Photo Shoot with Al Sands Minnesota's #1 Ranked Boxing Cruiserweight

On December 19th, Zach "Jungle Boy" Walters called me and said, "Are u coming to the gym today, because I need you to bring your camera and do a photo shoot with Al for his new fitness poster. So I was more than happy to. I enjoy working with Al Sands, this was my second photo shoot with him and I have shot two of his Professional Boxing matches and soon to be more. So today on December 20th, designer Joe Polecheck posted this copy of the fitness poster on Facebook, that hopefully will attract a large number of members to Al Sand's new fitness class at the Jungle Boy Boxing Gym. This is just one more thing to add to my portfolio. Thank you as always for another opportunity Zach "Jungle Boy" Walters.

Welcome to the Jungle II Pro Boxing Oct 27, 2012

The doors opened at 6:30pm at the Black Bear Casino and it was like a flood gate being open to human beings, a huge number of people filled the room in minutes. I heard later that over 1,000 people had attended the event.

At 7:30pm the lights dropped low and a spotlight appeared covering the center of the ring. The first two boxers to appear would be James Roe and Matt Myer who would be fighting at Cruiserweight. This fight would be over before you could take a bite of your hot dog and wash it down with a sip of your soda. There were a few jabs maybe a hook or two thrown and then Matt Myer landed a shot that would put James Roe through the middle rope. James Roe would then be counted out.

Matt Myers ending the fight in the first round against James Roe

The next match up would involve a crowd favorite Jerome "Booj" Labarge, who would be facing Lexie "Dynamite Kid" Keshick. Jerome is loved by the fans because of his agressive style and willingness to mix it up in the center of the ring, which always excites the crowd and gives them a good show. This would be Lexie's pro debut. Once the bell rang there was no hesitantion on either man's part, the punches started landing and the sweat started flying. It was a very exciting fight and in the end Lexie would win his pro debut with a decision in this  4 round fight in the Lt. Heavyweight division.

 Jerome "Booj" Labarge landing a crisp left jab

Lexie turning Jerome's head and getting his attention with a left hook.

Fight three would involve another fan favorite Hector "The Fighting Chihuahua" Orozco against an unknown fighter to the Minnesota area "King" DeWayne Wisdom from Indianapolis, IN. By the end of the 2nd round it  looked like Hector was to fast and crafty for DeWayne but "King' DeWayne Wisdom would survive the 4 rounds and lose by a decision in the Lightweight division.

Hector testing DeWayne with his right hand

The fourth fight would involve two Heavyweight fighters that were talked about all week leading up to the fight Jordan Shimmell, a fighter that was 4-0 as a pro coming into this fight and had over 140 amateur fights all over the world against Travis "Iron Man" Fulton a fighter who had almost 50 pro fights as a boxer and an MMA record of 247-49. The question all week would be would youth provial or would toughness and experience.

Well This fight would end in the 2nd round with a TKO. Jordan Shimmell throwing a variety of shots at Travis while he had him trapped in the corner would cause the referee to jump in and end this one seeing that Travis just could not stop the wave of punches from landing.

Referee ending the fight between Shimmell vs Fulton 

Now we had reached the Co-Main Event.  One of two fights that everyone was waiting to see. In the Cruiserweight division there had been some agruing over who should really be ranked #1. Well the agrument was about to be settled.  #1 ranked Harley "Sand Man" Kilfian would face off against local fan favorite #3 ranked Al "The Haitian Temptatian" Sands. The question all week was would this fight live up to the hype. Neither man came to dance, they defiently came to fight and to prove who deserved that #1 ranking. They would trade hard blows back and forth , jabs, hooks, and even powerful body shots for almost 4 rounds but three times during the fight Al Sands would show why he deserved to be number one more by knocking down Harley and in the end it was a shot right up the middle of the body on Harley that would put him on his back and make him decide he just didnt want to fight two more rounds. It was a well deserved fight for Al Sands who some say might not have truly been tested up to this point. Well I believe he was tested in this fight and passed with flying colors. Al Sands is the #1 ranked cruiserweight in the State of Minnesota without question.

 Al Sands testing Harley's chin

 Al Sands breaking Harley down punch by punch

Al Sands standing over Harley just after he landed that last body shot up the middle to end the fight.

Main Event Gary "Stone Cold" Eyer against Ronnie Peterson Jr. in the Jr. Welterweight division. This would be Gary's return to the ring, he had a long lay off of about a year because he was serving our country. He is a blue collar worker who loves his colorful trunks and his video games but will knock you out if given the chance. He is also known as Minnesota's own verison of Mickey Ward. Ronnie Peterson Jr. took this fight on short notice because Gary's original opponent Steven Cox some how got injured days before the fight. The fight started out with each man testing each other's boundaries, cutting off the ring on each other and trading shots on the ropes, but soon Gary realized that he could control the fight with his body punches and started dropping Ronnie to his knees with them. After three times of Ronnie being on the canvas due to body punches he landed a hard shot on top of Gary's head, but the reaction that Ronnie made as the punch landed was not a good one, I could see in his facial expression that something wasnt right. he didnt follow up with another punch instead he sat on the middle rope and just looked confused. Which also seemed to confuse the referee along with Gary Eyer, Gary could have followed up the confusion by throwing a punch at Ronnie but he didnt he stepped back and let the referee step in to see what the problem was. No one knew why Ronnie sat on the ropes but the referee counted out Ronnie and the fight was over. After the fight I had the chance to talk to Ronnie and he told me that the last punch he threw broke his hand, so he just got himself counted out. So it was a good return for Gary Eyer a TKO in the 3rd round and for a guy just returning to the ring he looked very sharp and explosive with his punches. Welcome back Gary" Stone Cold" Eyer.

 Gary Eyer landing his shots on Ronnie Peterson and keeping him on the ropes

 First knock down by Gary Eyer due to body shots on Ronnie Peterson Jr.

 The last punch of the fight that would break Ronnie Peterson Jr.'s right hand.

Ronnie Peterson Jr. sitting down on the middle rope after he just threw the punch that broke his hand and would end the fight. 

At the end of the night all of the fights were explosive and truly worth spending a Saturday night watching all the credit goes to all of these great boxers and to Zach "Jungle Boy" Walters for putting together such an exciting and well matched boxing card and if you are a boxing fan or want to become one the next Pro Boxing match will be April 6th, 2013 at Black Bear Casino. Hope to see your there.

Welcome to the Jungle II Pro Boxing Weigh ins

In the Cobalt bar in the Black Bear Casino, Friday night at 5pm stood a lot of skill and power, as the boxers for Saturday night's fight card slowly walked in found a sit and waited for the weigh-ins to begin. A lot of them shook hands and smiled at each other, but they all knew tomorrow night there would be no smiling or hand shaking going on, only a touching of the gloves and then a lot of combinations of punches being thrown from one side of the ring to the other, trying to prove who the better fighter really was.

                         

All the boxers sitting across from their opponents waiting to weigh in on the scales.

The first fighter I ran into outside the casino was Lexie Keshick who had traveled all the way from Hannahville, MI to fight Jerome "Booj" Labarge. From what I was told he almost didn't have a ride to the fight. Then as I entered the Colbalt I spotted Jerome "Booj' Labarge sitting at the bar who I have known for little over year, he is a very exciting fighter to watch, in his last fight he brought the crowd to their feet. Then after a little while it was like a reunion of sorts the rest of the fighters slowly appeared and I meet them one by one, Jordan Shimmel, Harley Kilfian, Matt Myer, DeWayne Wisdom, and James Roe. Al Sands and Hector Orozco where there as well, but I work with Al Sands and I have know Hector since the last Welcome to the Jungle Fight Card. Then the fighters were called to sit in two rows across from each other facing their opponent and wait for their name to be called to get up on the scale and be weighed in. They did the weigh ins in order of first fight up to the main event fight. Unfortunetaly Gary Eyer's opponent Ronnie Peterson Jr. would not make the weigh ins that night because he was a last minute replacement for Steven Cox so he would have to weigh in, in the morning.

Gary "Stone Cold" Eyer weighing in,  his opponent Ronnie Peterson Jr. was unble to attend.

  Al "The Haitian Temptation" Sands facing off with his opponent Harley "The Sand Man" Kilfian

 I did finally met Travis Fulton after the weigh ins, because he was running late so he got there just as they were starting. I was lucky enough to meet all of the fighters except Ronnie Peterson Jr. Well  the weigh ins went well, everyone made weight except Lexie Keshick, who was told he had 2 hrs to lose a pound and a half, so I guess while everyone else was enjoying the casino, Lexie would be taking a hot shower in his hotel room to make the weight. So after the weigh ins, everyone said their good-byes until tomorrow night and I went and ate at the buffet.

Spirit of the Arts Open Tournament

On October 21st, 2012 I stepped into The Clyde Park Event Center located in the Clyde Iron in Duluth, MN.  As I walked into the room, covering the floor was what looked to be tumbling matts on two sides of the room, and a table lined with trophies on the back wall. This was going to be the first time I was going to shoot a Martial Arts tournament. I was pretty excited I hadn't been around this sport or their tournaments since I had last fought in a Martial Arts tournament myself when I was 10 years old. There was easily 100 kids under the age of sixteen and a lot of adults as well, and I believe most of the crowd was made up of parents of the participants. They were all  wearing different colored belts from a beginners white, to a Grand Masters black belt, these belts represent their status in their academies. Stefan & Stephanie Stein of Mattevi Martial Arts Academy and their two children, their son Colin age 13, and daughter Daniela, age10 were the organizers behind this event.  All four of them wear their black belts very proud and I could tell by watching their children perform that they had defenitely worked hard to earn them.

Daniela and Colin Stein

The tournament started at about 10:30 am and was finished at 5:00 pm, but there was so much to watch and learn from that it was hard to ever put my camera down. They started with Adult Black and Jr Black Forms, then all Belts Weapons, Team, and Creative Musical Forms. After that we had about an hour lunch break in which this time I tried to spend time deleting photos and taking photos of some of the kids that had placed in the tournament up to this point and had trophies awarded to them. 

Jumping Jim Bussen Grand Master Black Belt performing his Black Belt form.

A 17 year old black belt  performing a weapon form with his sword

After a break for lunch we moved on to the Opening Ceremony, Color Belt Forms, and then some Single sparring and Team sparring to close the tournament. During single sparring I met this woman's father and learned that she had come all the way from Thunder Bay, Canada to participate in this event and that she had some rather high credentials. Sydnie Wolotko age 18  who wears a brown belt had just recently competed at the World Kickboxing/Karate Competition in Montreal, Canada and in her weight class -60kg she had won the bronze medal. So after hearing this I was even more anxious to see her spar.

 Syndnie Wolotko preparing herself to spar whoever they put in front of her female or male she told me she  did not care.

Syndie Wolotko sparring against Jumping James Bussen and defenitely holding her own, unfortunetaly she was out pointed but it was a close match. But at the end of the day she still took back to Canada with her two 1st place trophies and one 2nd place trophy, so I guess you would have to say the trip was worth making it down for. 

If an event like this interests you or you would like to take up this type of sport you can contact 

Stefan or Stephanie Stein at Mattevi Martial Arts Academy

102 Belknap St. 

Superior, WI 54880

(715)-394-5425

Relay Recess at Byrant Elementary School, Superior, WI

Kiley D'Auria decided to do something for her senior project that would mean more to her then just a grade on her report card, because she had been touched personally by Cancer in her family, when a few years ago her grandmother passed away, it wasn't hard for her to realize that she wanted to be part of the message to reach more people about the awareness of this disease, she reached out to Beth Paquette and together they put on this years Relay Recess. Which would include getting children and adults to walk around the gym at Bryant Elementary School for a period of 2 hrs, listen to music provided by Cory Bonneville of Sounds Unlimited, enjoy food provided by The Food Service FSM Marktet Place and the kids also got to particapate in the 7 Element Obstacle course provided by Doucette's. The money raised from donations would be given to the American Cancer Society. This was the second part of Kiley's senior project, the first part was a large rummage sale and all of the proceeds also went to support the American Cancer Society. Fox 21 News also came out and interviewed Kiley about the subject she had chosen for her senior project and the meaning behind it. I believe this is an example that one person can make a difference.

These are the bags that were created by the families to honor their loved ones that were effect by Cancer.

Kiley D'Auria being interviewed by the anchor from Fox 21 News about why she choose to do this event for her senior project.

New Boxer in Town

Recently my son Marcus D'Auria moved in with me and decided that he liked the atmosphere of the gym that I worked at taking photographs, but he wanted to take it one step further, he didnt want to take photos from outside the ropes, he wanted to box inside the ropes. I was a little heistant at first but then I thought, this might be exactly what he needs, a goal and a direction to focus on , so I agreed to it. Well in less then two months he is sparring and looking really sharp, he still has a few more things to improve on, but Zach "Jungle Boy" Walters his trainer/coach is impressed with his progress and is talking about possibly matching him up for his first fight at Grandma's Sports Garden on November 14th. I have taken photos of all lot of first time fighters, but this time the photos will mean a little bit more then the rest that I have taken to date.

Marcus D'Auria and his trainer/coach Zach "Jungle Boy" Walters working on his punches on the mitt.

Lake Superior Rage Goes 8-0

The Lake Superior Rage acquired a few new elements to their team this year and it really paid off, Every game they played they, played like an well oiled machine. The end results showed every week and at the end of the season they stood proud with an 8-0 record, but unfortunately I think they may have looked ahead in the playoffs, because they wanted to get to that championship game so bad to face the St. Paul Pioneers that they didnt realize they still had to get past there opponent in the playoff game.  They should still be proud, they are growing as a team and a family and this team has a long future a head of them. GO RAGE!