Sixteen fighters brawl at the Greek Hall--
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| Ian "Jaimo" Jameson battles Ben "The Babymaker" Walker in the Main Event at the VRC's Fight Night Four. Jaimo won the bout on a split decision. |
Billed as "The Brawl at the Greek Hall," the amateur fighters battling it out in Fight Night 4 certainly lived up to the hype. Sixteen pugilists fought with pride, displaying skill and courage June 2, as they stepped into the ring to support their clubs.
Co-hosted by the Vancouver Rowing Club and the UBC Old Boys, more than 350 people attended Vancouver rugby's night at the fights at the Hellenic Community Centre on Arbutus.
"The evening was a huge success," said Braden Maccke, the event's promoter. "We had eight great fights." He added that most matches were close, even though five bouts had unanimous decisions, noting the boxers, "left it all in the ring."
Maccke also co-organized FN4 with Marcus Schaper-Kotter, the Rowers' treasurer. Maccke said Schaper-Kotter worked many tireless hours setting up the event and that FN4 wouldn't have been successful otherwise. "He's the reason we made money," he said.
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| Model Christine Mercedes strolls through the ring during the main event to announce the last round of boxing for the night. |
"Congrats to Marcus and Braden for putting on a great Fight Night," remarked Rowers' head coach Jeremy Sabell. "Well done to all the fighters! Thanks very much for the entertainment. Getting in the ring is harder than it looks and it doesn't look easy, so well done all of you."
Most of the matches were close fights and three of the contests ended in split decisions, including the main event.
Winners and losers
Here is a breakdown of the results:
Fight 1 – Jamie Ruel defeated Henry Recinos part way through the third round when the referee stopped the fight.
Fight 2 – Dillon "Weasel" Debono defeated Maverick "Shootin" Seed by a unanimous decision.
Fight 3 – Liam "Young Buck" Hunter beat Tom "The Iceman" Winter by a unanimous decision.
Fight 4 – Connor "High Tower" Dunne beat Colin "Jon C" Robinson by a unanimous decision.
Fight 5 – Jamal Perez defeated Nick Labelle in a split decision.
Fight 6 – Zack Myers defeated Dan Sutton by a split decision.
Fight 7 – Joey Alexis beat Nick Waggott in a unanimous decision.
Main Event – Ian "The Orange Bastard" Jamieson defeated Ben "The Babymaker" Walker in a split decision.
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| Dan Sutton just misses Zack Meyers' head with a right-cross in fight number 6. Myers won the bout amid some controversy. |
The Under-card
In the first split decision of the night, Jamal Perez and Nick Labelle showed their mettle as they boxed each other into a very close match. Their battle was a "pick 'em" bout as the fight could've gone either way.
After the contest, Carlin "Chuck" Wilkin, one of the Fight Night 4 judges, said, "I gave two out of three rounds to Perez. He won the second half of the third round - that gave him the bout."
There were two "hiccups" over the course of the night in an otherwise flawless affair, one major and one minor, as the ring announcer misread the results after two of the fights.
The major hiccup occurred after the sixth fight when the announcer gave the victory to Dan Sutton in a blunder that reverberated in bewilderment throughout the Hellenic Centre. The mic-man announced Sutton had won on a split decision when, in fact, the judges awarded the double-u to Myers.
"The Sutton-Myers cock-up was pretty embarrassing," admitted Maccke. "Chalk it up to a miscommunication between the judges, the referee, and the announcer."
After Sutton and Myers exited the squared circle, the announcer called the boxers back so he could reverse the decision, as Myers narrowly defeated Sutton in another "pick 'em" bout. Myers gladly climbed back in the ring to get his arm raised, and to pose for a victory shot with professional model Christine Mercedes.
Minutes after the misread, Chuck Wilkin again clarified, "The announcer read the results card wrong. That's all. The judges did not make a mistake."
Main Event
The main event promised to be intense as both Jamieson and Walker - a couple of tough, sinewy brawlers - looked like natural-born fighters as they strode out to the ring to do battle in the sweet science. After Jamieson marched out, led by a piper, the excitement hit a crescendo for the last fight of the evening.
In round one, Jamieson burst out of his corner and attacked Walker with a flurry of jabs and hooks. Jamieson continued to bounce around throughout the opening round, throwing head and body shots as Walker held on. Near the end of the round, Walker clawed back a few points by landing some solid punches of his own.
It was Walker's turn to shine in round two as he started strong and put together some combinations of his own. Walker's punching persistence gave him a big wave of momentum in the round and he looked great going into the third.
As round three began, the fight was either pugilists' to win. Trading blows to the body and head, both fighters battled hard and danced around the ring, despite the intense beating each boxer was taking at the fists of the other. Toward the middle of the final round, Jamieson seemed to get a second wind and returned to the attack. Forcing walker to play defence, Jamieson out-punched The Babymaker in the final seconds, ultimately garnering the split decision win.
The main event also suffered a minor hiccup when the announcer misread the judges' score cards again. This time the announcer declared Jamieson a unanimous victor. However, the three judges scored the bout: 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.
Fight Night 5
Fight Night 5 is now in the early planning stages and Maccke says a few bouts are already shaping up, including one with connections to FN4. "We're negotiating at least one rematch for Fight Night 5, but I won't say anything until it's all confirmed." Maccke added the timeline on confirmation for the rematch would take a few months.Watch this space for that rematch information and other FN5 related news in the coming months.
Here are some more shots from the Main Event.
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| Walker wears the orange shorts with black trim, while Jaimo wears the All Black rugby shorts. |
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| Round 2. |
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| Round 2. |
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| Round 2. |
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| Round 3. |
