WIESBADEN, Germany - There may have only been five bouts, but fight fans got their share of explosive ring action at Wiesbaden's Boxing Tournament Feb. 6.
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With boxers coming from Grafenwörth, Heidelberg, Schweinfurt, Baumholder, Koblenz and Wiesbaden, the night saw several that went down to the wire.
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Schweinfurt's Christopher Munar came out of the red corner in bout one to challenge welterweight Jorg Preis from Koblenz. Despite being almost a head smaller and having a shorter reach, Munar continued to stand up to the Preis' blows, launching an offensive in the third round. But it wasn't enough to impress the judges, and Preis was awarded the gold.
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Fellow Schweinfurter Christopher Thomas looked in control of bout two for the first six minutes sending Heidelberg's John Rene reeling in round two.
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Round four was a different story altogether. The man in the blue corner came out strong, knocking Thomas to the canvas. After the second knockdown, one minute and 53 seconds into round four, the referee stopped the fight, awarding the gold to the Heidelberg boxer.
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"I was just doing my best the last round," said Rene, as he headed to the showers after the fight. "I just never gave up. I told myself I had to pull through. I didn't want to lose in front of all these people."
Rene's come-from-behind victory also earned him the Best Boxer Award from the judges.
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Wiesbaden's Patrick Reed was grossly mismatched in a middleweight bout against GrafenwAfAPhr's Tyrone Lindsay. With the crowd yelling "stop the fight," a towel was tossed into the ring from Reed's corner 1:29 into round one, handing the win to the fighter in the red corner.
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The evening's last two bouts saw fighters from Baumholder facing hometown boxers.
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Baumholder's Casey Byrom punched his way through the first two rounds with Wiesbaden's Richard Semides being sent to the corner for a couple of standing eight counts. By round three, both boxers were obviously tired, but the Wiesbaden fighter kept coming back for more through the end of round four.
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After the scores were tallied, Byrom was declared the winner.
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The evening's final bout pitted Baumholder's Kirk Robinson against Wiesbaden's Darius Boscanino with neither backing down through a steady onslaught of solid punches. Despite a slight nosebleed in the third round, Boscanino continued to challenge the Baumholder boxer.
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After battling through the start of the final round and with his nose showing more of the red stuff, the referee stopped the fight, awarding the win to Robinson.
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"I loved it," said the Baumholder fighter after the bout. "You never know what to expect."
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Giving credit to his coach and the hard training "on the Rock in Baumholder," Robinson added that his opponent deserved kudos for a challenging fight. "I appreciate his heart; he's got the heart of a champion. I was giving him shots that should have knocked him down but he just kept coming."
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In addition to the ring action, fight fans were treated to a performance by members of Maria Diaz's Zumba class and giveaways courtesy of U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden's Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation Division.
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