Bay City Saturday Night Fights Are Big Success
10th Annual Invitational Boxing held at The Michigan National Guard Armory
February 18, 2006
By: Julie McCallum, Entertainment Editor
Bay City's Jordan Westphal's (Left) victory
over Rico Turner of Davison
Ring Girl Rachel Sutherland,
of New Body Health & Fitness
Saturday, February 11th, 2006 was the 10th Annual Invitational Boxing at the Michigan National Guard Armory, Bay City, presented by the Greater Bay Area Boxing Center and the American Boxing & Athletic Association (A.B.A.A.).
Boxing fans filled the building. The night included a showy 22 boxing bouts, in which 4 of them ended in knock downs. Showtime started at 7:30 lasting just past midnight.
The first junior division match kicked off the night sounding like a horror movie -
"Devin VS Damon" - Bay City's Devin Tomkins and Damon Ellis of Lansing put on a good show.
(Below) Comrade's of A.B.A.A. Dakota Lowe (Left) of Bangor Twp and Corey Chaperon (Right) of Bay City, who train together, were paired up and were both winners, as it was called to a draw.
The biggest bustle from the crowd was the encounter between Alan Gower, 17, Super Heavy Weight (A.B.A.A.) and Matt Bodner of Midland. Despite Gower's house full of fans, he was defeated but his efforts inspired everyone.
"A great fighter we missed fighting tonight was Tommy Chamberlain of Mt. Pleasant, because of his opponent's absenteeism. In this case he wins by what is called a walkover." says Coach Arsenault
(Below) Exceptional boxing from the only female match was Stephanie Geiger, (Trigger) and Ashley Hoose from Hoose's Gym taking the Win. Trophy girl Nicole Lowe hands out the trophies for both fighters.
(Above Left) A.B.A.A. coaches in the blue corner Branden Arsenault (Left) and John Gottschling giving instructions and support to fighter, Adam Johnson, 14, (Novice Division - 150 class).
(Above Right) Ring Announcer Murray Sutherland, (former Super Middle Weight Champion) receives the points score from the judges and announces the decision.
The last bout and Main Event of the evening was A.B.A.A.'s
Rick Dufty, 29 of Sebewaing and Davison's Nicholas Hatcher. An impressive second round knock down from Dufty ended the night! "I expect Dufty to be making his professional boxing Début next." states Arsenault.
Manager and Coach Robert Arsenault says, "All these kids are winners in my eyes, even though some might have received a bad decision, these fighters have very rigorous physical training schedule, they work and try hard. Its a good experience for them, they learn discipline and develop pride. To get into the ring in front of hundreds of fans requires more than being tough, it takes extreme courage and self confidence." "We are Proud of them all!"
Other notable fighters from the night's performances are:
Milton Watkins, Anthony Lebron, Nolan Linebaugh and Brian Schmidt. "We are a non profit organization. The money we make goes toward travel expenses that will be needed as we get ready nextfor the Golden Gloves which is held in Flint," added Arsenault.
