Quadir Hamed was so sure he’d lost his fight that he gave his trophy to the man he’d just beat.
Hamed earned a split-decision victory over Thomas Tordoff in the main event of A Night of Fights 4, which was held Saturday night at the Nelson Rod and Gun Club.
His arm was raised by the referee, but Hamed didn’t necessarily think he’d earned the victory.
“I believe in my heart, I thought I lost this fight,” said Hamed, who fights for Eastside Boxing Club in Vancouver. “The [first] round was like boom, you could do so much better. But it was a close fight. I think he won the fight. …
“Maybe [the judges] saw something in me. They think I won the fight. I think he won the fight. It’s confusing.”
The result seemed confusing from outside the ring as well.
Hamed had success when he move inside and nullified Tordoff’s extended range with a number of big punches. “He was almost going down, but I didn’t have the energy to finish him,” said Hamed.
Tordoff, who made the trip to Nelson from Edmonton’s South Side Amateur Boxing Club, used a long jab to press Hamed into the ropes. Hamed tried to goad Tordoff into coming closer for a counter punch, but Tordoff said he’d seen that tactic before and knew better.
“The last round was where I was finally able to establish my jab at a distance,” said Tordoff. “Once I established that, it was very easy to keep my range. I felt very comfortable in the third round.”
So comfortable, it seemed, that both fighters thought Tordoff would earn the judge’s favour. But they gave the nod to Hamed, who in turn handed his trophy to Tordoff.
“I caught him with some nice clean shots,” said Hamed. “He felt it. If I would have pressured him a little bit more … I couldn’t put him down. Kid is a warrior.”
The 140-pound, elite open main event was one of 13 on the card, which was hosted by the Nelson Boxing and Athletics Club.
The fight of the night was an electric exhibition bout between Edmonton’s James Jung and Vancouver’s Nathan Royes. Jung showed terrific speed with his combinations and chased Royes during the first round. Royes relied on counters with some success, but had trouble keeping pace with Jung.
Jung, who was the fastest fighter of the night by a wide margin, said afterward he actually thought he was a bit slow in his first bout since nationals in June.
“I didn’t really keep as tight as I thought I could,” he said. “You always think you could have done better. That’s the way you should think.”
Nelson’s Elias Martinez and Max Berkeley meanwhile each scored hometown victories.
Martinez used a good inside strategy to earn a unanimous decision against North Vancouver’s Jonathan Hannah, while Berkeley won a split decision against Cranbrook’s Ty Kolbeck.
Nelson’s Brayden Hellekson came out strong in his first round against North Vancouver’s Adam Fletcher. Hellekson opened the tap on Fletcher’s nose, but the visitor earned the win for staying on the attack while Hellekson faded in the second and third rounds.
Other Nelson results included: Leah Eberle fighting Cranbrook’s Olivia Loseth in the evening’s lone women’s exhibition; Dylan Clark of Cranbrook defeating Samson Berkeley; Riel Martinez facing Cranbrook’s Carter Bannock in an exhibition and Stryder Sutton opening the night with an exhibition against Cranbrook’s Connor Ferrier.
Edmonton’s Karn Mann made an impression in his fight against Vancouver’s Michael Kechichian. Mann used vicious body shots and a left jab that shook Kechichian’s head on his way to winning an entertaining bout.
Cranbrook’s Nike Blackmore, a familiar face at the Nelson cards, faced North Vancouver’s Geoff Hewlett in an exhibition, Edmonton’s Malindu Don held off Fernie’s Dylan Mitchell, and North Van’s Parsa Bisheh and Edmonton’s Paige Suchit also took part in an exhibition bout.
