In what was dubbed as the "St. Paul Civil War, "Matt "The Predator" Vanda (33-1, 21 KO’s) won a 10 round unanimous decision victory over Troy “TNT” Lowry (24-4, 14 KO’s) Friday night at the Saint Paul National Guard Armory in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was a very close and entertaining fight featuring many rounds that could have gone either way. Despite both sides claiming victory, it was Vanda who claimed East-side supremacy and kept his title-shot hopes alive.

The fight got off to a relatively cautious start. Neither man was able to land very many clean punches. Vanda was more successful with the jab in the opening round but Lowry landed a few decent straight rights, particularly two rights to the head of Vanda near the end of the round, which may have won it for him.

Lowry came out in the second round pressing Vanda and coming forward. He had success finding Vanda with the jab early. Lowry was trying to make it a physical fight as he tied up Vanda and attempted to move him around the ring. Vanda was able to land the lead left hook midway through and followed up with two more left hooks and a right to the head of Lowry that got his attention. Vanda won the second half of this round convincingly and took the round.

Vanda attacked the body well in the third. Lowry responded with some nice counter punches but they were mostly single shots. Vanda was putting the better combinations together in the round. Both fighters traded hard right hands to the head at the rounds end Referee Mark Nelson had his hands full as the two fighters exchanged punches after the bell.

The jab stood out once again for Lowry in round four and he also continued to try to be physical with Vanda. Round four saw Nelson warning Lowry for pushing off and holding behind the head. Vanda worked the body effectively with both hands. In the final 30 seconds of the round, Vanda exploded with a flurry of punches. It didn't look like many of the punches landed, but it got the crowd excited. A good left hook to the head in the closing seconds from Vanda may have given him an otherwise even round.

The fifth round was big for Lowry. “TNT’ was having success thus far with single power shots but for the first time in the fight he started putting more punches together with success. A majority of his punches were being partially blocked by the guard of Vanda but nonetheless he was outworking his opponent in the round. By the Midway point of the fight, the rowdy crowd seemed to take turns chanting support for whichever fighter they were supporting just as the fighters themselves took turns winning rounds. Fightnews had the bout 3 rounds to 2 in favor of Vanda at this point.

The sixth and seventh rounds were again good for Lowry. Lowry took advantage of Vanda’s reluctance to throw combinations like earlier in the fight and simply outworked “The Predator”. Lowry consistently put his punches together and went forward throughout. Lowry's right hand was probably the most effective punch during this timeframe. Vanda did throw his share of combinations, but Lowry seemed to be the busier fighter. Vanda fought with a sense of urgency in round eight. Right when the bell rang, he immediately went forward and began working Lowry's body with both hands. Vanda also landed a solid left hook/left uppercut to Lowry's head. Lowry used jabs throughout the round. Near the end of the round, the two fighters bumped heads and Vanda backed into the ropes. Lowry followed him and landed a hard right hand to the head. Vanda countered with a hard left hook to Lowry's head. It was a big round for Vanda to even things up on our scorecard.

Round nine was another close one. As they had been throughout the fight, Vanda's fans and Lowry's fans voiced their support and chanted their guy's name as loudly as they could. Both fighters landed solid punches during this round. Vanda landed a strong left-right combination to Lowry's head, but Lowry finished the round strong when he trapped Vanda on the ropes with hard combinations. It was a very even round. Lowry and Vanda looked fresh and fought the final round intensely knowing both may have needed the round. Both men traded but Lowry was looking to time Vanda with power shots while Vanda was throwing a high volume of punches. Lowry was able to slip a nice right hand through the flurry of Vanda in the closing seconds of the round that had him momentarily buzzed but nothing too serious. After the final bell, Lowry continued to throw punches at his opponent and Vanda came right back. Soon both corners were in the ring to join the post fight scuffle!

In the end, the judges scored it for Vanda, 96-94, 96-94 and 97-94. Fightnews had it five rounds to four and one even for Vanda. After the fight Lowry and his trainer, Ron Peterson, voiced their displeasure on the fight's outcome. "I think it went totally my way. I got robbed," Lowry said. "I think I out-jabbed him. I think I hurt him with more powershots. I think I did a little bit more than he did." "It was a horrible decision. Worst-case scenario: it should have been a draw and it would have been good for everyone," said Peterson. Vanda felt that he did more then enough to win and expressed his anger toward his opponent Troy Lowry. “Like I always said, He (Lowry) is a dirty fighter. At the end of the fight he had to try to get a few extra shots in to try and knock me out. He got three shots in and couldn’t hurt me. People said he could punch but he can’t punch. Obviously you can see who won the fight. Look at his face and look at mine.”

Undefeated heavyweight Travis Walker used a devastating right hand to drop veteran Marcus Rhode three times in a 2nd round KO victory. The 25-year-old Walker showed discipline and patience throughout the fight. In round one, Walker was making a concerted effort to attack Rhode's body. He landed some hard shots to the body and a few solid right hands to the head. Rhode mostly covered up during the round and seemed to have trouble solving Walker's attack. Rhode also seemed to have trouble keeping his shorts from falling down. Rhode began round two more aggressively. He landed a solid overhand right to Walker's head early in the round. However, Rhode's new-found aggression may have created more openings and Walker took full advantage: Walker landed a stiff left jab that seemed to bother Rhode. Walker followed the jab with a right and left to Rhode's body. A hard right hand to the head put Rhode down for the first time. Rhode showed plenty of spirit and courage by getting up, but Walker didn't give Rhode the opportunity to recover and landed another right hand to the chin. Rhode went down, but again showed his desire to win and got up. Walker ended the bout with an even harder right hand to the head. Rhode fell back into the ropes and then fell forward onto the canvas. The bout was stopped at 2:00 of the second round. Walker's record improves to 8-0, 7 KO's. Rhode, who has been in with a number of highly-regarded heavyweights, falls to 29-27-1, 25 KO's.

In a rematch of their 2004 fight, featherweight Allen Litzau needed only 57 seconds to take Jesus Velazquez out with an impressive show of speed and punching power. Litzau and Velazquez started the round exchanging jabs. It didn't take long though for Litzau to drop Velazquez with a lightning fast left hook to the chin. Velazquez was hurt badly, but showed a warrior's heart by rising quickly from the knockdown. Knowing his opponent was hurt, Litzau wasted little time and unleashed a hurtful right hand followed by two powerful left hooks. The last left hook landed hard on Velazquez's chin and he went down face first for the second knockdown. Referee Mark Nelson didn't bother counting and waved the fight off. In their first fight, Litzau won a four-round unanimous decision. The 22-year-old Litzau improves to 7-1, 4 KO's. It was his second consecutive knockout win since having hand surgery. With the loss, the 19-year-old Velazquez's record now stands at 0-5.

Stablemates Dave Peterson and Joe Lynch showed off their skills in a four-round exhibition. Even though it was officially an exhibition, both fighters were aggressive and threw hard powershots throughout the fight. Peterson is 2-0, with 2 KO's as a professional. The 20-year-old Lynch is 4-1, 2 KO's. Peterson and Lynch both fight out of the Anoka Coons Rapid (ACR) Boxing Club.

Rochester's Scott Ball stayed undefeated and kept his knockout streak alive with a 4th round TKO over the tough Raphael Magdaleno. Throughout the fight, Ball consistently beat Magdaleno to the punch as he landed combinations to the head and body. Magdaleno never stopped trying, but had trouble landing his wide haymakers. In the final minute of the final round, Ball exploded with a flurry of punches and trapped Magdaleno on the ropes. A right hand to the body followed by another right hand to the head hurt Magdaleno badly and referee Denny Nelson had seen enough and stopped the fight. Magdaleno showed courage and wanted to continue, but D. Nelson had seen enough.

The end came at 2:26 of the 4th round. Ball ups his record to 4-0, 4 KO's. Magdaleno is now 0-2.

Sweden's Benjamin Kalinovic won his pro debut with a 1st round TKO over "Sugar" Ray Meyers. Kalinovic came forward and landed hard combinations to Meyers' body and head throughout the round. Meyers landed a solid right hand early, but seemed to be out of gas by the end of the round. Between rounds, Meyers told the ring doctor and referee Mark Nelson that he could no longer continue. Kalinovic is now 1-0, 1 KO, while Meyers drops to 1-5, 1 KO. After the fight, Meyers said he'd hurt his arm.

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