Nelson Fight Night #2 treats crowd to evening of great amateur boxing
By Bruce Fuhr
Fight Night #2 Saturday at the Nelson Rod and Gun Club mirrored May’s inaugural event in a lot of ways — a full house with lots of local talent from the Nelson Boxing Club on display.
However, the action and intensity inside the ring was turned up just a little more than Fight Night #1 which gave the Nelson Boxing Club coaching staff plenty to build on as the organization moves forward.
“I was super happy with all our athletes tonight,” said Jesse Pineiro of the Nelson Boxing Club.
“Everyone gave it everything and showed a lot of skills. . .. I’ve very proud of them all.”
Fight Night # 2 saw a handful of local fighters take center stage at the Rod and Gun Club.
Nelson boxers Elias Martinez and Jeff Emmett brought the hometown crowd to their feet with after earning unanimous decisions over Aaron Madriaga and Geoff Hewlett in the later fights on the card — the latter bout the Nelson Brewing Company main event.
Madriaga is from Thistletown Boxing Club while Hewlett is from North Vancouver.
Earlier bouts saw Ryan Lewis, competing in his first ever bout, score a TKO decision over John Gowanlock of Revelstoke.
Lewis said he was very antsy before the bout but was able to overcome nerves to persevere over Gowanlock.
“I think the fight went really good . . . I think there is lots that I can work on,” Lewis said after the bout.
“Being my first fight it felt nerve-wracking for sure . . . I was a bit scared going in. Overall I was able to end up with the decision so in the end it was good.”
Lewis, who comes from a family of boxing enthusiasts, felt he needed to get away from the brawling aspect of fighting.
“Boxing is way more of a sport than people realize,” he said. “There’s some brawling in the sport but during a fight you’re always trying to get ahead by working the chest and jabbing your opponent.”
In the end, Lewis pounced on Gowanlock, who had the bout stopped a few times for a standing count by the referee, to be checked by the ring doctor and to deal with a bloody face.
Other matches had Riel Martinez of Nelson fighting Dylan Muhlig in a 38 kg Initiation bout; Krishan Lysenko of Nelson meeting up with Danica Dreyer of Thistletown in girls Elite Exhibition match; and Cranbrook boxers Alexica Hansen and Sierra Pearson facing off in a 32 kg Initiation match.
Joe Armstrong of Thistletown knocked out the final Nelson Boxer, Bohdi Cartland, in the 91kg Elite Novice bout.
The KO came in the first round, after Cartland knocked Armstrong’s headpiece off Armstrong off earlier in the round.
Parsa Bisheh of Griffins Boxing defeated Brandon Emerick of Thistletown by a TKO in 60 kg Junior C Novice.
Other matches had Conner Null of Revelstoke facing Clive Fagan of Thistletown in 69 kg Elite Exhibition and Dom Barbosa of Salmon Arm meeting Kaden Swanson of Cranbrook in 64 kg Junior C Exhibition.
The Nelson Boxing Club is located at 685 Baker Street in Nelson in the basement that houses Pharmasave. Check out the club’s Facebook page.
