Bonsante Stops Muller, Williams Drills Upshaw
Report By Laura Zink Photos By Jesse Kelley
More photos to follow

 

Friday, June 06, 2008
Bad Dog Productions put on their 2nd promotional card at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, bringing in a crowd of 1,400 boxing fans. The card featured 6 bouts, beginning with a four round cruiserweight bout between Harley “The Sandman” Kilfian (5-1 4KO) and Marty “the Wolfman” Lindquist (13-7 10KO). Kilfian (Menominee, Wisconsin) came to the bout on a four fight win streak. His two other bouts at the Grand Casino were both against James Taylor (2-1) from Minneapolis, MN. The first bout was not successful, but after Taylor’s opponent at the next Hinckley show less than 4 months later cancelled, Kilfian came in with mere hours notice to win the bout by TKO. Lindquist (Blaine, Minnesota) came to the bout off a 9 month break and two losses, one being his last fight at the Grand Casino against Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Mike Word (5-12). Lindquist came out of the gate looking to land a big shot, but Kilfian read the early warning signs and kept up a solid defense. The crowd began to howl like wolves for “the Wolfman,” backing him up in hopes that he land that much-desired shot on Kilfian. But after such a long break and the short notice of the fight, Lindquist, looking somewhat out-of-shape, did not have the gas to charge through the next round. By round 2, Lindquist looked tired. Kilfian capitalized off of his opponent’s seeming lack of preparation, dropping Lindquist 3 times during the round until the bout was called 1 minute and 54 seconds into the round. Clearly, Kilfian, true to his mark, was able to take advantage of a bad situation, and Lindquist, not quite looking himself, took the loss in stride, knowing that a better-conditioned and better-prepared “Wolfman” will fight another day.

Next up was Jake Betz (3-2,), who now is coming off of two TKO wins, challenged Kansas City, Missouri’s Quincy Miner (3-3) in a 4 round heavyweight bout. Betz, from Minneapolis, seemed speculative at first. Both fighters sent out some tentative jabs, punctuated with a couple of good combinations from each side to start in round 1. After a bit of a clumsy start, Betz began to move in more aggressively, sending Miner down to his knees early in the round. Almost immediately afterward, Betz moved Miner onto the ropes with hooks to the body, sending Miner back and forcing him to take a seat between the 2nd and 3rd ropes. After a brief recovery, Betz delivered a similar affront, Miner sitting against the ropes in turn until a judge from ringside put his hand up to prevent Miner from landing on his scorecard. The move foreshadowed the events to come in round 3. Miner again sat into the ropes for support, but Betz was having nothing of it this time. He pummeled Miner until he plopped through the ropes and landed on his back outside the ring. The ref gave him his 2nd 8 count, but Miner was unable, or unwilling, to stand back up. Miner got to his feet at the count of 9 and looked surprisingly disappointed when the ref called the bout in 54 seconds of round 3, giving a TKO victory to Betz.

The next bout was a four round heavyweight contest between two tough Native American heavy weights, Ojibwa Van Goodman (2-1-1 (2KO) and Emerson “Lakota Warrior” Chasing Bear (3-0-1 3KO). Goodman, from Minneapolis, Minnesota visited the Grand Casino last time to defeat Minnesota’s Jake Betz, who was fighting in his pro debut. Emerson Chasing Bear, from Rapid City, South Dakota so far was undefeated. The bout began somewhat slowly with distance between the two fighters as they sent out jabs to feel out their opponent. Occasionally, the fighters collided and clinched, Goodman sometimes ending the interchange with punches to the back of Chasing Bear’s head. Round 2 showed more of the same. In round 3, Goodman unleashed a combination he seemed to be holding in reserve from the first two rounds, the effect sending Chasing Bear’s teeth a-chatter. Goodman began moving Chasing Bear into the corners with cleaner shots, yet many times when the two fighters fell into a clinch, Goodman again polished off with rabbit punches. After that, Chasing Bear became more apprehensive and, excluding a solid thunking 1,2,1,2 combination, spent the rest of the bout primarily rocking back out of punches, revealing a solid defense but leaving little in the way of fistic exchange. The fight resulted in a draw, judge Nelson scoring 38-38, Thompson scoring 39-37 in favor of Goodman, and Taggart scoring 37-39 for Chasing Bear.

Next up was Allen “The American Boy” Litzau (13-3 7KO) and Mario “The Stallion” Galan (4-4 (3KO) in a 6 round junior featherweight bout. Litzau was coming off from a loss against Robert Da Luz (9-5-2) last April, and Galan, from Hollywood Florida, was coming off of two wins. The bout started off slow at first, Galan charging into Litzau, resulting in arms hooked in clinches filled with body shots. But mid-round the tempo shifted as Litzau found his opening after Galan missed a 1,2 combination. After this, Litzau broke out with clean snapping combinations throughout t he rest of the round, in particular landing a stiff 2 punch combo which sent Galan back in his tracks. In round 2, Litzau landed a huge right hand and just seemed to be going in for the kill for the rest of the round, charging Galan from rope-to-rope and once there, punishing him with furious barrages of 10, sometimes 15 punches at a time. In round 3, Galan tried to shift the tide back in his favor and came into the round charging at Litzau, trying to cut off the ring. Litzau, now suffering a swelling left eye, pushed the round back in his favor, again landing mutli-punch combinations in response to Galan’s advance. In round 4, Litzau showcased masterful body movement, at one point pivoting out of a corner with a quick twist of the torso, so quick in fact that he had time to toss a fast combo at Galan before Galan even knew where he went. After this, Litzau kept Galan at a distance, cleaving Galan off him with uppercuts and ending the round with a pretty hook-leading combination. By round 5, Litzau’s domination and technical mastery shone full force, the crowd screaming, “Timbur!” by mid-round in anticipation of Litzau chopping down Galan like a tree. Between round 5 and 6, ref Mark Nelson asked Galan if he wanted to stop the fight, and true to a fighter’s spirit, he refused and indicated he wanted to rumble on. Nelson didn’t let him continue much longer into the round. After yet another smooth and speedy combination, Galan wavered. Litzau delivered a hard sounding 3 punch combo and Nelson jumps in between them waving his arms and ending the bout. Happy happy Litzau lept into the air and, once his Eminem ring music sounded in the loudspeakers, he began to dance, dusting off his shoes, his shoulders, and the bout with quick flicks of his boxing gloves.

The next match was a 6 round light heavyweight bout between Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Phil “The Drill” Williams (8-0 8KO) and Jacksonville, Florida’s Marcus Upshaw (8-1 (3KO)). The crowd waited to see if previously undefeated Williams could go the distance (all of William’s bouts, excluding February 23rd’s bout against Butch Hajieck (5-6-1) only going 1 or two rounds due to Williams inclination for quick knockouts). He didn’t have to. After a tentative first round of distance-marking jabs from Upshaw and laser-eyed stares from Williams in round 1, Williams dropped Upshaw with a thunderous 3 punch combination, splaying Upshaw on the canvas with his arms crossed under him, fit to snap like matchsticks beneath his weight. His corner leaped to his aid, untwining his arms from underneath him and rolling him onto his side. Upshaw, clearly unawake when they reached him, slowly came to and, more slowly still, came to realize just what had happened to him. The bout ended in 1 minute and 6 seconds into the second round, haling another TKO victory for Williams.

In the main event of the evening, an 8 round super middleweight match between Contender alum Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante (31-9 18KO) and “The Warrior” Teddy Muller (19-14 9KO). After a Madison Square Garden loss from “Irish” John Duddy (18-0) in March 2007 and a win over Kendall Gould (9-12-1), Bonsante returned to the Grand Casino seeking another victory. His challenger, Moline, Illinois’ Muller is no stranger to tough competition, the two super middleweights having shared many opponents, including Tulsas’ Allan Green (26-1), Pawtucket, Rhode Island’s Peter Manfredo Jr. (30 – 5 (15KO), and Milwaukee’s Marris Virgil (15 – 63 (10 KO)). Across the board, the bout was a class act, both men showing their sportsmanship and professionalism. The first round had Muller working Bonsante with 2 punch combinations and Bonsante, in turn, smacking back with multi-punch combinations. By round 2 the tide began to turn on Muller, Bonsante landing a hard body shot that reinjured Muller’s just recently healed broken rib. True to his warrior cut, Muller charged on, fighting a crafty and crowd-pleasing Bonsante for another hard 3 rounds. In round 3, the crowd began to chant “To-ny! To-ny!”, and as if accepting the charge, Bonsante squared his shoulders, dipped his chin and charged like a bull across the ring toward Muller. After another set of hard-landing combos, Muller dropped to one knee, his rib injury obviously hurting him. Stone-faced and determined, Muller fought on, even landing a solid multi-punch combination which he polished off with a solid ear-shotting hook to Bonsante’s head. Growing ever-craftier and controlled as the rounds wore on, Bonsante pulled an uppercut mid-throw when the bell called the round 4, stopping just short of Muller’s chin. Muller couldn’t help but break into a wide smile as if tickled by the professionalism and control of his opponent. In the 5th round, and after a considerable amount of pendulum-style weaving and dipping from Bonsante, Muller began to deliver hooks to Bonsante’s head. After the exchange, Bonsante shook his head as if to say he was not willing to accept such an affront. Then, he brought his glove up and with an up-palm wave, called Muller back as if to ask him to try it again. Bonsante ended the round with still-more hard-landing combos to Muller’s face and body. By the end of the round, Muller’s arms looked weak, and ref Nelson asked if he wanted to end the fight. But Muller? Call a fight before the rounds are over? No way! He shrugged off the suggestion as if it were a rather silly proposition indeed and returned to his corner, ready to gear up for another round. Ref Nelson, however, wouldn’t let Muller carry on and called the bout between round 5 and 6, landing another TKO victory for Bonsante.