“JUNGLE BOY” WINS AGAIN
By: Ramon Hough and Jesse Kelley at ringside
5/7/05
In a bloodbath, light heavyweight “Jungle Boy” Zach Walters
won a unanimous eight-round decision over an extremely tough Jesse “Iron
Jaw” Sanders in the main event at the Duluth Entertainment Convention
Center (DECC).
Walters, who is trained by Buddy McGirt and Chuck “Sharky”
Horton, controlled the fight with his superior punch rate and accuracy,
but Sanders always seemed to be one punch away from turning the fight
around.
Walters came out jabbing early in the first round. Sanders was trying
to get inside and landed a solid left hand late in the round, but Walters
controlled the round with his jab and reach. Walters slipped to the canvas
during the round.
In round two, Walters continued establishing the jab. He also started
landing hard right hands to Sanders’ body in close. Sanders’
nose was bleeding badly early in the round.
The blood kept flowing in round three. Sanders’ nose continued bleeding
badly and he was also cut on his hairline from an accidental head-butt.
Sanders landed a good left hook to the body early in the round. Walters
landed right hands to the body and head. Sanders went down in the round,
but referee Mark Nelson ruled it a slip.
Sanders landed his best punch in round four. Sanders backed Walters into
the ropes with a right hand. But Walters fired back with right hands and
a left hook of his own. Soon thereafter, Sanders unleashed a huge right
hand to Walters’ jaw. Walters looked stunned for a bit, but recovered
quickly Despite his badly bloodied nose, Sanders came out aggressively
in round five. He landed a nice left hand followed by a right hand. Walters
went back to jabbing during the round.
Walters seemed to hurt Sanders in round six, but Sanders showed why they
call him “Iron Jaw.”. Sanders was looking to counter Walters
off the ropes. Walters landed a powerful right hand that caused Sanders
to stumble into the ropes. Walters followed up and landed a hard left
jab. Later in the round, Walters landed a left jab, straight right and
followed up with a beautiful left hook.
In round seven, Walters was cut very badly. The two fighters came together
and bumped heads. Nelson ruled it an accidental head-butt. Sanders apologized
profusely to both Walters and Horton. For the remainder of the fight,
both fighters had blood streaming down their faces.
Sanders tried bulling his way inside early in the final round. As he’d
done throughout the fight, Walters landed another right hand to Sanders’
body. He continued jabbing and landed a strong right hand to the head
that seemed to get Sanders’ attention. Sanders did land a nice right
uppercut late in the round.
The judges scored the bout 80-72, 79-73 and 80-73. All in favor Walters.
In a classy move after the fight, Sanders took the microphone, thanked
Duluth fans for their hospitality and also thanked Walters and Horton
for the opportunity.
Sanders also said he was surprised how well Walters took his punches.
“He’s a great fighter. I landed my good shots and he kept
coming right back at me and he landed his good shots,” Sanders said.
“If everybody in Minnesota keeps following him, he is going to go
far.”
Walters was hoping to fight on the June 17th fight card at the RiverCentre,
but the cut might not be healed in time.
“I really wanted to take that fight (June 17th) but I just don’t
know now with this cut. When I got this cut that was actually going through
my mind, that I might not get to fight on that card now. The most important
thing is to let this heal up properly,” said Walters.
Walters improves to 11-1, 9 KO’s. Sanders drops to 11-3-2, 10 KO’s.
According to Mike Letourneau of Sharky Promotions, the card drew more
than 3100 fans setting an attendance record for boxing at the DECC.
Buddy McGirt was unable to attend the fight for family reasons.
In a crowd-pleaser, welterweight Jose Leo Moreno showed why he might
be Minnesota’s most well-conditioned fighter. Moreno continued his
winning ways with a second round TKO over Armond Heath.
As is his custom, Moreno never stopped throwing punches and eventually
wore Heath out.
Moreno started the fight jabbing, but wasted little time before getting
in Heath’s chest and unleashing a relentless two-fisted attack to
Heath’s body and head.
Heath took plenty of punishment and seemed to be looking to land one big
shot. Heath tried to land overhand right hand counters, but couldn’t
land it well enough to get Moreno’s respect.
Moreno never gave Heath a chance to breathe. By round two, Heath had a
swollen right eye and looked exhausted.
In between rounds, Heath was bent over from exhaustion in his corner and
referee Denny Nelson stopped the fight.
The “Lion-hearted” upped his record to 11-0, 9 KO’s.
Heath’s record now stands at 1-1-1, 1 KO.
Andy “Chaos” Kolle stayed undefeated with an impressive
third round TKO over a durable John Turner. Kolle looked to be much bigger
than Turner.
The southpaw Kolle, 171, landed straight left hands to Turner’s
head at will. In round two, Kolle landed a powerful straight left and
the follow- up punches put Turner down for the first time. Turner fell
through the ropes, but somehow managed to beat the count and continue.
In the third round, Kolle knocked Turner down again with a short, straight
left hand to the head. Turner showed his grit and got up quickly, but
it didn’t take Kolle long to end matters. Kolle then followed up
with a hard right hook to Turner’s jaw. Perrault stepped between
the fighters and stopped the one-sided beating.
Kolle of Fergus Falls, Minnesota is now 5-0, 4 KO’s. Turner, a late
replacement who took the fight on one day’s notice, drops to 2-6,
0 KO’s.
Undefeated Scott Ball of Rochester scored three knockdowns in a third
round TKO over a tough Kane Pudwill of North Dakota.
It was Ball’s relentless body attack that seemed to set Pudwill
up for the eventual stoppage.
The welterweight Ball scored the first knockdown with a lead right uppercut
to Pudwill’s head in the second round. Pudwill went down two more
times in round three from Ball right hands.
Referee Denny Nelson had seen enough after the third knockdown and stopped
the fight.
Ball has knocked out all of his professional opponents so far and improved
to 5-0, 5 KO’s. Pudwill never stopped trying, but falls to 5-8,
0 KO’s.
In the opening bout, heavyweight Travis Fulton defeated Rory Prazak
with a second round TKO . Prazak was down twice before referee James Perrault,
Jr. waved off the fight.
Both fighters started the fight cautiously, but Fulton turned up the intensity
in round two. Fulton landed a right hand to Prazak’s body causing
the first knockdown. It was a hard right uppercut to the head that put
Prazak down for the second and final time. Perrault didn’t bother
counting.
Fulton improves his record to 12-9, 12 KO’s. Prazak is now 0-2,
with both losses against Fulton.
