Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
The crowd roared Wednesday night at the Havre Ice Dome as fighters circled each other during Club Boxing’s one-night appearance in town. The night got off to a fast start as Randy Belcourt took on Richard Flammond in the 170-pound weight class. Two fighters went blow-for-blow over three rounds, but in the end Belcourt won by unanimous decision. “The first fight was probably one of the best,” matchmaker Bobby LeClure said. “Those two guys went at it pretty hard. The cool thing was that both of them just kept fighting it was really fun to watch.” The second bout, in the 135-pound weight class, was between Jessy Knife and Samuel St. Marks. Knife and St. Marks went at it for the full three rounds and Knife won by unanimous decision. The third match of the night saw Nick Wright match up against Alejandro Plascencia in the heavyweight division. The bout was going along nicely until Plascencia appeared to injure his hand and the fight was stopped by the referee, giving Wright the victory. Steve Strike went toe-to-toe against Keith Harrison in the the 125-pound weight class, and after the two fighters went the full three rounds, Strike earned the victory by unanimous decision. Strike, dressed smartly in American flag shorts and headgear, danced across the ring, bobbing his head and throwing quick, coordinated punches. “I think Steve Strike was probably the best pure boxer out of all the fighters,” LeClure said. “He looked really comfortable in the ring and he had good boxing awareness.” After a short intermission, Megan Flying stepped into the ring with Darcy Jeffreys for the only women’s bout of the evening. The two went at it for three full rounds before Flying easily took home the win by unanimous decision. Adam Bigby then took on Steve Johnson in the 170-pound weight class. The fight was stopped after two rounds because the referee felt that Johnson was not fit to continue fighting. Bigby won by TKO. Then in the finale, Tyler Wheeler stepped into the ring with John Isham in the 210-pound weight class. This bout turned out to be one of the most entertaining. Both boxers came out swinging and didn’t let up until the final bell. Wheeler got in more punches. He knocked down Isham on two occasions on his way to winning a unanimous decision. “The fights were great,” LeClure said. “And we also got a pretty good crowd to come out and watch. There wasn’t quite as many fans as I expected, but it was an exciting night. It’s fun to watch people get out there and box. It is not something that is easy to do and it takes a lot of guts to step into the ring, because in boxing you don’t have any teammates to help you out. It’s just you in there. So you have to give everyone who stepped into the ring a lot of credit, because it takes a lot of courage.”
