By John Unland
Monte Cox presented an outdoor boxing show Saturday afternoon at the Wild Rose Casino in Clinton, Iowa. There were a total of four highly competitive bouts that left the crowd pretty entertained.
The first bout of the day was a four-rounder between Sona Akale of St. Paul, Minnesota taking on Tanner Tallbott from Saint Joseph, Missouri. Tallbott was aggressive from the start, coming straight ahead throwing power shots looking to using his height advantage to keep Akale on the outside. Tallbott was wild with his punches and allowed Akale to get inside and land hard shots to the body almost at will. Akale was very accurate with his punches and likes to throw short, compact shots with a lot of power. Had Akale been more aggressive he probably could have got Tallbott out of there earlier, but Tallbott hung tough for the first three rounds, and too often, Akale would let him off the hook when he had him in trouble. A little over two minutes into the fourth round Tallbott went down after a shot to his ribs dropped him to his knees, and he was unable to beat the count. Akale is now 2-0 with his second knockout, and if he is willing to put the work in, he could be a fun fighter to watch.
Jason Phillips of Davenport was up next against the debuting Chris Bruce of St. Paul in a four-round welterweight bout. Bruce, who stands 6’2″, worked behind the jab in the first round and kept the much shorter Phillips out of range for most of the round. In the second, Phillips got his timing down and was able to land some nice shots inside. He was able to get Bruce on the ropes a few times, but Bruce showed a lot of toughness staying on his feet. The third started the same with Bruce missing with his jab and Phillips getting inside and landing power shots before backing out of range. Bruce was able to start timing Phillips coming in early in the round and started to counter nicely. This set up an explosive final round and both fighters were working hard for the win. Bruce had his moments in the round but Phillips seemed to land the harder shots and was landing at a better rate. It was a close fight and the judges scored it a majority draw (39-37 for Phillips and 38-38 twice). Phillips, now 1-1-1, is an exciting fighter and loves to throw big punches, if he continues to improve he could be on the rise on the local scene. Bruce starts 0-0-1 with the draw and while he didn’t show a lot of power, if he learns to use his height and reach advantage he could find some success.
Mitch Leconte needed less than a minute to finish Mike Randolph. Leconte is a technical 140 pounder out of Cedar Rapids and he landed a picture-perfect hook to put Randolph down. Randolph went down hard and looked like he may have been out, but he somehow got to his feet before the 10 count. His legs were wobbly and he looked dazed, so his corner threw in the towel and the referee waved it off. It was a good call by Randolph’s corner and even though he wasn’t happy about the stoppage, they probably did the right thing. Leconte (2-0, 2KOs) scores his second stoppage in as many fights and Randolph falls to 0-3.
After a few bouts fell out at the last minute, Clinton native Jeremy Castro was elevated to the main event against Tim Stafford who made the trip from Ohio to make his pro debut. Castro is more of an MMA fighter but he had the fans behind him, and on their feet, as he tried to press the action against the awkward Stafford. Stafford was content backing up and staying out of range while Castro came rushing ahead trying to land anything he could on his retreating opponent. When Stafford would trade punches he mostly went to the body but as soon as he would get hit he would back out. Castro got the better of most of the exchanges but neither fighter was ever in any real danger of being stopped and Castro took the decision 40-36 on all three scorecards. With the win, Castro evens up his record at 1-1 and Stafford starts his career 0-1.