Uncaged Results May 17 2008

"Uncaged" Boxing/MMA Fight Night Recap
Report By Laura Zink
Photos By Jesse Kelley

Seconds out Promotions hosted another successful MMA/boxing mixer last night on May 17th, 2008. The evening at the St. Paul Armory began with a four round super middleweight bout between Maplewood’s own Robert “Sweet Dreams” Kliewer (8-4, 1 KOs) and St. Paul’s Ray Walker (1-5). Walker began the round trying to charge Kliewer, but Kliewer dominated by the end of round one, delivering a barrage of hooks and jabs in the red corner at the end of the round. Kliewer took round two as well with powerful head shots which overpowered Walker’s hooks to the body. In round three it was more of the same, Walker getting his mouth guard knocked out during the bout, referee Gary Meizwa waiting almost 30 seconds after picking up the guard to call a time out so Walker could replace the guard. In the interim, Kliewer landed several clean punches. Once the guard was replaced, Kliewer landed a huge right hand. The fighters ended round three with a head to head block, and as in round two, Walker only landed punches during clinches. Both fighters started round four with their heads tucked behind their forearms, starting the round head to head and forearm to forearm as opposed to toe to toe. Kliewer shoved Walker off him and even had time to pump his glove in the air to stir the crowd before ending the fight. Each round Kliewer dominated, always landing more shots, and taking breaks occasionally to drop his gloves and taunt Walker. When he was called for a unanimous decision win, Kliewer thumped the ring with a black flip, which is quickly becoming his signature victory dance.
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The hallmark of Minneapolis fighters Corey Rodriguez (4-0, 2 Kos) and Raphael Magdaleno (1-6) engaged in a bloody welterweight battle. After Magdaleno fell off balance and caught himself on the canvas in round 1, Rodriguez suffered a massive cut under his left eye from what appeared to be a clash of heads, causing four streams of blood trickling down his cheek, which were smeared quickly by Magdaleno’s looping blows and clinches. Magdaleno’s shoulder and back were also smeared with Rodriguez’s blood by the end of the round, a mess which he did not wipe off before charging into round 2. In round 2, Rodriguez refocused and began to deliver more authoritative jabs and left hooks. Magdaleno began to look hurt in this round, and began to bleed from the mouth. By round three, both fighters looked tired, Magdaleno was now bleeding from the nose and suffering a swollen left eye. Rodriguez took the round, punching with more authority, landing his uppercuts more frequently and setting up solid combos from clean 1,2 shots. As the accuracy and authority of the combinations grew, Magdaleno clinched more, sometimes throwing himself into Rodriguez with the same wild and looping swings that he threw his hooks with during the previous rounds. By round four, Magdaleno’s left eye began to swell, his nose bled again, and his mouth guard was knocked out of his mouth. As the 10 second warning stuck, Rodriguez went in for a banger finish, but the round didn’t afford him enough time, causing him to throw a somewhat reckless jab and left hook onto a roped Magdaleno after the bell rang. The result was an outburst and threatening gesticulations from the managers of both fighters, Johnny Johnson on Magdaleno’s side and Rodriguez’s father on the other. During the verbal tussle between the corners, Magdaleno took a moment to dance a few steps before the crowd. The fight would not end here. Before the MMA bouts there was a delay. To the back of the Armory, a crowd, which included both fighters and fans, swelled by the dressing rooms during a scuffle that seemed to last for close to ten minutes.

All of the MMA bouts were quick, none of the bouts lasting past the first round. Nonetheless, they were superb displays of skill and domination. The first bout, a Lightweight mixer between Minneapolis’ Bryant “The Crow” Clark (3-3) and St. Paul’s Rich Taylor (6-1), lasted all of 3 minutes and 20 seconds. After a skittering start and some energetic kicks from Clark, Taylor lifted Clark from the ground, held him suspended in the air in a dramatic overlay, and threw him on his back into the red corner. From there he drilled Clark with a landslide of punches to the face until the ref, Sean Hickman, called them to regroup in the center of the ring. Once there, Taylor continued the punishment to Clark’s face, stopping only to flip Clark over onto his stomach so that he could drill him in the back of the head. The ref stopped the bout much to the protests of Clark, resulting in a short shoving match between Clark and Hickman.

Next up was Minneapolis’ Marcus “The Prospect” Levesseur (14-1) against 18 year old Chicagoan John “Dangerous Challenger” Cage (4-2). After a tentative start by both fighters, Levesseur tied up Case pretty quickly in Round 1. Not much after that, Case was thrown on his back in the red corner, where he suffered a couple of blows to the face. Case slapped the canvas to call it quits, but Levesseur, in the heat of the moment, threw another hard punch down on to Case’s face. In the 1 minute and 58 second bout, Levesseur left victorious, and Case was left sitting against the corner with blood trickling out of his nose.

In another short, but daring display of power, MMA middleweights, East St. Paul’s “The Outlaw” Jimmy Gomez (5-0, 4 KOs)) and St. Paul’s Joe Rekow (pro debut) fought a remarkably short bout. After a brief power struggle where each fighter tried to maneuver the other onto his back, Gomez leaned back into a neutral corner with his legs wrapped around Rekow’s back. From this position, Gomez pulled Rekow’s head to the canvas, and squeezed it under his right arm until Rekow’s face went from red to purple. The ref called the bout in 48 seconds into round 1.

For the last two bouts, the 5th rope was removed and the boxers took over the ring. First was the super middleweight mixer between crowd favorite “Golden” Caleb Truax (6-0, 4KOs) from Osseo Minnesota, and former world contender James “Too Sweet” Crayton (34-26) from Las Vegas. The first round was slow, Truax primarily testing Crayton with his jab. The pace picked up during round 2 with Traux landing solid 1, 2 combinations, which toward the end of the round, sent Crayton against the ropes. Once there, Truax hit Crayton with two strong right hands just before the bell rang. Round 3 had more clinches from Crayton, who used the hold to hit Truax in the body and in the back of the head. Crayton began to look tired and tried to pull Truax into more and more clinches, which seemed like the only circumstances that he was able to land any shots. In round 4, Truax’s jabs increased in authority, signaling the beginning of the end for Crayton. Truax again sent Crayton to the ropes, where he unloaded fierce punches to the head and body causing Crayton to close up as he tried to block them. After that onslaught, Traux lead Crayton into the red corner where Traux inundated Crayton with loud thudding punches to the head and body. Before he could finish his work, Crayton’s corner threw a large the towel into the ring ending the fight at 2 minutes and seven seconds into the fourth round. The crowd literally jumped to its feet as ref Gary Meizwa pulled the two fighters apart. Truax ended the match with a smile, clearly proud of how successfully he outboxed and outpunched the veteran fighter.

The final bout was between East St. Paul’s Matt “The Predator” Vanda (38-6) and Sterling, Illinois’ Bruce “The Rage” Rumbolz (21-17). Using his height and reach advantage, Rumbolz jabbed to establish his distance during the first round, but there was very little power behind any of the shots. Vanda held back at first, but toward the middle of the round he got inside by landing hard jabs on his way in and hooking back and forth to the body once he was inside. As the rounds wore on, more of the same came from Rumbolz: he tossed his jab out to keep Vanda at a temporary distance, and occasionally worked in a good uppercut. Vanda returned many of these exchanges with hard jabs to Rumbolz’s face and chest, sending him back against the ropes where Vanda continued his jabs and crosses, followed by hooks to the body with an occasional uppercut finish. By round 4, Rumbolz seemed hurt, and his punches weakened. Yet Rumbolz maintained his strategy, primarily establishing his distance with the jab, occasionally following it with a soft right. Rumbolz never really displayed his power, using his jab and right hand in a tentative manner, looking like he was studying Vanda more than he was fighting him. By round 5, Vanda had worked Rumbolz enough to make him stumble against the ropes. Nonetheless Rumbolz remained tough, throwing yet another 1,2 even while he swayed off balance, a move which made referee Mark Nelson ask Rumbolz if he was able to continue. Tough and somewhat elastic, Rumbolz fought on, even though he was dominated every round by Vanda pushing him against the ropes and unloading longer and longer combinations into Rumbolz’s head and body. By round 7, the crowd was screaming “Take him down!” as Rumbolz flopped back onto the ropes. Like a rubberband, Rumbolz kept springing back, sending out more of his studious jabs, which, when they landed, Vanda shrugged off or blocked with his forearms. By round 8, the crowd screamed for Vanda to knock Rumbolz out as they waited through another round of tentative jabs from Rumbolz. As the ten second warning sounded, Vanda heeded the crowd’s cries and unleashed a solid right hook that sent Rumbolz into the red corner. Once there, Vanda slammed Rumbolz with more solid shots. As ref Mark Nelson tore the fighters apart at the bell, an energized Vanda flashed an ardent smile through his black boxing guard. Clearly dominating every round, it was no surprise that Vanda was called the winner by unanimous decision, a result he celebrated by smacking gloves with Rumbolz and even giving him a sportsmanly hug after the decision was called.