08.02.04 – By Carlos Kalinchuk: In the co-featured fight of the evening in front of a standing room only crowd of approximately 6,000 at the Pavilion Grand Casino in Coushatta, Junior Middleweight Sunshine Fettkether 10-2 (4 KO’s) took on Eliza Olson 7-2-1 (2 KO’s) for the IBA Championship in a 10 rounder. The fight was action packed an proved to steal the show as both women gave it there all in what was a very spirited fight all up until the final bell.
The fight ended on a sour note though when the decision was read as one judge ruled it in favor of Olson and the other two knuckleheads (judges Naquin and Cida) unbelievably ruled it a draw 95-95. In what was a real give and take battle, the much smaller Olson battled her way on the inside and hooked and upper-cut her way to what seemed like a 7 rounds to 3 victory. To everyone’s shock and dismay, the bout was ruled a draw. The crowd and all press row booed the result vehemently and it looked like the judges were not going to make it out of there in one piece. In fact a very upset Olson looked like she was going to punch Fettkether after the result was read.
Olson had this to say after the fight…”I feel like I won the fight. I came in here sick and I was vomiting today and I had a bad back and I came in here to do my best and I kicked ass! That girl is way bigger than me. I won on one of the judge’s cards and I didn’t win on the other two judges cards. I don’t understand what they were watching. I won the end of the round each time and you could hear the crowd go wild as I was hitting her with uppercuts and left hooks and straight right hands. I played my game inside and she’s a bigger girl and for somebody my size, anybody knows that for a small person that is how you’re supposed to fight. I’m just really disappointed and I don’t know what they were watching. That’s just boxing. I’m a little bit disappointed, but I’m a Champion and I was born a Champion-I come from boxing lineage-I have a Champions background and I’ll get that belt sooner or later.” She added, “My thing is I go in there and I’m a crowd pleaser. I’m a fighter and I’m a warrior and I go in there to show people that women can do this great with boxing. It was very nice of the crowd to back me and appreciate them. I want to fight other fighters out there and I will hopefully become better known as soon as I get a sponsor so if you’re a sponsor and you’re out there-call me! I’m a good-looking girl and I can fight so-call me! There’s Mia St. John and a bunch of other fighters I want and I’m ready for whoever wants to fight and if there’s a rematch from this one that’s fine. I just think I won the fight fair and square. I was fighting in her backyard since she had been here before and earned a bunch of fans from her last fight but they saw the fight and they know who won.” So do we Eliza, so do we.
Guerrero Wins By Unanimous Decision In Eight Rounder!
In what started off as a let down fight, after the awesome co-main event, Super Bantamweight Armando Guerrero 19-3-5 (11 KO’s) defeated Francisco “La Arana” Tejedor 46-18-2 (31 KO’s) in a 10 rounder. The scores were unanimous as all judges officially scored the fight 78-74.
What happened…
In first round nothing happened. Both fighters were far too cautious which drew the ire of the packed house, which resulted in a small portion of the crowd heading for the exits. In spite of the slow beginning, the fight finally got started albeit marginally in round two when Guerrero landed some decent body shots and a decent combination to Tejedor’s head. In round 3, they seemed to finally rise to the occasion and both threw some good combinations. Guerrero still got the best of each exchange. Round 4, was the same but Guerrero began to establish himself more. Round 5 was peculiar as Tejedor bent over from what he said was a low blow. The punch did not look that low and he seemed to enjoy milking the time in order to rest his older body. Tejedor went on to lose rounds 5-6 before he came back and did some body damage of his own to steal round 7. Round 8 was all Guerrero as he regained control of the fight and closed the show impressively. This fight also appeared to be a no-brainer but a case could be made for the first round being a draw. As a result my scores were 79-73 in favor of Guerrero.
Mia Dominates Easily In Four Rounder!
In the second bout of the evening, Super Lightweights Mia St. John 29-3-2 (13 KO’s) and Regan Pudwill 3-8 went all four rounds even though St. John was never in trouble and basically beat Pudwill pillar to post. The judges got it right with scores of 40-36 all around. Not a whole lot could be said for the offense or defense Pudwill offered. She was beaten thoroughly and even referee Kenny Saintes asked her midway through round 3 if she wanted to continue. To Pudwill’s credit, she managed to stay on her feat as St. John rocked her head repeatedly with combinations. After the fight Mia said, “I don’t think any fights easy because everybody comes to fight and no one is going to take it easy on you but I knew that I had a lot more experience, and that’s okay because I just fought a really hard fight in Boise Idaho and I didn’t want to take a hard fight so soon, like a week and a half afterwards so I just thought I’d take this fight. I was never hurt but you just never know because everybody tries there hardest and we’re taking punches and it’s never easy to take a punch!”
When discussing her future Mia added, “I fight next on March 12th, it’s a Top Rank Card on Telefutura. There’s a lot of girls we’re looking at and I’d like to take a few weeks off but the next fight will be a hard fight. But there’s a lot of girls I’d like to fight out there like Jane Couch and Eliza Olson (the girl who’s fighting now).” Mia seemed to enjoy her stay in Louisiana and added, “I want to thank everybody that was involved with this promotion because everyone was great in Louisiana.” When I asked her about coming back, she said, “Of course, oh yeah! But when it comes to gambling, I did it once, but once I lost a dollar in the slots I didn’t play anymore (laughs).”
Mysterious Circumstances Surround Ann Wolfe In Late Pull-Out!
Super Middleweight Ann “Brown Sugar” Wolfe 16-1 (11 KO’s) was supposed to fight Erin Toughill 4-1 in the Main Event but she pulled out of the fight only hours before she was supposed to take center stage.
***Special Note: To find out more about what happened see separate piece titled “Mysterious Circumstances Surround Ann Wolfe In Late Pull-Out; “Was It A Stomach Flu, Purse Issues or Herpes?” Asks Team Toughill”
The Bayou Bomber Wins By Easy KO!
Louisiana native Lightweight Bobby “The Bayou Bomber” Aucoin improved his record to 9-0 (5 KO’s) after knocking out Ricky Dinkins at the 39 second mark of round 3 in a scheduled six round fight. The height proved to be the difference as Aucoin unloaded punch after punch in combination to Dinkins head and body. Dinkins went down in the second from an uppercut and by round 3, it was only a matter of time as the under-matched Aucoin did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it.
Nario Wins In Spite of Totally Disgraceful Scoring By Judge Paul Cita!
In the opening bout of the evening, Lightweights Jaime Nario and Lamont Lensie staged their pro debuts in a four-rounder. Nario came away victorious with a split decision. The scores of 38-37 for Nario were acceptable however the score of 40-36 in favor of Lensie was clearly not! Apparently judge Paul Cita took it upon himself to ignore the official knockdown of Lensie in the first round. Although it did appear to be a slip, referee Bruce McDaniels ruled it a knockdown and Cita STILL ruled scored the fight otherwise. This is an obvious infraction as no official has the right to ignore the referee’s decisions inside the ring. Hence, Cita should be reprimanded but my guess is he probably won’t. Based on this garbage, just two words come to mind, totally disgraceful.
Carlos “Stiff-jab” Kalinchuk
Contributing Writer & Photographer