BENGAL BOUTS: Hobbins earns unanimous win, moves on to face Macias
By BRIAN BURKE
Sports Writer
Going into his semifinal bout, Brian "Nightmare" Hobbins expected Justin "The ResLife Regular" Meyers to come at him charging, and he came prepared. Early on, it looked as if Meyers could back Hobbins into the ropes and fight toe to toe, but Hobbins used an array of effective combinations to expose Meyers and earn the unanimous decision.
"The best way to deal with a charger is to keep your movement going, moving backwards and then to the side, and keeping your punches straight as you can," Hobbins said. "It worked pretty well for me."
One straight punch sent Meyers to the canvas at the start of the second round. Meyers charged and Hobbins landed a shot that more surprised a frustrated Meyers than anything. By midway through the third round, both fighters were exhausted from playing cat and mouse, and they stood at the center of the ring, slugging it out as the crowd roared.
"At the end when we got caught up in that kind of wrestling match, it was because I couldn't move backwards as fast as he can move forwards," Hobbins said. "I felt tired, I just tried channeling power, and just think about all the people who are behind me in my corner, my friends and family rooting for me, and it gives me the strength to keep throwing because I know they want to see a good show."
Hobbins will face 31-year-old grad student Thomas "Boom-Boom" Macias who won a sloppy fight over Chris "Can't We All Just" Kitalong. Sloppy would actually be a gross understatement. The first round started out with fast somewhat controlled exchanges, and ended with Macias being knocked down by a Kitalong hook right at the bell.
The remainder of the fight was something like a cross between a wrestling match and a pillow fight. Both fighters were throwing wild hooks and opening themselves to hard shots to the face. There was plenty of pushing, lunging and even head butting. In the third round especially, Macias simply landed more haymakers than Kitalong and despite being knocked down in round one, won a unanimous decision.
175 Pounds
It is down to captain against captain. Defending champion against defending champion.
With unanimous decision victories, Robert "A.M.D.G." Joyce and Mark "I'm So Pretty" Criniti have set up a title bout meeting for the 175-pound belt Friday night.
Criniti did an excellent job of counter punching a hard hitting John Lynk in his semifinal win. Lynk was able to back Criniti into the ropes on several occasions, but Criniti did most of his damage when he seemed to be trapped. Criniti did get hit, but his three-punch combinations allowed him to win the majority of the exchanges.
Rob Joyce faced an opponent, Keith Arnold, in the semifinals who had decided his best chance was to brawl with the more tactical Joyce. Like Criniti, Joyce kept his charging foe at bay, landing good jab and straight right. Arnold liked to duck and put his head down in close, and Joyce capitalized several times.
"He had good head movement, which is hard to hit when he comes in moving like that," Joyce said. "My corner told me to throw a one or two uppercuts which I did, and threw a couple lower shots to get him in the head."
Joyce's focus now turns to the clash with his fellow captain.
"We talked about it all tournament," he said. "We're both so happy we each won, but when once it gets time for the ring we're both gonna be down to business. I know Mark's a great fighter and I'm just looking forward to fighting him."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, March 1, 2001
