8 FEBRUARY 15, 2003
Smoke Signals
Success Of Fight Night III Could Mean More Boxing In Portland
Spirit Mountain Casino and Oscar De La Hoya proving to be an effective team.
By Justin Phillips
Wien the bell rang, the referee jumped
in between the two fighters. But, even
he can't stop the fighting, because with
a crowd of 5,355 fight fans in the house, there
might just be more fights headed to Portland's
Rose Garden.
Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Productions
and Spirit Mountain Casino played host to an
other night of boxing on Thursday, January 30.
The 10-round main event featured Heavy
weight prospect Jeremy Williams 36-4 (32 KOs)
against Al Cole 32-11 (16 KOs). Williams,
ranked 15lh by the World Boxing Council (WBC),
put on a feeble performance against the former
International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion
Cole. The outcome was a majority draw with
few hard, crowd pleasing punches.
The semi-main event was a six-round Junior
Middleweight (165 lbs) bout, with Portland's very
own Jose "Tony" Martinez (12-2-2, 7 KO's) fac
ing Ron Pasek (12-20-3, 7 KO's. Martinez earned
a decision for his efforts.
In a four round Heavyweight bout, local boxer
Joe Gusman (5-0, 2 KO's) outboxed Troy Beets
(3-2-1, 1 KO). Despite getting knocked through
the ropes during the bout, Gusman's rib shat
tering body shots and steady pressure earned
him a unanimous decision.
Super featherweight (1301bs) Greg "The Port
land Kid" Piper (6-1, 2 KO's) fought for four
founds against Christian Lopez (4-3-1, 1 KO).
Piper also received a unanimous decision.
The first fight of the night consisted of
Willamina's own Super Middleweight (1681bs)
The Sweet Science
Greg "The Portland Kid"
Piper (right) eats a overhand
left fist from Christian Lopez.
Piper received a unanimous
decision to improve his
record to 6-1 with 2 KO's
during Spirit Mountain
Casino's and Oscar De La
Hoya's Goldon Boy Produc
tions Fight Night III at the
Portland Rose Garden. The
night of boxing drew more
than 5,000 fight fans which
could be good for the future
of boxing in Oregon.
Victor Branson (3-4-1, 3 KO's) against Davis
Thompson (5-2, 3 KO's). Thompson out boxed a
tough Branson to improve his record with a
unanimous decision.
Although there was not the anticipation and
excitement of a Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis
boxing match, the crowd seemed to enjoy an
evening of "the sweet science" otherwise
known as boxing.
This was the third event of the Fight Night
series at the Portland Rose Garden. The first
fights (July 2002) drew a crowd of 3,784. The
attendance at Fight Night II in November of 2002
was about 2,500.
Stan Sittser, Rose Quarter Marketing Man-
ager, says he feels that boxing has a potential in
the City of Roses.
Light heavyweight (175 lbs) Roy Jones, Jr.,
(IBF light heavyweight champion, WBC light
heavyweight champion, World Boxing Associa
tion light heavyweight champion) drew more
than 16,000 in his bout at the Rose Garden. It
was the first championship bout in Portland in
nearly 40 years.
Golden Boy Productions would like to hold a card
every two months, selling season-ticket packages.
Roy Englebrecht, Golden Boy's Chief Operat
ing Officer said people would be able to put it on
their calendar and know there are going to be
boxing matches about every 2 months.
,r r T -., )
Brutal Willamina's own
Super Middleweight Victor
Branson connects with a
overhand left body shot
that momentarly jolted
Davis Thompson (in the
green trunks) back a few
feet. Despite Branson's
power display, he lost a
unanimous decision.
Branson's next fight is
March 1 at the Emerald
Queen in Washington.
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Not A Knockdown Portland crowd favorite Joe Gusman, heavyweight, falls through the ropes while brawling
with fellow heavweight Troy Beets. Gusman went on to win a unanimous decision to improve his record to 5-0 with
2 knockouts.
Main Event Professional boxer Jeremy Williams
(red trunks), the World Boxing Council's 15th ranked
heavyweight in the world, unloaded repeated body
shots to Al Cole during Fight Night Ill's main event.
The main event lacked the luster of a normal heavy
weight bout and ended in a draw.
Photos by Justin Phillips