LITZAU DESTROYS TERRY
June 16, 2012

Photos and Report by Jesse Kelley
Video hightlight by Ray Kilgore

Jason Litzau (29-3, 22 KO's) destroyed Ira Terry (24-9, 14 KO's) late Friday night in the main event at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis. Litzau scored two knockdowns on his way to stopping Terry at 2:43 of the opening round. Litzau looked like a man possessed as he glared at Terry before the bout. And it was obvious early on that Litzau's goal was to make it an early night's work. Litzau began the bout throwing hard combinations to the head but Terry stood his ground and fired back which resulted in good early action. Litzau was willing to take a few to get his punches in but quickly began to overwhelm Terry. Two hard rights to the head dropped Terry to the canvas midway through the round. Terry regrouped and went right back to trading with Litzau. Litzau continued to let his punches go as he seemed to feed off the energy of the rowdy crowd. Near the end of the round, Litzau was landing at will before a final right to the head put Terry down where referee Mark Nelson waived the fight off. Litzau broke down in tears as he jumped on the ropes to salute his hometown crowd following the win.

In other action, heavy handed heavyweight Aaron "Gorilla" Green (6-0, 5KO's) spent 6 rounds landing powerful punches to the head and body but was unable to get his tough as nails opponent TJ Gibson (1-3, 1 KO) out of there. Gibson forced Green to go the distance for the first time in his career but not before taking some huge shots in the process. Scores read 60-54, 60-53, 60-54 for Green. Green had Gibson rocked on numerous occasions but Gibson refused to go down or stop throwing back. Gibson was even able to sneak a few of his looping overhand rights in through the guard of Green in the process. Green smiled at the punches though and was seemingly seconds away from ending the fight in the final round before the last bell.

Amateur standout Rob Brant won his professional debut by stopping Cheyenne Ziegler (3-8, 2 KO's) at :53 of the second round. As an amateur, Brant accumulated numerous titles in the 178 pound division but as a pure boxer, some observers felt he was built for a smaller weight. And on Saturday night, having come to the ring at 157 lbs., Brant looked strong, fast, and fit. Brant lit up Ziegler with speedy punches to the head and body before ending the bout in the second round after dropping him once before the stoppage.

Brad Patraw (8-4, 5KO's) won by TKO over Tony Belvedere (0-1) after Belvedere's corner stopped the bout following the third round.
Patraw looked physically stronger in the ring then he has in previous bouts and it was a good thing because his opponent Belvedere was strong and determined himself as he tried to make things rough for the Mn bantamweight champ. The first round was close as Patraw boxed and Belvedere tried to work his way to the inside. As the rounds went on, Patraw began to pull away behind a hard jab and straight right. Belvedere, an experienced MMA fighter looked a little frustrated by only being able to counter with his hands. He did end up being warned several times in the bout for taking Patraw down to the canvas and nearly out of the ring ropes. In the end it was a good performance for Patraw not only for staying composed and landing cleanly but for doing so against a tough and determined opponent like Belvedere turned out to be.

Mike Richman (2-0, 1 KO) won a four round unanimous decision over Jason Benson (0-1). Scores read 40-36, 40-36, 39-37 for Richman.
Good back and forth action from the opening bell. Richman set himself up just out of Benson's reach and used slick lead lefts and uppercuts out of the southpaw stance to control the pace of the bout. Benson never looked discouraged though as he countered with some nice shots of his own out of a more conventional stance. Richman was coming off a huge knockout win recently on a Bellator show (MMA) and showed why he is quickly becoming known as one of the top mixed martial arts strikers in the Midwest.

Kenneth Glenn (1-0, 1 KO) stopped Donny Tierney (4-5, 1 KO) at :36 of the third round. Another fun fight with good action. Tierney used his height and reach to box while the shorter and built Glenn worked his way to the inside to get his work done. All of the action was close and followed that formula right up to the stoppage. A right hand to the side of the head of Tierney started things for Glenn. Once he saw Tierney hurt, a few more punches put Tierney on the canvas where he was counted out. Glenn, a mixed martial artist, picks up the win in his boxing debut.

Stephen Watt (1-0, 1 KO) dropped Silas Ortley (4-14, 3 KO's) twice on his way to a knockout win at 2:30 of round one.
Watt, another MMA fighter, wasted little time as he went right after Ortley. Boxing fans know that Ortley is better then his record and usually a very durable fighter. But Watt hurt Ortley early and never let up until the bout was over. After the night of fights Ortley regrouped with a fun game of Party Bingo