BOXING: WILLIAMS KEEPS TITLE, PLUS ABELL DOMINATES

Phil “The Drill” Williams kept his Minnesota State Cruiserweight title after 8 rounds over Mengistu Zarzar on Saturday night in Maplewood, MN. The rematch this time around was much more entertaining than the first time they met 3 years ago. Williams scored a first round knockdown and used his jab throughout the fight to set up some hard right hands. Zarzar recovered after the first round setback and made the fight tough to score by coming forward and trying to make the fight a war. In round 8, Zarzar landed a right hand to Williams’ left arm that left “The Drill” with one good arm and most of the round to survive. Zarzar poured on the pressure and landed some serious shots to the chin that rattled Williams. At one point, Williams dropped his mouthpiece in a clinch to buy some time to access the injury. The fight went to the scorecards where Williams was declared the decision by unanimous decision.

Joey Abell landed some thunderous shots to his game opponent Quincy Palmer in the co-feature. Palmer was tough and fired a few nice punches of his own off. A hard straight left followed by two big right hand uppercuts sagged Palmer onto the ropes that put him out cold and halfway out of the ring in round one. Gizzy Hobbs won a four round decision over Kendric Latchman.

More details, video highlights, and photos to come.