“Minnesota’s Own: The Rise and Heart of Mike “The Rice Street Rocker” Evgen

By: Ramon Hough and Jesse Kelley

He is remembered as one of Minnesota’s great boxers, but if it wasn’t for a family tragedy, Mike “the Rice Street Rocker” Evgen might’ve never stepped foot in the ring.

It was New Year’s Eve of 1980 in Minnesota. Tommy Luger, Evgen’s older cousin and close friend, was out celebrating at a bar. Later that night a fight broke out, shots were fired and Luger’s life was over.

“After he got shot, I decided I wanted to box. I wanted to dedicate my whole career to Tommy Luger,” said Evgen. “It was to honor him. I wanted to pick up where he left off. It never dawned on me that I’d do it for 19 years.”

Evgen started training right away. Within six weeks, the 13-year-old Evgen had won his first amateur fight against Frank Newton, (Jason and Allen Litzau’s uncle), who would later become Evgen’s main sparring partner. 

Evgen was an “average” kid growing up. His uncles and cousins boxed, but Evgen mostly played football and baseball.

“He was a very athletic youngster,” said Jay Pelzer, Evgen’s uncle and longtime trainer. “He was a little tiger. And he took to the sport right away.”

By 16, Evgen won his first Upper Midwest Golden Gloves championship. He ended up winning six Upper Midwest Golden Gloves championships in four different weight classes, which put Evgen in a select group.

“There are only two other guys in the history of Golden Gloves boxing in Minnesota that have ever done that,” said Pelzer, who was the head coach at the Rice Street Gym for more than 20 years. “(Evgen) did it at different weights. These other guys, pretty much, maintained the same weight class.”

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Evgen also had success on the national level. In 1986, a then 19-year-old Evgen was selected to a team representing the United States that went to Ireland. According to Pelzer, he even had an opportunity to train for the Olympics, but “he was a home-lover. He didn’t want to be away from home too much.”

It was also in 1986 that Don Riley, a former St. Paul Pioneer Press writer, gave him the nickname, “The Rice Street Rocker.”

By the end of his amateur career, Evgen had won 131 of 150 bouts, with most of the defeats coming at national tournaments. “Being a Minnesota kid, you don’t have the clout that guys from Las Vegas, California or New York have,” said Pelzer. “You hate to say it’s political in national tournaments, but he lost a couple of fights he shouldn’t have lost.” 

But despite all of his amateur success, Pelzer, says Evgen’s win over Mark Strickland was his “most exciting fight in the amateurs.”

Before the fight, Strickland, a stablemate of Virgil Hill, had fought more than 300 bouts compared to Evgen’s 60 bouts. Strickland had even fought internationally in the Pan-Am games. 

At the opening bell, Evgen went right after Strickland and ended up winning by a second round knockout. 

“A guy with all that experience over Mike and Mike made him look like just another opponent,” said Pelzer.

By the age of 17, people were already telling Evgen to turn pro. However, Pelzer advised him to wait a few more years.

But finally, at the age of 22, Evgen decided to turn pro. “I didn’t want to look back when I was 37-years-old and say, I should’ve at least tried,” said Evgen.

Evgen won his first 16 professional bouts, but he says it took him awhile to understand boxing’s business side and the importance of connections to the right people.

“In the pros, you’ve got to play the politics, you got to kiss a little ass,” said Evgen. “I didn’t want to play the politics. I just wanted to fight.”

Even though, he was unknown outside of the state, Evgen says he was still one of Minnesota’s highest paid fighters. “Anywhere I fought, the people would follow and we’d just pack them in,” he said. 

Evgen considers his 1992 win over Louie Lomeli as his best and toughest win as a professional. In that fight, Evgen won the International Boxing Organization’s 140-pound title. 

“It was a battle, it was fantastic. It was a crowd pleaser from beginning to end,” said Pelzer.

“I think they had it scheduled for April 15th. I had asked if they could make that fight April 9th,” Evgen said. “And they wanted to know why, of course. That was my cousin, Tommy Luger’s, birthday. “

“(Winning) really did something for my self-confidence. Damn this guy’s world class and that I belonged in there with them.”

After the win, Evgen saw his name rise up the world rankings. By late 1992 or early 1993, Evgen had signed a three-year contract, which guaranteed a world-title fight. 

“That’s every fighter’s dream to fight for a world title,” Evgen said. 

But it wasn’t until May of 1994 that Evgen received a call saying he’d finally gotten his title shot. He was scheduled to fight International Boxing Federation 135-pound champion, Rafael Ruelas, with less than two weeks to prepare. Besides the short-notice, Evgen had fought his whole career as a 140-pounder.

“I left work and jumped on a scale. I weighed 152 pounds,” Evgen said. “I had to lose 17 pounds and I had twelve days before the fight. And I got my ass kicked.”

Evgen says he was never hurt in the fight, but that he was in no condition to fight at the world-class level.

He fought nine more times after the Ruelas bout. 

“I didn’t want to retire the way I did. I said I would not lose my last fight. I am going to go out a winner,” said Evgen. “I would have beaten that guy (last fight) maybe a year prior to fighting him, but the wear and tear on my body. It was one of those things when your time had come.” 

“I remember after the fight, I was in the back dressing room, by myself, crying, ‘cause I knew my career was over.” He was just 31-years-old when he retired. 

Evgen is 38 now and it has been almost seven years since his career ended. Between working as a sheet metal worker, being a father and acting as a big brother to a child with autism, Evgen stays involved in boxing from a distance.

But Evgen still misses the competition of the sport. “Boxing is something that once its in your blood, its in there,” said Evgen.

Like many fighters, Evgen has been tempted to box again. After the Matt Vanda/Sam Garr fight in January, he even started training again.

“I started feeling good. I was all set for a comeback. One day I went down and the next day, I couldn’t do anything,” said Evgen. “I was tripping on my own feet. I am retired now, but it goes through my head every once in awhile.”

He still attends fight cards and hangs out with fighters at the gym, but his 13-year-old and 11-year-old daughters are keeping him busy. “I can’t commit myself right now with my daughters playing sports, but somewhere down the line, I’d like to get back into it,” Evgen said. “I’m not as involved as I’d like to be.” 

He says fighters often ask him to be their trainer. He also says he would consider being a member of a Minnesota boxing commission. 

“We’ve got enough good fighters around here to fight legitimate people. We gotta get a boxing commission here,” said Evgen. “I just want to see the sport get back to where it was.”

Mike Evgen dedicated his whole boxing career to a cousin who died prematurely. The scars of an eight-year boxing career will remain with Evgen throughout his life. 

He still feels the physical effects of his boxing career. He says he has a paralyzed muscle in his right eye for which he needs glasses, calcium build-up in his right wrist and his speech has slowed down.

Evgen says he hopes to be remembered as “a guy that every fight was ready to go and wanted to put on a good show. Make the people want to know when the next one was. I know I wasn’t a stylist or the best fighter out there. But I loved what I was doing.”

According to Pelzer, several good Minnesota boxers have been forgotten over the years. He hopes Evgen won’t be one of them. 

Hard-core boxing fans “all thought he was the greatest at the time,”said Pelzer. “If it could linger through the years, the kid should be put in the annals of Minnesota boxing as one of the greatest fighters to come out of Minnesota.” 

Evgen finished his career with 31 wins, 6 losses and 13 KO’s. Based on the people who still recognize him in restaurants, grocery stores or in the streets. Mike Evgen hasn’t been forgotten and, hopefully, won’t be anytime soon. 

* Ramon Hough and I also cover the Minnesota professional scene for www.FightNews.com.