“WOLVERINE” HILL AND “WOLFMAN” LINDQUIST BOX IN IOWA TONIGHT

“The Wolfman” Marty Lindquist (14-11), 51, of Blaine, MN is going on 27 years as a professional boxer and he continues to keep the journey alive tonight in Davenport, Iowa. Joining Lindquist are Minnesotans Damion “The Wolverine” Hill (4-12) of Brooklyn Park, MN and Juan Hernandez of Sleepy Eye, MN (debut). Hill will be boxing in the co-featured bout of the night.

Despite being out of boxing for over three years, The iron-willed southpaw Hill is coming back with a renewed focus as he battles Stephen Edwards (14-1-1, 1 KO) of Davenport, Iowa. The middleweight bout is scheduled for four rounds of action. This fight has all the ingredients for an upset.

“The Wolverines” record is about as deceiving as they come considering the fighters he’s faced. Included on his resume are past MMA champions, a handful of Golden Gloves champions, Four former MN state boxing champions, and even a world champ (Rob Brant). The list of fighters he has faced is amazing with a combined record of 83 wins 7 losses 5 draws. Despite being inactive from the boxing ring for nearly three and a half years, Hill wasn’t about to seek out a soft opponent. Instead, he targeted the once beaten Edwards in his opponents hometown.

“Knowing that I was making my return and also still having that same ego I’ve always had throughout my career, I knew I couldn’t make my return against a guy who has a losing record or even a 50/50 record” said Hill when asked to explain why he chose another tough opponent. “One, it’s not what my fans would want to see and two, it’s just not me. I can’t fight a guy if I feel like I’m going to beat them. I have to know that they stand a chance of beating me for me to even want the fight. Most people get into fighting because they want to look like winners. I’m a little bit more sadistic than that. I get off on making winners look like losers. All I can think about right now is a line from a Drake song “They telling me I fell off, oh I needed that. Now they want to see me pick back up……. Well where I leave it at” and that’s kind of what I’m doing. I’m picking right back up where I started. “

– Damion Hill

“With the time that I’ve been out from the sport, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my career, and one of the biggest downfalls I’ve had was that I’ve never lifted weights or done any explosive training. I would never do the little extra things that all the other fighters do. Before I ever even agreed to this fight, I decided that I was going to get myself in the best shape I could possibly be in. So I’ve been working with a personal trainer and dietitian for two weeks before even being offered the fight and the fight was over a month away. “

Damion Hill looked to be in the best shape of his life last night at weigh-ins. Hill came in at 167 pounds while his opponent came in over two pounds heavier (he would later come back to make the super middleweight contracted weight).

“He (Edwards) turned the fight down with me at first and then after they couldn’t find him anybody with a worse record, he finally accepted the fight with me!” said Hill. He’s the type of guy that only fights people with losing records”.

Marty Lindquist has had a colorful boxing career. The Wolfman boxed Duluth’s Zach Walters in a memorable Minnesota State title bout in 2004. The fight was an all out slug-fest while it lasted with The Wolfman sending Walters’ mouthpiece flying before falling to a Walters punch in the second round. Arguably his best moment in boxing came in 2006 when he stopped Max Alexander with the first punch of the fight, a looping overhand right that sent the hometown prospect crashing to the canvas seconds in where he was counted out. Lindquist will face Skylar Thompson of Rockford, Illinois (13-26) tonight in a four round cruiserweight bout.

“I’m fighting a tough journeyman with more losses than wins but it’s on his home turf so it should be a good one. Damion and I have been training hard at Valhalla Combat and we’re planning on taking care of business” said Lindquist.

Retired mixed martial artist Juan Hernandez of Sleepy Eye, MN makes his pro boxing debut against Ryan Antle (0-1) of Iowa. Antle lost his pro debut last year against Minnesota heavyweight Terrence Walker .

Hernandez told MinnesotaBoxing.com that although retired, he got the itch to compete but did not want to do MMA or kickboxing. He says the opportunity presented itself, he didn’t have to lose weight, so took the fight.

Minnesota Scott Tolzman and legendary MMA promoter Monte Cox recently teamed up to create Extreme/Maximus Boxing and they will present the action.