RESULTS FROM THE ARMORY
By Brett Mauren - Photos By Rich Peterson www.13TwentyThree.com

Photos coming soon

Joey Abell (21-4) has said that 2009 will be a make or break year for him, and Saturday, January 17th at the St. Paul Armory he showed fans he wasn’t going to let anyone test that notion.
Coming of three straight losses Abell’s back was certainly against the wall as he faced the upset minded Derek Amos of Virginia. Amos came in at 15-6 with 9 knockouts, but as Abell learned in November no fight is a safe bet in the heavyweight division therefore it was kill or be killed for “Minnesota Ice” Abell Saturday. Abell both overpowered and overwhelmed Amos with power shots from the opening bell, and put the Virginia native through the ropes less than a minute into the fight. Amos showed grit in rising to his feet despite shaky legs and a hostile, pro-Abell crowd, but he wouldn’t be on his feet much longer as he eventually succumbed to a viscous attack from the larger Abell, prompting a first round stoppage much to the delight of the crowd.
Joey Abell laid the groundwork for a productive year, and time will tell where the next stop on the roller coaster ride will take us, but anyone who has had the pleasure of watching Abell knows that they will always get their money’s worth from “Minnesota Ice”.

Another St. Paul favorite, John Schmidt, made for a bit more drama in his co-feature but managed to get the job done against Josh Rodriguez(5-4) of Iowa.
The underdog Rodriguez seemed to surprise more than a few people with his quick jab which gave Schmidt trouble early on. Schmidt seemed to have his own jab stuck in the mud for the early going but made up for it with well timed body shots and crisp one-two combos. Schmidt may have been dictating the pace with his combinations until round 4 when a counter right, thrown over a lackluster jab put Jon Schmidt down in the neutral corner. The crowd was silenced at the sight of the local favorite hitting the canvas, but Schmidt showed poise in rising to his feet and finishing the round.
A two point round in the fourth may have seemed to be enough for Rodriguez to have pulled off the upset, that was until round six. Behind the repeating chant of “Schmidty! Schmidty” from the back corner of the armory Jon Schmidt put forth exactly the kind of round he needed too. Throwing every possible fashion of punch and landing a high percentage Schmidt stole the sixth round and as it turned out the fight with a masterfully executed sixth round. The final result was a split decision win for Jon Schmidt of Blaine who moves to 7-1.

A newcomer to the professional scene Jeremy Mclaurin(2-0) withered what looked like a scare in the second round to finish his fight with Josh Jungjohann with the class and finesse of a Mclaren sports car.
Jungjohann, who was in his pro debut came out firing and seemed to surprise Mclaurin , who was able to adapt well and land the cleaner, more efficient punches eventually opening a cut above JungJohann’s left eye. The cut seemed to feed into Jungjohann’s aggressive approach as he eventually found a hole in Mclaurin’s defense in the second round wobbling the Minnesota native, and forcing a momentary switch to survival mode.
“ I got caught with a few nice shots, but at the same time I delivered back” said Mclaurin of the combination which would prove to be Jongjohann’s best of the night.
Mclaurin was indeed able to deliver back, eventually finding the rhythem with his right hand and landing multiple crosses seemingly on command.
“ I saw that I had to settle down and just try to outbox him, and saw that the right was working well”
Minnesota got their first glimpse of Jeremy Mclaurin as a professional and he did not disappoint. When asked where his interest lay for future bouts Mclaurin expressed interest in a fight with local fighter Ron Peterson.
“Ron’s a great fighter, my hat goes off to him, somewhere down the road I’d love to see him down the line”
Mclaurin among others have begun to spearhead the new batch of Minnesota professionals that captivated fans in the amateur scene, and that should excite any Minnesota boxing purist.

Opening the card were two middleweights in their professional debut in Charles Meir of Coon Rapids, and Marvin Rodriguez of Bloomington.
Meir could never seem to get a rhythm established with his height and Rodriguez managed to make himself an elusive target that complimented his defense with a sustained body attack. Meir did turn some heads with a few huge right hands that put Rodriguez on a temporary retreat. Both fighters showed some green in the fourth and final round as their punches lost some zip and the pace of the bout took a noticeable drop. After four rounds Rodriguez scored a split decision victory.