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.