Kost, Taggart Win in Hinckley
Angulo crushes Cortes in Shobox Feature
By Thomas Vessey and Jesse Kelley at Ringside

1800 reported fans cheer on locals
St Paul’s Kenny Kost (13-3 6 kos) met James Crayton (34-27-2 21 kos) of Las Vegas in a jr middleweight contest. Kost, who entered the ring to a huge ovation, controlled the first round against his largely inactive opponent. Crayton came out for round two with a defense first approach that frustrated Kost for the first half of the round. Kost was able to get inside and land enough punches to get Crayton to square back up towards the end the round. Crayton started round three with a jump in his step and found success from the outside with his jab. Kost was only able to get inside a few times and may have lost his first round of the fight. Crayton had Kost in the center of the ring for most of the forth but refused to let his hands go. Kost once again had his way with Crayton when the fight went to the ropes. The fifth was more of Crayton attempting to box with only limited success. Kost was content to bully inside and punish Crayton’s body. The final round had Crayton showing no desperation in a fight he was clearly losing. The three judges scored the fight 59-55, 59-56, and 60-54, all in favor of Kenny Kost.

Cheyenne Zeigler (2-1, 2ko's) fought local Hinckley fighter Tim Taggert (2-0, 1ko) in a Middleweight bout in which both fighters represented the Lakota Nation. The first round was reserved with Taggert in control with his jab and use of distance. Round two was more of the same until Taggart landed a right that upset Ziegler more than anything. The rest of the round was a wild and bloody slugfest. Round three was more of the same as both traded toe to toe. When Taggert
pumped the jab and went to the body he was in control but Zeigler was all heart and refused to back down. The back and forth action continued until the final bell as the crowd roared.

 

“El Perro” Angulo all bite against Cortes
Unbeaten prospect Alfredo Angulo (12-0, 9 KOs) continued his reign of terror in the junior middleweight division with an electrifying first round knockout of Ricardo Cortes (22-2, 15 KOs) on Friday night at the Grand Casino Hinckley in Hinckley, Minnesota. Both fighters started out trading before Angelo landed a thunderous right that sent Cortes down
face first. Cortes made the count and attempted to battle back, but El Perro would not be denied. Cortes was rocked once again and put down hard moments later. Cortes rose to a knee and watched referee Mark Nelson count him out just as he rose. The official time was 2:58.
"I wanted to get as much work as possible in there and gain more experience," Angulo said. "But it happened so fast and I am very happy. Cortes had a great record and I knew he was a tough fighter. I trained hard for him so I was really comfortable in there. I want to go back to the gym and get ready for my next fight." Cortes felt that he got up in time and that referee Mark Nelson should have let the fight go on. "I absolutely could have kept going," a confident Cortes
said. "He stopped the fight too quickly. I was back up and ready to go."

In the chief supporting bout, former amateur champion and 2004 Olympian Mickey Bey, Jr. (10-0, 6 KOs) scored a forgettable eight round unanimous decision over defensive-minded late sub Roberto Acevedo (5-4-3, 1 KO) in a super featherweight bout. Bey was the aggressor from the start and routinely backed up and landed on his less experienced foe. Bey also showed the need for further work and patience as he missed wildly at times throughout the contest. Bey looked as though he was making adjustments near the end of the third as he started working the jab while throwing less of the sweeping hooks. Each fighter showed some frustration as Acevedo took every opportunity to hit low and rabbit punch when the fighters clinched which drew scorn from both referee Steve Smooger and those in attendance. Bey was
pitching a shutout through the 6th in a sloppy affair. After eight, Bey was the clear winner on all three of
the judges cards. Scores were 80-72, 77-76 and 79-73.
“I tried to make it a good fight.” Said Bay afterwards. “He kept ducking out and fighting dirty. The judges saw right through him and I came out with the victory. I don’t blame him for fighting like that though. This is boxing and that’s his style. I came to fight and I came to win. You haven’t seen the last of me on Showtime. “

Former Olympian Andre Dirrell (14-0, 8ko's) faced Shannon Miller (23-39, 17ko's) in a six round Middleweight bout. Miller was brave but was out landed 10 to 1 to the speedy Dirrell. After landing a flurry of punches Miller challenged Dirrell to try to hit. Dirrell proceeded to land a left right through Miller’s defense. Dirrell punched and landed two dozen
unanswered punches before Mark Nelson stopped Miller on his feet at 1:58 of the third.

Ugandan Robert Kamya (16-9 4 ko’s) stepped in with “The Weazel” David Estrada of Chicago (12-10,8 ko’s). After a closely contested first round, Estrada dropped Kamya with a right to the top of the head. Estrada spent the rest of the round smothering his punches and landing sporadically. Kamya had seemingly worked out the cobwebs in third before being sent reeling into the ropes by a right with a minute left in the round. Kamya was clearly gassed entering the fourth and
Estrada capitalized. Kamya was knocked down for good at 1:15.

 

The opening bout featured a pair 116’s making their pro debuts, Chris Avalos and Juan Guerrero. Guerrero had the edge in speed as he came out fast and out worked Avalos before getting rocked by a counter left that put him down. Guerrero continued to fire punches and get hit in the process. Avalos came out strong in the second and put Guerrero down with a big right early. Guerrero survived but his left eye was closing rapidly. Avalos landed everything he threw in the third before veteran referee Mark Nelson called a halt to the action at 2:36.