Heckmann wins split decision against Matassa
By JEFF BALTRUZAK
Sports Writer
The middleweights treated the Friday night crowd at the Bengal Bouts to a spectacular show of boxing action, as one fight was decided on a narrow split decision and the other two bouts were ended not by the final bell, but by the referee.
150 lbs.
In the end, it was a brawl. And Brock "Landers" Heckmann proved to be the best brawler. Heckmann battled his way past Chris "Shezzy" Matassa in a split decision for the Bengal Bouts title in a fight that produced savage exchanges and bleeding on both sides.
"Let's just day I wasn't planning on winning on points," said Heckmann.
In the first round, Matassa tried to set the tone with his huge reach advantage, throwing jab after jab.
He landed several clean jabs, but Matassa could not establish any consistent domination as Heckmann slipped his own jab between Matassa's gloves, despite a much shorter reach.
"I wanted to get inside quicker," said Heckmann. "I wanted to move around and stay in once I got in."
The first clue that the fight would be a brawl came in the first round, as the boxers locked up, and Heckmann threw Matassa across the ring in an attempt to escape the hold.
After the incident, the fight would descend into a who-can-throw-more-punches contest for the rest of the round, a kind of boxing not seen in the previous bouts of this year's tournament. Both fighters landed enormous punches, and took turns stunning each other in the final 30 seconds of the round.
Early in the second, Heckmann corralled Matassa into the ropes, but Matassa was able to jab his way out of trouble, landing blows with enough power to send Heckmann to his corner to control his bleeding.
Even exchanges would punctuate the rest of the round. Heckmann finally started to dominate as a result of a brutal exchange that ended only when the referee gave Matassa a standing-eight count.
Matassa drove back Heckmann with an array of punches in the beginning of the third round. But the fight slowed as the medical team tended to both fighters' bleeding.
Heckmann caught Matassa in the corner later in the round, pounding Matassa's head and body. Heckmann started to land punch after punch, and rather than locking up with Heckmann, Matassa continued to throw punches despite obvious fatigue.
155 Pounds
The fight between Tom "Frenchman" Pierce and Jeff "The Pittsburgh Kid" Dobosh was a struggle. The two fighters engaged in the finest, most exciting bout of the evening — a fight Pierce won after the referee stopped the fight with 25 seconds left in the third round.
The fireworks started early. Dobosh stunned Pierce enough to warrant a standing-eight count only seconds after the start of the opening round. Later in the round, Dobosh landed two more lefts, sending Pierce bracing against the ropes and causing a second standing-eight count.
"He caught me with that punch in the first," said Pierce. "I had to come out hard [in the next round] if I was going to win."
Pierce shot out of his corner in the beginning of the second and began to attack Dobosh, eventually landing a full power clean hook to Dobosh's jaw that sent the graduate student to the canvas.
"When you fight a lefty, you need to throw rights," said Pierce. "I knew I needed to throw more rights after the first round."
Pierce floated into a neutral corner, bouncing in the air as the referee counted on Dobosh and as the crowd arose in a wave.
Pierce has had especially strong crowd support throughout every round of the Bouts.
"If you hear you fans cheering while they're wiping your opponents blood off them, that's a huge help," said Pierce. "All my friends got out there."
Dobosh arose, and immediately Pierce continued the pressure. A strong left sent Dobosh on a trip to the mat again, and the crowd would stand again, and would not sit down until the end of the third round.
The third round opened with Pierce again attacking Dobosh. At one point the fighters ignored the referee's command to break, and the two fighters had to be physically separated from each other.
Dobosh received a standing eight count after the referee finally stepped between the two fighters, and received a second standing eight after Pierce once again stunned him.
With the crowd in a frenzy, Dobosh walked to box Pierce again. Pierce put his whole weight behind the first hook he threw, landed it, and Dobosh found himself down for the third time.
At that point, the referee motioned to the judges that the fight would be called, and Pierce was declared the winner at the 1:35 mark in the third round.
160 Pounds
Dennis "Thursday Night" Abdelnour, fighting in his last Bengal Bout as a captain, walked out of the ring like a champion after defeating Joe Smith in a fight called just 55 seconds into the second round.
"The fight was nothing like I would have expected," said Abdelnour. "He came out throwing and I didn't expect that."
Smith indeed was throwing hard punches, but Abdelnour was able to avoid being caught by any one punch.
Abdelnour then landed a stunning punch to Smith's head, and another hard blow later in the round dropped Smith to one knee, warranting an early standing eight-count.
"I got lucky with that one punch," said Abdelnour. "After that I knew I had it."
The short second round would see more of the same, as Abdelnour was able to land several head-snapping jabs. Smith sustained a brutal three-punch combination by Abdelnour that caused the referee to again step in and issue Smith a standing eight-count.
Abdelnour, smelling the Bengal Bout title he has long coveted, continued to pound Smith.
After a third standing eight midway into the second round, the referee decided Smith would sustain no more punishment, stopped the fight and raised Abdelnour's hand shortly after, and the captain had won the title he had been chasing for four years.
"The feeling was everything I thought it would be," said Abdelnour. "The emotions just started flowing out of me."
All Sports Stories for Monday, March 5, 2001
