By John Wayne Parr
January 22, 2009

Frustrating fight with little damage
Mike Alexander vs. Rico Hoye

Round 1: Both fighters spend the first half of the round feeling each other out. Mike is throwing out jabs, but not committing too them. Rico is abiding time moving around and slipping away from whatever Mike throws. Next half Rico starts to get his range and is landing long jabs, keeping Mike at bay but, Mike is also having some luck getting past the guard and landing a few punches himself. Both fighters are landing but nothing really with KO power.
I score this one a draw.

Round 2: A good round by Mike, letting Rico control the pace. Mike lands some nice single punches but still nothing with any devastating power. Rico seems a little hesitant to let his hands go in bunches.
10:9 to Mike.

Round 3: Rico finally gets his range.  Early in the round he lands a few nice shots, they are not hard shots but enough to get Mikes attention. A few times during the round the fighters end up in the clinch, Mike stops while Rico is busy on the inside throwing scoring shots off one hand and landing nice hooks and upper cuts. Mike doesn’t take these punches well and stops throwing punches back. This is never good as it makes your opponent grow with confidence. Rico is now dictating the pace of the fight. Easy round for Rico 10:9.

Round 4: Not much action this round, both fighters are throwing their punches but both are landing nothing but air. A couple of tippee taps are landing and scoring, but both fighters wouldn’t break eggs with their power punches. Another hard round to score with the lack of connecting punches so will call it 10:10 round.

Round 5: Both fighters want it bad, but they are very tired. Half of the round it is a sew saw battle with both fighters having there moments, but the last half of the round Rico takes over being more busy, landing the scoring shots he needs to win the fight. Still no huge power shots landed, but sometimes you just got to do whatever it takes to get the decision. 10:9 Rico.

Judges scored the fight 49-46, 48-47, and 49-46 all for Rico.

Technical Boxer Vs Heart of a Lion
Tim Flamos vs Ryan Coyne

Round 1: From the start you can see Tim is looking for a war.  He hunts Ryan down and starts unloading on his body while he is on the ropes. Once Ryan is on the out side, he uses his range nicely picking his shots and tagging Tim every time he comes into an attack. With Tim being Orthadox, and Ryan a Southpaw, both fighters feet get in the way when in close counters, at one stage there feet get tired up and they fall into each other clashing heads, there is no cut but it is scary because it was a hard hit and could have reopened Ryan’s old cut. Good opening round scoring it to Ryan 10:9

Round 2: Tim is not the most technical fighter but you can tell he hits hard when he does unload. Tim puts the pressure on this round and lands some good punches to the face, body and arms. Three quarters through the round once again both fighters get their feet tangled and bang heads again, this time Ryan is not so lucky and a big gash has opened up on the other side of his face to where he was cut before. It’s a monster cut and bleeding pretty badly, lucky for him the blood is not dripping in his eyes or the referee would have to step in and stop the fight. Now Tim has seen blood and he wants to get the job done.  He lands a few more punches before the round is out. I score that round to Tim 10:9

Round 3: The corner does a great job stopping the blood flowing, it’s still a massive cut though and Tim really has to take care not to make it any worse. Ryan fights a much smarter round and stays on the outside not getting into a war with Tim. Ryan is a very polished fighter when he gets up on his toes and takes advantage of moving to his right as a southpaw popping out his jabs. Any moment he gets lazy though, Tim is going to catch him with his big looping bombs. 10:9 Ryan.

Round 4: Tim is the crowd favourite and before the round starts everyone is cheering his name and pumping him up.  As a fighter, there is no better feeling than having the crowd on your side believing in you to deliver an exciting fight, even when the chips are down it can be the difference to get you over the line. Ryan starts the round well landing a triple jab straight left down the centre, Ryan is up on his toes and picking his shots. Tim finally cuts the ring off and lands some of the big bombs he has been looking for; they are hard punches and push Ryan across the ring. On the ropes Tim landed more big punches to the body and head and now Ryan has no other choice but to go to war with him if he wants to win the round.  Ryan tries his best but can’t land the shots he is looking for. Good round for Tim 10:9.

Round 5: Tim comes out all heart this round and takes the fight straight up to Ryan. Tim lands some nice big shots, but Ryan comes back with some nice punches of his own. Even though Ryan is scoring Tim walks through whatever he gets hit with and lands more punches on Tim, pushing him back into the ropes and into the corners. Tim is landing with huge body rips and hooks to the head. Once again, Tim’s technique is not the greatest, but he is all heart and brings the fight home strong. The bell rings and the whole place is on their feet. What an amazing fight and what an exciting way to end the first round of fights before going into the quarter finals.
I gave the last round to Tim and had him winning the fight 48:47 but the official judges scored it differently than myself with two scoring it 49:46, 48:47 to Ryan while one judge scored it same as me 48:47.

Really is heart wrenching to watch a fighter give it everything he has only to be beaten by the judges in the end. Tim seemed like a really nice guy in the house and had a lot of fans in the crowd.  I wish him all the best in the future.  He proves to everyone that age is just a number. Ryan’s cut is nasty and will be interesting to see what happens when he has to get stitched.  This cut is a lot more serious then the one he received before and will take a longer time to heal.