River Rumble August 13 2004

River Rumble August 13 2004

Event was held at the St. Jo Frontier Casino in St Joseph, Missouri.

Review by Mark Graves

It was a great night for boxing outside at the St. Jo Frontier Casino. The weather was spectacular for a mid-August night. The match-ups for the fights were promising but a DQ, a stoppage due to an apparent rib injury, and two flat out quits made for a frustrating night. Despite these issues, fights were good while they lasted and the heavyweight fight was full of action.

Ron Baker (0-3) vs. Tyler Seever (0-0)

Close 1st round with both fighters getting staggered but neither going down. That would change in the second round as Seever got caught by a Right-Cross during a flurry that put him down. The ref stopped the fight despite Tyler beating the count. It was obvious that he was not able to continue. Baker gets a TKO victory at 0:28 of second round. Seever's punches were tighter than Baker's but Baker landed the deciding punch in the second round flurry.

Delray Raines (1-0) vs. Ricky Jenkins (3-0, 3 KO's)

All Ricky in the first although most of his punches were blocked. The second round was filled with posing by both fighters. At one point in the second, I heard Raines say "Hit me then b#@$%!". So, Ricky knocked him backward with a Left-Hook. Delray regrouped and landed a precise Upper-Cut that knocked Jenkins down for an eight count. Now more posing for the rest of the round. Ricky started the third round by rocking Raines. Knowing his opponent was hurt, Ricky went in for the kill by throwing a flurry of punches. The problem was at the end of the flurry, Delray was still standing and Jenkins was out of gas. After Raines got his wits back and realized that Jenkins was tired, he backed Ricky into his corner and hit him twice. Ricky went down on a knee. He did make it up at the count of nine but declined the offer to continue giving Delray a TKO victory at 2:30 of the third round. After the fight, Ricky yells, "I did not train. I want a rematch." He should of thought of training before the fight.

Lance Moody (1-1-1, 1 KO) vs. Earl Walker (2-0, 2 KO's)

Earl used Right Upper Cuts for three knockdowns in the first round. Lance got up each time but the ref stopped the fight after the third knockdown. Moody appeared able to continue but the ref stopped the fight anyway at 2:31 of the first round.

Chris Regular (4-12-2, 1 KO) vs. Jimmy Zeikle (37-7-1, 6 KO's)

It was a close first round because Regular pasted himself to the chest of Jimmy and frustrated him negating the skill differences. I gave the first round to Jimmy because of a Left to the body. Regular continued to get to the inside in the second. To keep Chris from landing on the inside, Jimmy kept holding. Finally the ref had enough and warned Zeikle. Well, without being able to hold, Chris was able to pound Jimmy on the inside. Regular landed good shot after good shot until Jimmy went down to stop the pounding. Jimmy did get up but declined the option to continue giving Chris a TKO victory at 2:59 of the second round. A shocking result for sure.

Eric Salizar (2-1, 2 KO's) vs. Donnie McCrary (5-1-1, 5 KO's))

First round was controlled by Donnie who used a stiff Left-Jab from the outside and Upper-Cuts on the inside. The second round ended abruptly when Salizar decided to pick McCrary up and dump him on his back-side. The ref immediately ended the fight at 0:25 of second round. The crowd was not happy and wanted the ref to give Donnie the chance to avenge the dumping but that was not allowed to happen.

Chuck Cox (0-2) vs. Jeff Carpenter (10-9-1, 6 KO's)

Chuck was a replacement and it showed. Chuck was game while it lasted but Jeff knocked Chuck out and landed two more punches before he fell. It was not a pretty sight. Carpenter gets a KO victory at 1:20 of the first round.

Calvin Miller (5-17-1, 4 KO's) vs. Byron Polley (14-5, 6 KO's)

I am going to summarize this fight instead of giving a round by round. Polley controlled the entire fight but Miller was more than game. Miller has good defense but Polley's was better. Byron was ultimately in better shape because he was able to go the distance with showing little signs of fatigue. The most amazing thing was how well Polley listened to his corner. Time after time he would do exactly what the corner asked. At the end of the fight, all judges saw the score 60-54 for Byron. Calvin was game but clearly out matched.

Jim Franklin (6-2, 4 KO's) vs. Galen Brown (13-2-1, 8 KO's)

Galen decided to use movement and skill in this bout. Not much was landed in the first until a 1-2 by Brown at the bell. Galen continued to use him movement to control the fight in the second round and landed a late combination to solidify round two for himself. Brown decided to throw punches in the third round. He cornered Franklin in the corner and unloaded. Many shots were landed but Franklin was not hurt. Galen went back to movement in fourth round but this time Jim was able to catch him a few times; however, not enough to get the round. Apparently during the fourth round Galen landed a punch that broke one of Jim's ribs because he did not answer the bell for the fifth round due to a rib injury. This was disappointing because he was finally getting his range.