SANDS WINS ABF TITLE WITH KO WIN

Al Sands (22-4-1, 19 KO’s) of Duluth, MN won the ABF cruiserweight Championship on Friday night at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, MN with a second round knockout over Markus Oliveira (28-7-1, 22 KO’s). Sands looked strong from the start being first to the punch. A left hook stunned Oliveira in round one. Oliveira followed up and caught Sands with a nice shot of his own but Sands didn’t flinch. A right hand to the head dropped Oliveira In round two and another sent him to the canvas again where Mark Nelson reached the count of ten.

Sands fought the perfect fight however, Oliveira told Minnesotaboxing.com that he had tested positive for Covid on Saturday which was the day after the fight. Oliveira said he felt fatigued and dizzy at weigh-ins on Thursday which he says he thought was from cutting weight. He says that they offered Covid testing at weigh-ins but he did not take a test because he had already been vaccinated.

“I couldn’t take a punch” said Oliveira. I’m not making up an excuse, I still felt horrible after the fight and throughout the night so we took a Covid test that morning, and it was positive”.

With the type of performance that Sands displayed in stopping Oliveira for the first time in the Wisconsin cruiserweights career, the Duluth boxer would most likely be favored if a rematch were to take place. Oliveira deserves credit for moving forward and told Minnesotaboxing.com that he would like to face Sands again. There are no plans for a rematch at this time.

Dennys Reyes won a five round unanimous decision over Tim taggart. As expected, heavy punches were thrown throughout. Taggart began the bout strong but Reyes took control after round two.

Antonio Tony Woods was victorious with a second round TKO victory over John Brewer.

Daniel Huffman won a dominant six round unanimous decision win over tough Jesse Addison.

Josh Clark defeated Don Stewart by third round TKO after a barrage of unanswered punches forced an end to the bout.

Rayshaun Thomas dropped Lloyd McKinney three times on his way to a round one KO win.

Colton Warner won by first round KO. A hard right to the head dropped Marvin Prather for a ten count.

Gavin Hendrickson stopped Dustin Heisse at 1:03 of round three with a right to the body.