Walters Outlasts Daniels
By Jesse Kelley
February 24th, 2008

"Jungleboy" Zach Walters (22-2, 17 ko's) became the WBC African Boxing Union light heavyweight champion as he stopped game veteran Carl Daniels (50-12, 32 ko's) Saturday night in Superior, WI.
Walters' top notch conditioning was a heavy factor once again as Daniels was unable to keep pace in the end and was eventually forced to retire following the seventh round.
Walters invested a lot in body shots early in the fight. His higher work rate was also securing the early rounds as Daniels was looking to counter punch.
The southpaw Daniels connected with two hard straight lefts as round four came to an end. The success continued into the fifth which saw Daniels have his best round of the fight. Daniels connected with a looping right to the head early on that got Walter's attention. Although slightly shaken, Walters came forward and traded heavy punches with Daniels along the ropes.
Walters remained busier and Daniels stayed accurate with the punches he selected to throw through round six. The fast pace and body shots caught up to Daniels by the end of round seven however and he was unable to continue.
Note: Walters was born and raised in Madagascar. The WBC honored that which is why the bout was for the ABU belt.
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Heavy handed southpaw Phil Williams continued his knockout streak over late replacement Butch Hajicek in the co-featured bout of the evening. Williams took a more cautious approach into this fight as he steadily got to Hajicek behind a strong jab more frequently as the fight progressed.
The early rounds saw both fighters showing respect for the other from a distance but Williams was able to close the gap and land hard shots to the head in the later rounds.
Williams, who had switched from southpaw to orthodox, landed a cracking right hand to the jaw of "Mad Dog" midway through the fourth round. Hajicek cringed and moments later took a knee.
Williams turned southpaw again in the fifth and started to let his power shots go. Hajicek continued to march forward despite the on coming punches.
A huge straight left to the head dropped hajicek to the floor moments into the fifth. Although he went to his knees things didn't look good for the former mn state middleweight champ. Hajicek made it too his feet but could not continue at 1:02 of the fifth.
For Williams, this may have been his most satisfying performance as he was able to show off all of his skills along with the power. Afterwards, Williams revealed a badly swollen right hand which he says he hurt days before the bout.
Williams is now (7-0, 7ko's) while Hajicek falls to (5-6, 2ko's)

"Stone Cold" Gary Eyer (3-0, 2ko;s) showed his sensitive side as he entered the ring to Boy George's "Do you really want to hurt me" echoing the arena. Unfortunately for his opponent Harold McLeod (pro debut) the fun stopped when the bell sounded to start the fight. A hard shot to the head had McLeod hurt early. Body shots followed and McLeod was put down to the canvas. McLeod rose but was greeted with the same punishment and put down again where the bout was stopped at 2:15 of the first round.

 

Patrick Cape outworked fellow North Dakota fighter Terrance Trottier (0-2) over four rounds of action. Cape was awarded a knockdown in the fourth round as Trottier was forced to take a knee from exhaustion. Scores read 38-37 on all scorecards.

 

RJ Laase (2-0) was too much for Michael Krull (0-4) in the opener. The bout was halted at 1:46 of the first round when Krull could not continue taking further punishment.