HOLT STOPPED, WALTERS GETS OFF CANVAS IN SLUGFEST, SMART GETS WIN IN WASHINGTON

Four Minnesota fighters fought at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington this last Friday. FightNews.com writer Sam Ditusa was covering the action ringside and shared the following recap for the Minnesotaboxing.com readers.

Detroit Lakes Chris Holt (7-2) took on Kenny Ellis (31-5-2) of Seattle, Washington in the main event. Holt is a tough, rugged kid, but was not in Ellis’ class. He showed skills, and gave a game effort.

Prospect Zack Walters (4-0, 3ko’s) of Duluth, MN fought Luis lopez. Lopez should be a Welterweight. He is very short and flabby, but refuses to even get down to 160 lbs. This being said, Lopez is a very tough Mexican fighter. Walters was very impressive for 2 rounds, as he displayed all the punches, jabs, hooks, right hands, and beautiful uppercuts. However, Walters may have suspect “whiskers” as he was hurt three times by Lopez, and put down once. Lopez is not a big puncher, especially at 175 lbs. But Walters did come back from the knockdown to KO Lopez which showed great conditioning and resilience.

Junior Flyweight Darby Smart (2-0) of Chisholm, MN is a southpaw who fought a great fight against Josh Dahl who had an extensive amateur career, and was probably 5 inches taller then Smart. Smart took a unanimous decision over Dahl by counter punching his taller opponent. The unanimous decision surprised me just a little, but they don’t give out ” Home Town decisions” here.

Daniel Schlienz also from Minnesota had no chance at all against raphael Ortiz. Ortiz is MUCH better then his record, and had no problem with Schlienz.

In all, the Minnesota fighters were all conditioned well, and gave very good efforts.

Ellis halts Holt in 2!

January 10, 2004

By Sam DiTusa at ringside

Kenny Ellis, “The Emerald City Assasin” returned to form Friday night at Tacoma’s Emerald Queen Casino and put on a beautiful, and short, display of boxing and punching before stopping Christopher Holt at 2:44 of round two. Ellis, who usually starts slowly, hit Holt with his entire arsenal in round one, hurting the rugged challenger from Minnesota at round’s end. Ellis sensed Holt was in trouble as round two began and went right for the jugular, nailing Holt with overhand right hands which eventually put Holt on the deck. All the starch was out of Holt when he rose, and it was target practice for Ellis until Referee Ron Rahl stopped the action at 2:49 of the round. Holt suffered a broken nose while falling to ( 7-2).

With the win Ellis improves to ( 31-5-2, 20 ko’s) and again put’s himself in position for a big fight. “ We will fight any Middleweight in the world,” said Ellis’ Promoter Brian Halquist.”Kenny has proven himself to be the busiest middleweight out there, and he is ready to fight against the division’s top fighters.”

The packed house was treated to a great card as Halquist’s “Battle at the Boat” series began it’s 4th year. The semi-main was a scheduled 4 round cruiserweight battle between recently transplanted Ohio native Chad Van Sickle and James Brock from Los Angeles, California. It was evident that Van Sickle was pressing hard to put on a good show in round 1, as he tried to end the show with every punch. After the minute rest period, Van Sickle came out relaxed and loose for round 2, and put Brock on the canvas with a right hand. Referee Paul Field waved off the action at 1:33 of round 2 giving Van Sickle his 14th win without a loss.

“I was trying too hard to impress my new Promoter, and the Tacoma fans,” said Van Sickle. “I haven’t fought since August, and I had a little rust to shake loose, but I’m looking forward to fighting on a regular basis,” added Van Sickle who weighed in at a very trim 185 lbs.

Luis Lopez came in literally at the last minute, ( About 10 minutes before the fights began) to challenge Zack Walters, from Duluth, Minnesota. The crowd was on its feet for this barn burner, as Walter used a lopsided height advantage to bang Lopez around the ring for 2 rounds, hitting him with everything, including the kitchen sink. The tide changed in round 3 as Lopez caught Walter with a series of punches which put the lanky Minnesotan on his back side. Lopez tried desperately to finish the show, and threw everything he had, but Walter escaped the round. Both combatants threw all caution to the wind in round 4, as each needed the round. Walter hit Lopez with a right uppercut which flattened Lopez at 1:59 of the round. Lopez made it to his feet but could not continue. Walter improves to 4-0, 3 KOs, while Lopez falls to 4-4.

Another good looking fighter, Oregon’s Raphael Ortiz improved to 7-3-1, 7 KOs with a 2nd round stoppage of Dan Schlienz of Minnesota. Ortiz is a very good technician who is improving every time out. He was very economical, landing everything he threw, as he put Schlienz on the canvas twice. Wally Jorgenson’s fighter has nowhere to go but up from here as he is winning fans over throughout the Northwest. This talented 140 pounder has all the tools, and a great knowledge of his craft.

The opener was a Junior Flyweight bout between Josh Dahl from Everett, Washington and Darby Smart of Chisholm, Minnesota. In this one, the much shorter Smart prevailed by using a good counter punching attack to nullify Dahl’s height and reach advantage. Smart stays unbeaten at 2-0, Dahl’s record evens out at 1-1.