Historic Venue Site for Heavy Hitter Show
Posted: June 22, 2008
by Lindy Lindell

Fort Wayne, the historic military site on the Detroit River dating back to the Civil War, provided the venue for an eight-bout card on Friday. The good guy v. bad guy show featured ticket sellers that brought roars of approval from the partisan crowd that very nearly packed the place.

This journalist determined at the intermission following the fifth fight that it would be the last pro show he would attend in the Detroit area sans a matchmaker. Gerald Evans and Joe Bermudez both matchmake for their own shows, but neither are interested in creampuffs to fight the locals, nor are they interested in non-competitive bouts.

Brandon Arsenault (lf) and Rudy Cornado on Friday night. Photo: Susan Barnes

As I have been writing for some time now, local boxers with few exceptions are unwilling to box against opposition that can offer anything bordering on competitive resistance. This is sometimes not the fault of the boxer, but of his management/handlers who are unwilling to have their charge stick his head into the mouth of the dragon in order to kill it. The promoter of the club show is also burdened by outrageous expenses that opponents can now command.

One cannot blame the promoter who is unwilling to pay these exorbitant fees since he must turn a profit (or come close to doing so) in order to continue to promote. This is why an experienced matchmaker must be secured: to find opposition that habitates within the small corridor of what the promoter can afford on one hand and what the local boxer is willing to box on the other.

Rich Powers (rt) makes his debut against Cleophis Glover, scoring a second round TKO. Photo: Susan Barnes

A reasonable solution to this problem is to put on pro-am shows in which the promoter is required to put on only twelve (down from 30 if the show is all-pro) rounds of pro boxing. At least one promoter agrees with me when I said that Michigan club show boxing can no longer reasonably support the payment of 14 boxers (including opponents who will fight back) for seven fights.

The card featured two pro-debuters, Detroit heavyweight Rich Powers, and Andre Gorges of Windsor, a welterweight. Both brought an enthusiastic following and Powers was impressive by stopping the normally durable Cleophis Glover. Gorges also brought a flare in displaying his wares; unfortunately, he was pitted with a foe who had no business in the ring, one of three who were debuting from Battle Creek, all of whom, one understands, are really MMA fighters, and it showed. All tumbled in the first, including Ryan "Prime Time" Meyer, who fell into alarming convulsions after just 18 seconds.
This is the second time that MMA fighters have been allowed to fight on a Heavy Hitter promotion. It is one thing for a promotional company to allow such opposition to find their way onto a card--and another for the State and Boxing Commissioner Al Low to rubberstamp non-boxers onto professional boxing cards.

The results:

Light-heavyweights: Darryl Cunningham, Detroit, W6 Chris Grays, Grand Rapids.
Brian Mihtar, 159, Dearborn, TKO1 Cameron Allen, 156, Battle Creek.
Rich Powers, 221, Detroit, TKO2 Cleophis Glover, 268, Bay City.
Alexis Hloros, 155, Dearborn, KO1 Ryan Meyer, 150, Battle Creek.
Pete Cantu, 160, Pontiac, W4 Guy Packer, 157, Battle Creek.
Larry Ventus, 139, Detroit, TKO1 Jamal Khan, 140, Cleveland.
Andre Gorges, 147, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, TKO1 Dustin Cooley, 147, Battle Creek.
Branden Arsenault, 239, Bay City, TKO1 Rudy Cornado, 218, Muskegon.