gillette lands a right jab to the body of Boris, but Boris catches another punch with his hands and casts it aside.  Gillette is ducking his head while he comes forward, and Boris, stepping back and to the left, lands a tremendous knock that puts Gillette flat on his face.  Gillette is quick to his feet, but after looking into his eyes, ref Gary Miezwa makes the call to stop the fight.  TKO!  Speculation at ringside is that Gillette may have hit his face hard on the mat and done a little self-inflicted damage.

 

Saverino Garcia (now 1-0-1) defeats Jacob Dobbe (now 0-1) by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36, 39-37) after four rounds.

Round 1

The fight begins with a spirited exchange, Dobbe landing three hard straight rights in a row, Garcia shooting back with harder shots, but fewer.  The action moves to another corner and Garcia comes out on the wining end of another slugging exchange.  In the middle of the ring Garcia scores big with a single right hook to the head of Dobbe, and the pace finally slows.  Now Dobbe is stalking, Garcia looking to counter with lefts and rights.  Garcia scores with a snow left-right-left-right, but Dobbe gets him back with a nice counter.  Dobbe is slowing noticeably now, and Garcia is landing with both hands to the head and body.  Dobbe is trying to be the aggressor, but doesn’t have any steam left.  No sooner do I say that, than Dobbe lands a good straight right, but moments later Garcia scores with a powerful right at the bell.

Round 2

Round two begins with Dobbe coming forward, right into a hard left from Garcia.  Dobbe connects with his best punch of the night, a right o the chin of Garcia.  Then another!  Garcia counters, but Dobbe hits him hard to the left side of his ribcage.  Garcia misses with a soft right, but Dobbe fails to counter.  Garcia lands one three punch combo, then another, then too many punches for me to count!  dobbe is hurting, but he throws back and connects with two good shots.  A hard left to the face of Dobbe brings a smile or a grimace from Dobbe – hard to say which.  Now the two sluggers trade in the center of the ring, Garcia rocking Dobbe repeatedly.  Garcia tries a big left hook – Dobbe fails to move, but Garcia misses completely.  Garcia now lands several good shots from both hands.  Dobbe is stil coming forward, Garcia moving back and to his right.  Garcia lands  anice right that snaps Dobbe’s head back.  Garcia senses the round is drawing to a close and flurries…and flurries…now the bell rings and Garcia lands a hard right significantly post-bell.  Dobbe is staggered, regains his balance, and puts his hands on his knees.  I think he’s considering quitting, but he returns to his corner via a crooked line.

Round 3

No penalty to Garcia for the late shot.  Garcia comes out agggressive, dobbe counters a flurry with a well-deserved elbow.  the two trade again, and dobbe appears to be spitting blood.  A hard left jab rocks Dobbe, then another…but Dobbe returns fire, landing a good power shot.  dobbe may have connected with another left elbow to the face of Garcia.  Dobee is ducking and lunging, and landing occasionally.  Garcia is moving around…then Johnny Johnson can be heard shouting ‘Now! Now! Now!” and Garcia flurries again, but dobbe is nothing if not tough.  Garcia lands a good right hook and dobbe nods at him.  Dobbe paws with a left jab and Garcia misses badly with a right.  Garcia lands a tremendous left that impresses the crowd.  dobbe’s punches have little behind them – Garcia parries a punch in the old-fashioned style just before the bell, and this round is over.

Round 4

Dobbe looks reluctant as the round begins, but he finally lands a strong shot, a big straight right that sends s spray of sweat up from Garcia’s head.  Dobbe lands a second, similar punch, but Garcia is unmoved, backs Dobbe into his own corner and batters Dobbe.  Garcia stuns Dobbe with a left-right, then flurries again.  Dobbe continues to come forward, but is not effective.  Dobbe wipes his face with his mit and looks at the blood, casually wipes the blood on his pants, and returns to fighting.  Dobbe lands several rigths over about thirty seconds, but Garcia again sshrugs him off and flurries with a series of power shots that wilts Dobbe further.  the two nearly clinch, but mutually push each other away.  Referee Gary Miezwa breaks the two after a clash, and now the en second warning, and Dobbe lands one more big right before taking two hard counters from Garcia, and the bout is over.