Quinault Beach Casino and
Resort
April 24,
2008
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Report and Photos by
Ricardo Ibarra
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Puyallup Washington's Eric "Night
Train" Boose (14-2-1 8KOs 237 lbs.) continued his climb back
up the boxing ranks with a lopsided unanimous decision
victory over Galen Brown (29-7-1 19KOs 23 1lbs) at the
Quinault Beach Resort and Casino of Ocean Shores,
Washington, Thursday, April 24th. The bout headlined a seven
fight Pro-Am show presented by Patrick Ortiz' Ringside
Ticket Inc.
Eric Boose began the bout at a
slow and methodical pace, snapping his jab and patiently
waiting for an opening. The opening came at the end of the
first round as an overhand right found its mark on the chin
of Brown. Unfortunately for Boose that punch was the
beginning of a very awkward and frustrating fight for him.
After tasting his opponent's
power, Brown seemed to adopt a survival game plan rather
than attempting to put up any kind of a fight. For the next
five rounds he circled around the ring, occasionally
choosing to engage, but mostly trying to stay away from his
opponent's punches. Boose pressed the fight and managed to
corner his opponent on a few occasions, firing off hard
hooks to the head and body. For the most part Boose
controlled the bout, patiently stalking behind his jab. The
judges' scored the bout 59-55, 60-54, 59-55.
Boose, once considered one of the
top prospects out of the Pacific Northwest, added his second
win since losing in a highly controversial third round
stoppage to Jonathan Williams last October. In that bout,
Boose was dropped early in the second round and while on the
canvas received a late left hook flush on the jaw. Although
he was given time to recover, he remained on shaky legs
until Williams finished him off in the third round. Since
that fight Boose has been calling out Williams in hopes of
securing a rematch. Hopefully he moved one step closer to
that bout with his most recent win.
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Boose lands his
right
Boose on the
attack
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McConnell
presses

McConnell goes to the
body
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In what was by far the fight of the night, Portland
Oregon's Molly McConnell (8-1 4KOs 141 lbs.) won the
Washington State women's welterweight title with a hard
fought six round majority decision over tough Tammie Johnson
(3-1 135 lbs.) of Lynwood Washington. Johnson began the bout
aggressively pressing the fight, cornering McConnell and
forcing her to stand and trade. The two swapped heavy
leather on the ropes for the majority of the first round
with Johnson landing at a higher rate. The pace seemed to
favor Johnson, who usually throws a lot of punches in a
fight, but the stronger McConnell was landing the harder
shots.
Early on McConnell had problems adjusting to the fast
tempo in the bout. But, in the second round she began to
slow the pace, controlling the distance with a crisp jab and
bringing the fight out to the center of the ring. As Johnson
continued to press forward, McConnell began to time her with
a straight right. A big right seemed to stun Johnson to
close out the second round. In the third the tables turned
and it was Johnson trying to maintain her distance while
McConnell pressed the fight. Johnson showed some new
dimensions to her abilities as she began to land solid
counters as McConnell came in. McConnell closed out a fairly
even round with two solid rights.
The momentum shifted in the fourth round with McConnell
taking over. After a straight right buckled Johnson,
McConnell began to tee-off with a barrage of unanswered
punches. Johnson showed a lot of heart and a pretty solid
chin as she refused to go down, even after taking some
hellacious punches. The round would come to a close with
Johnson back on the attack, trading with her opponent. For
the remainder of the fight the packed crowd cheered loudly
in appreciation as these two fighters engaged in two solid
rounds of wild, back and forth action. But, while Johnson
threw a lot of punches, McConnell managed to land the
cleaner, harder shots on the inside taking the majority
decision by scores of 59-55, 58-56, 57-57.
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Riverside, California's Dashon Johnson (1-1-1 146 lbs.)
evened the score against Vancouver, British Columbia's
Darren Darby (3-7-2 1KO 142 lbs.) with a four round majority
decision. Last month Darby surprised Johnson, and many at
ringside, when he battered the youngster around the ring for
four rounds, taking a unanimous decision. This time out
Johnson used a solid jab and good lateral movement to keep
Darby at bay for most of the bout. Darby closed the distance
in the last round, working well to the body and landing some
solid rights to the head, but, by that time Johnson had
built up a solid lead on the scorecards. The final tallies
read 38-38, 39-37, 39-37.
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Darby works the
body
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Bell just misses with a
right
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Local favorite Sky Bell (0-1 122 lbs,) had the full
support of the local crowd in Ocean Shores. Unfortunately
for her, she just couldn't get around the longer, quicker
punches of her opponent Brittany Cruz (1-0 1NC 120 lbs.).
Cruz, of Denver, Colorado, easily kept Bell at range and off
balance for most of the fight. Her long, rangy jab and
superior foot work were the keys to her victory. Bell never
stopped trying and found some success with counter
left-rights, but she never mounted enough of an attack to
win a round on the judges' scorecards. The final scores read
40-36, all for Cruz.
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The evening began with three, 2 round exhibition bouts
featuring local amateur fighters. Three time national
champion and eight time state champion Garret Simon showed
some promise. Both he and his opponent Jimmy Williams
displayed some sound fundamentals in their two round
exhibition match.
Also in exhibitions; Alex Smith took on Jesse Jackal,
and Zach Groven took on Tyler Fefenbenek.
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Alex Smith and Jesse
Jackal
Tyler Fe trades with Zach
Govern
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The Quinault Resort and
Casino Ring Girls 
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reminded everyone what a
day at the beach is supposed to look like. 
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