Boxers were clearly trying for knockouts on Friday night at Rumble at the Rink 2.
The professional boxing card at Nanaimo’s Frank Crane Arena featured five bouts, powerful punches, plenty of knockdowns and a few knockouts.
Dashon (Flyboy) Johnson of San Diego, Calif., won the main event by unanimous decision after controlling six rounds against Victor Manuel Palacios of Guadalajara, Mexico.
“It was an OK performance; it’s not my best,” Johnson said. “I think the fact that I wanted to knock him out so bad kind of worked against me.”
Johnson controlled the centre of the ring, looking for opportunities and then unleashing extended combinations. He knocked Palacios down once in the fifth round and then once more at the end of the sixth and final round.
“I don’t take nothing for granted; I’m very blessed, whether I win by a round or all the rounds, a win is a win,” Johnson said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’ll fix the things that we need to, and we improve.”
In the semi-main event, undefeated Lukasz (Sweetpea) Wierzbicki of Calgary knocked out Felipe De La Paz Teniente of Guadalajara in a one-sided bout. Wierzbicki knocked De La Paz Teniente down in the third round, and although the Mexican fighter just beat the 10-count, the referee stopped the bout at 2:16 of the round.
The fight of the night was the all-B.C. matchup, as Ken (Heavy Hands) Huber of Kamloops knocked out (Dyna) Mike Dowsett of Ladner 1:09 into the third round. Huber came out ablaze, dominating the first round with hard, accurate punches and knocking Dowsett down twice.
“We worked a ton on just picking the shots. Looking for the shot and taking the shot,” Huber said.
Dowsett recovered in the second and knocked Huber down once in that round, but the Kamloops fighter gained the momentum back in the third and ended it with an uppercut.
“It felt really good, because Mike was smack-talking a bit coming into this, Heavy Feet Huber, blah blah blah blah blah, and I let my hands do the talking tonight, man; he was busted up.”
In other action, Adam Querido of Vancouver, Wash., scored a four-round unanimous decision against Sandy Pembroke of Ottawa; and Winston (The Punisher) Matthews of Brantford, Ont., knocked out Kelowna’s Dia Grant at 1:19 of the third round. Matthews knocked down Grant twice, and although the B.C. fighter beat the 10-count, the ref stopped the contest.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
